look hughes talking
Wendy Hughes in Newsfront
One of Australia's favourite leading ladies is back in the spotlight
"I spent a lot of the time naked and doing sex scenes, because in the seventies you all had to do that." So says Wendy Hughes, about her feature film debut in Tim Burstall's Petersen.
Hughes' career began in the 1970s at a time when the Australian film industry was going through a renaissance (and getting its gear off). Roles weren't hard to come by, particularly for a talented actress like Hughes, who trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and had plenty of theatre experience behind her. And, after landing subsequent roles in Newsfront and My Brilliant Career, the actress knew something special was evolving.
Focus on Wendy Hughes pays tribute to this much-loved Australian actress and her ongoing contribution to our film industry. Opening with Paul Cox's My First Wife, the season includes Newsfront, Petersen and Lonely Hearts (another collaboration with Cox and one of Hughes' personal favourites). Also screening is Careful, He Might Hear You, the film for which Hughes won the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role playing the posh (read sexually repressed) Vanessa in opposition to Robyn Nevin's working-class Lila.
The actress admits that she's been fortunate to have had so many opportunities, but at the same time says there were lots of down times (such as beginning a career at a time when explicit nudity and sex in films was all the rage, something Hughes wasn't ever comfortable with). But as a self-confessed show-off, acting was always going to be a natural career. And now, the spotlight is well and truly hers.
Focus on Wendy Hughes is screening from Thursday 16 - Sunday 26 April, 2009. For screening times head here
Published Thursday, 9 April 2009
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