When I was 15 years old, a movie called Kingsman was released, and I was instantly enamoured with the lead actor.
He was relatively new to the Hollywood scene, a man named Taron Egerton, and from that moment on, I became a fan, watching films purely because his name was on the cast list.
Today, he said something to me I’ll never forget.
This afternoon, Sunday, February 22, Sydney’s Centennial Park was taken over by Australia (and the world’s) biggest stars, as they came out to support Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival.
For the past six years, Tropfest has been on a hiatus, and for its grand return, some huge names were pulled in to serve on the judging panel, known as the Tropfest Jury.
The star of the moment, Margot Robbie, leads the jury, accompanied by Sarah Snook, Danny Phillipou, James Cameron, Bruna Papandrea, Dylan River and, of course, Egerton.
I got to speak to Philippou first, and as someone who’s not a huge fan of horror (Philippou’s niche), I didn’t know what to expect.
So, imagine my delight when I found out that he knows every single word to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack – we’d found a bonding point.
The Aussie filmmaker recently received a public shoutout from none other than Baz Luhrmann himself at the AACTA Awards.
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“I am the biggest Baz Luhrmann fan,” Philippou passionately shared.
“I know the entire Moulin Rouge soundtrack by heart. I can sing you every single line.
“So, I could not believe he was there, I could not believe he looked at me, let alone said my name.”
After I said goodbye to Phillipou, tension on the carpet started to build. Egerton had arrived.
While I waited patiently for the Welsh star to be standing in front of me, I had the honour of speaking to Australia’s very own Sarah Snook, who shared that her inspiration to join the film industry came from one of our most beloved Aussie productions.
“There’s a moment in Muriel’s Wedding … [Jeanie Drynan] is receiving bad news, and she’s being berated by something, and she has this face of depression basically,” she recalls.
“And you can see her entire head move backwards, you can see her ears move in response to what she’s feeling. I remember seeing that and going, ‘WHAT? You can act with your ears?!'”
Before I even had time to process the fact that I’d just spoken with THE Sarah Snook, Egerton was standing right in front of me.
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We spoke about what inspired him to get into the industry, his favourite cinema snack, and how tricky it was for him to master the Aussie accent for his upcoming film, Apex.
It was this last conversation point that will stick with me for a long time (likely forever).
“It’s an actual nightmare. It’s so hard,” he said (very charmingly).
Obviously, being the suck-up that I am, this response prompted me to seize the opportunity to tell Egerton that, as an Aussie myself who has seen the trailer for the film, I thought he’d nailed the accent.
“That’s very sweet of you, thank you,” he told me.
Now, it might not seem like much. But when an actor you’ve adored for years earnestly thanks you for a simple compliment in his stunning Welsh accent, it leaves an impact.
Now, as I spoke to Egerton, I could hear a commotion building up behind me. Fans were running to the barricade behind the carpet, and I could see the flashing lights of cameras going off toward the front of the red carpet.
As Egerton walked away, I turned to my right and was left gobsmacked. Margot Robbie was just mere metres away, and she was looking every bit as flawless as you’d expect, wearing what I would later learn was a sheer Chanel gown.
As she patiently made her way through all the in outlets at the front of the carpet, I waited with bated breath.
I’d been told not to expect a chat – she is Margot Robbie after all, and she is the Jury President, she doesn’t have all night.
But as she got closer, my hopes got higher. And, eventually, in what felt like a dream, I was shaking her hand and introducing myself.
With her recently soaring to the top of the box office (once again) with Wuthering Heights, it only felt fitting to ask her what she would tell her youngerself if she could head back to the set of Neighbours, knowing what she knows now.
“I’d probably just be like, ‘You are gonna make it one day in Hollywood’. Because I remember that was always the big dream to go to Hollywood and make a Hollywood movie,” she says.
“But I loved my time on Neighbours, I learnt so much. And I’m really grateful I worked as hard as I did then, because it just became my work ethic for everything else I did.”
And even though she might seem a million miles away from the young Aussie star we once watched on our screens, I was reminded that she’ll always be an Aussie at heart when she told me what her go-to cinema snack is.
“Frozen Coke and popcorn, of course. And if I’m in Australia, a choc-top, which they don’t have overseas,” she said.
“And barely anywhere has frozen Cokes … And they have a million other flavours that you don’t want, just give me a frozen Coke! I don’t want a bright blue berry, whatever that thing is.
“Australia gets it right on the snacks.”
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