Cinematical

I've been a fan of Abbie Cornish for a couple years now, since I first saw her in Somersault, and have followed her career closely since then to see if she'd live up to the promise she showed in that film. I saw her last September at the Toronto International Film Festival in Candy, in which she played opposite Heath Ledger as a good middle-class girl turned heroin addict hooking for her next high, and was impressed with both her range of emotion and the chemistry she and Ledger had as the lovers tragically addicted to both heroin and each other.

Checking in with Cornish through IMDb, I was happy to see she has a slew of upcoming projects coming up with some impressive directors and co-stars. Like another of my fave young actresses, Ellen Page, Cornish is making some smart script choices and working with the right people -- plus she's just got the spunk and the talent to rise above the fray. Next up for Cornish is the just-completed The Golden Age, which reunites director Shekhar Kapur and Cate Blanchett, who once again plays Elizabeth I, this time in a storyline exploring her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen -- yum!). Cornish takes on the role of Elizabeth Throckmorton, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I -- and wife of Sir Walter. Sounds delish.

Cornish has also apparently wrapped Stop Loss, directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), in which she stars opposite Ryan Phillipe. This one is about an Iraqi war vet who, after coming home for a leave, refuses to go back, and it also co-stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, another young and talented indie actor. Warming up in the bullpen for Cornish is Bright Star, written and directed by Jane Campion. Bright Star casts Cornish as Fanny Brawe, the legendary lover of poet John Keats in the three years before his untimely death at the age of 25. I'm especially looking forward to this one, as it stars Ben Whishaw as Keats. Whishaw played the killer Grenouille in Tom Twykver's Perfume: A Story of a Murderer. I really loved Perfume (so did Roger Ebert -- it was one of his picks for this year's Ebertfest). Whishaw is an extraordinarily talented young actor -- in Perfume, he pulled off a lead role with very minimal dialogue -- and I can't want to see his take on Keats.

As for the Bond 22 rumor, as Ryan Stewart noted the other day, there's not a heck of a lot being said on it just yet, but IMDb (at the moment, anyhow) Cornish is listed as being a "rumored" cast member, alongside my fave sexy doctor from ER, Goran Visnjic. Of course, an IMDb rumor is about as reliable as Paris Hilton turning over a permanently new leaf in prison, but hey, one can hope. Overall, though, it looks like Cornish is making some savvy career choices, and I'm looking forward to seeing her in these roles.