The late Village Roadshow executive Greg Coote, Anthony LaPaglia and rising stars Margot Robbie and Brenton Thwaites will be honoured in the annual Australians in Film (AiF) awards.
Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian and veteran 20th Century Fox production executive Fred Baron will also be feted at the AiF’s gala dinner in Los Angeles on October 26.
Coote, who passed away in June, is a former chairman and CEO of Dune Entertainment, which co-financed more than 60 movies with Fox. He is the recipient of the AiF Orry-Kelly Award, which recognises Australians who have contributed to the success of other Australians in the industry.
“Greg Coote was an important advisor to Australians in Film from the beginning, helping to shape our early strategy, with a particular focus on supporting emerging Australian talent in Hollywood,” said AiF president Simonne Overend.
“He played such a major part in our success and really did so much for Aussies in this industry both at home and overseas.”
LaPaglia, who is now shooting Neil Armfield’s Holding the Man in Melbourne, is the second Orry-Kelly international honoree for his support of Australians working in film and TV in Los Angeles.
The award is named after costume designer Orry George Kelly, who won Academy Awards for Les Girls (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959) and An American In Paris (1951). He is profiled in Gillian Armstrong's feature documentary Women He's Undressed, which will be released next year by Rialto.
“LaPaglia is well known for offering Australians employment opportunities both on his shows and throughout his projects and it is wonderful to see him celebrated for his generous contributions,” said Overend.
The AiF breakthrough awards will go to Robbie and Thwaites. Robbie co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street and next year will be seen with Will Smith in Warner Bros.’ Focus and in Z for Zachariah (Chris Pine, Chiwetel Ejiofor), Suite Française (Michelle Williams, Sam Riley) and Tarzan (Samuel L. Jackson, Alexander Skarsgård).
Thwaites stars with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and Katie Holmes in Phillip Noyce’s The Giver and plays one of the leads in Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt with Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
“Both these actors embody the very best talent and potential that we see emerging from Australia today. Their international success so early in their career suggests great promise for the years ahead,” said Overend.
Nalbandian will be presented with the Fox Studios Australia International Award and Barron, the executive VP of feature production at Fox, will get the Ausfilm International Award.
Australians in Film is the LA-based non-profit entertainment industry association whose members includes producers and development executives, a board of advisors and board members including Greg Basser CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, writer/director Stuart Beattie, Eden Gaha, president, unscripted television at Shine America, Simonne Overend, VP of scripted development at Essential Media, Peter Lawson EVP of production and acquisitions at Open Road, Tracey Vieira, CEO Screen Queensland and Ian Sutherland, producer, Origin Productions.
The dinner will be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica.