For decades, Hollywood has lured aspirational actors to Los Angeles on the wistful promise of stardom on the silver screen.
Australia has had no shortage of acting talent over the decades, but many stars have felt the need to move to the United States in order to achieve success.
Now, a new exhibition at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in Canberra suggests that may be becoming increasingly less of a necessity.
The exhibition's title, Australians in Hollywood, may suggest a focus on those who have left our shores, but it is as much a celebration of what is being conceived of and made locally.
"A generation or two ago, to make it big you had to relocate to L.A. and be part of Hollywood, but through the talent and achievement of Australian filmmakers and artists over a period of time, and through changes in technology and through changes in the industry, Hollywood has now come to Australia," NFSA chief executive Patrick McIntyre said.
Going behind the scenes
The new exhibition is a combination of items some of us have seen before, but are happy to see again, given the iconic status they hold.
The dress worn by Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding is among them, as footage from the film plays on the wall.
And the knife from Crocodile Dundee sits alongside the hat worn by Paul Hogan.
Nearby, Satine's gown from Moulin Rouge, along with a number of can-can dresses worn by dancers in the film, are also on display.
Moulin Rouge is notable for the fact that it was not only created by Australians Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, but also made locally.
It was a sign of what was possible — big-budget studio films could be made in Australia and become box office hits.
The NFSA exhibition also reveals what it took to create the ambitious film, involving multiple musical numbers and hundreds of extras.
"There is a video of Baz Lurhmann choreographing the huge can-can scene from Moulin Rouge and just the resources involved and the scale, the number of dancers and the size of the set and everything," Mr McIntyre said.
The emergence of Australian film on the global stage is generally viewed as being launched in 1979 with Mad Max, a film also celebrated in the exhibition.
Clips and images reveal what was involved in making it, the challenges of filming in the outback without the benefits of modern technology, and the accolades it went on to receive.
Curator Tara Marynowsky said she hoped visitors would enjoy the detail offered up in those behind-the-scenes moments.
"One very exciting audiovisual piece is some outtakes that have never been seen from Mad Max 1 ... you really get the sense of the risk-taking and the exciting moments that were filmed during that time," Ms Marynowsky said.
Ms Marynowsky said Mad Max also provided an example of how Australian films often include the landscape, almost as another character. In Mad Max, it is the desert, but in other films, it is the urban landscape that sets the tone.
In the film Lion, the streets and bushland of Tasmania are a powerful part of the story, counterbalanced against the vastness of India that the film's young star must traverse.
Celebrating the humour and the drama
Australian cinema has often been viewed as dark or depressing — Australia's barren inner landscapes giving rise to some intense and foreboding dramas over the years.
But the new exhibition aims to shine a light on the more humorous and joyous moments in local film as well.
One prominent example is The Sapphires, the musical comedy-drama that starred Deborah Mailman and Chris O'Dowd. Its sparkling costumes are on display, along with clips from the film that tell the story of a 1960s girl group.
The film was partly shot in Albury, Victoria and went on to screen at the Cannes Film Festival.
Mailman has often spoken of how conscious she is of showcasing a breadth of First Nations stories on film, and has been a significant figure in advancing their work in the industry.
"The next journey for us now within filmmaking — within our storytelling — is to show the sense of humour that us blackfellas have in spades," Mailman is quoted as saying.
But Australian talent goes beyond those who feature on screen and the exhibition also pays tribute to the lesser-known work of those behind some recent overseas productions.
They include David Michôd, who directed The King, a Netflix series, and Cate Shortland, who helmed the 2021 film Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson.
Inevitably, the exhibition is simply a celebration of what has been achieved and the potential for what is next.
"Quite often we forget that a lot of the films overseas are actually directed by Australians," Ms Marynowsky said.
