LA-based Aussie actress Elizabeth Debicki trashes Australia

Never heard of her. Not even once.

Incidentally - I'm Australian.

Ugly cunt. Go and ply your craft as a $2 ass hooker somewhere.

Oops, tall poopy syndrome here.

I've heard the same being said about Kiwis - the whole "tall poppy" thing.

What does Rose Byrne have to say about this?

The way I see it that only a few Australians are willing to put up with, and play, Hollywood's predatory mind games.

I know her from Widows, that's it.

I thought Aussies did pretty well in Hollywood.

Loved The Night Manager and thought she was good in it.

I know absolutely nothing about how Aussie actors are treated - so, I’ve no idea if this is true.

R6 they do, in Hollywood. She is talking about Australia.

Many years ago I was visiting and with some people at a pub. One of the men who worked in garbage collection walked in and everyone was lining up to buy him a drink. A fairly well known actor came in an hour later (he had had some success in Hollywood, more of a name these days) and I noticed and asked. NO ONE went up to him or spoke to him. As far as they were concerned he had no real job and was not worthy of notice, besides they pay those blokes enough to buy their own drinks.

She's a beautiful woman. it is really weird she would talk of this in terms of "tall poppy syndrome," given that she is freakishly tall herself.

[quote]has no interest in returning to live in her home country.

I can't blame her.

In the last 10-15 years there has been an explosion of Aussies and Brits settling down in Southern California. It is no longer uncommon to hear an Aussie or British accent in SoCal. They go as South as San Bernardino and as North as San Francisco.

I can't imagine living in Australia based on the size of the insects alone - that's shit's scary.

I don’t know if it’s the makeup or the hairstyle but she looks old for 29.

She did The Maids with La Blanchett and La Huppert a few summers ago in New York. Blanchett was stellar, Huppert was wildly uneven, and Debicki is the one no one could remember when they left the theatre because she didn't even register.

I feel like she's like that in all film roles, too (including Widows, which she was hoping to be nominated in Supporting for). She never registers.

If you say so r13 -- I saw The Maids and walked out of it only thinking of Debicki, and wanting to know everything there was to know about her right away. I could barely understand Huppert, who was spitting all her lines in an even thicker accent than usual. (And I love Huppert usually.) Blanchett was good, she always is, but Debicki made a lifelong fan out of and my boyfriend.

She also stole The Great Gatsby from everyone. I keep waiting for her to get that right role. She was super creepy in The Tale.

I don't completely get Tall Poppy syndrome - cutting down famous, rich, accomplished people to size - isn't that universal. We do it here all the time. What makes it distinctly Australian?

She takes herself too seriously...

R16 it's just the Australian equivalent saying of the Japanese "the nail that sticks up". It happens in every culture, the smaller ones especially. They pull each other down.

The culture this happens the least in is America. Which is one reason why many immigrate here, from even countries of privilege, to get away.

Here, you leave your identity at the door and can create or recreate yourself

I welcome when a woman can be described as an asshole. She's an asshole.

Just what America needs - more foreigners.🙄

And why do Aussies and Brits think LA is the end all/be all to America?

[quote]In the last 10-15 years there has been an explosion of Aussies and Brits settling down in Southern California. It is no longer uncommon to hear an Aussie or British accent in SoCal. They go as South as San Bernardino and as North as San Francisco.

Which leads the the question: how are they so easily able to obtain visas and work permits to live in our country? Why is nobody asking for their “papers”? Or does that just apply to brown skinned people?🧐

Why are there so many visas being made available for "acting"? Don't we have enough unemployed ones?

Well, she's done it now, whoever she is. Hope she's got an ongoing career in Hollywood because she definitely won't be welcomed back Down Under. It's not so much that Australians dislike successful people, they just don't like the ones who are up themselves.

R22 This story is on the Daily Fail and in the comments section all the Australians are trashing her and saying they’ve never even heard of her.😄

You must be really stupid to talk shit about an entire country if you’re trying to become well-known.

I remember her from Man from UNCLE, she was not bad, and she is very tall indeed! I don't think a lot of people talk about the acting craft in Hollywood, they're more about the celebrities and other social media "influencers".

She sounds like a spoiled brat who can't stand when somebody stole her thunder...

She's outspoken. I like that in her.

Why do so many Australians have bad attitudes (i.e. Cate Bitchette)?

r23 Yes, especially your own country. They'll be no featuring in Aussie tv dramas when work dries up in Hollywood! lol My comment wasn't meant to trash her either - I just haven't seen her in anything. Good on her for having an opinion.

[quote]I thought Aussies did pretty well in Hollywood.

They're doing a lot better than the Canadians are doing in Hollywood.

Why can't she just lie about her age like Margot Robbie?

Or present hole to Hollywood power people like Sam Worthington and Jai Courtney did.

r15 People idealize other places, then they get there and realize it sucks too.

I prefer a society that doesn't worship worthless "celebs."

She’s very charismatic tho.

I saw her first in "The Kettering Incident" and really liked her there.

r29 How old is Margot Robbie?

I don't think she was trashed Australia at all.

In fact she was talking about australian actors supposed lack of ambition. It doesn't seem too controversial

I remember her from that recent-ish (and terrible) Cloverfield film on Netflix; she was memorable only for being so tall.

I guess I got her confused with Elizabeth Mitchell or Caitlin Fitzgerald bit I’ve never heard of her

She can stay in America. Good luck in all your future endeavours whoever you are.

--People idealize other places, then they get there and realize it sucks too.

R30 Are you speaking from personal stuff to experience?

r14, I value your counterpoint. We definitely agree on Huppert (who was much better in that show at the Atlantic sometime before COVID--I can't remember anymore if it was a few months ago or years). I want Debicki to be better, but I think she's stuck. Supposedly Blanchett handpicked her for that production, so she sees the talent. I see the talent. I just also see someone who never breaks out.

The Australian entertainment industry is pretty grim. Not that there isn't talent there, but most have to subsist on scraps. It's no surprise that a lot of Aussie entertainers at least try to make their fortune in the UK or the US.

There have been several pap pictures of Debicki with Michelle Rodriguez hanging out in LA. Maybe Cate B. sees more than talent with some of her hand-picked actors.

She has a point. Lindsay Lohan imported for "The Masked Singer"?

Michi likes Aussie ladyham?

[quote]She can stay in America. Good luck in all your future endeavours whoever you are.

We don’t want her.

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

Future lavender marriage?

Celia Rubinstein was a friend to all mankind...

WHO!!!??????

I hope she dates Cynthia Erivo, just for the visual.

R47 He would never have a beard that’s taller than him. It would distract from the manly image he is desperate to portray.

[Quote] He would never have a beard that’s taller than him. It would distract from the manly image he is desperate to portray.

Ridiculous.

It's the problem with the 'no worries' culture. You're not supposed to be talking about innovation, improvement and invention, because everything is perfect in Australia.

She’s a great character actress who comes alive in supporting roles.

She’d be great as a trans woman - 6’1 and striking - but she’s more likely to be burned at the stake first.

She played a doctor in Everest and it was uncanny at how similar she looked to the woman she played.

She sounds insufferable.

[quote]seemed to boil her issues with Australia down to “tall poppy syndrome”, a term referring to the idea poppies should grow at the same rate and any plant that gets too tall should be cut down

Guy Pearce and New Zealand actor Daniel Gilles (CW's The Original) have both referenced the downside of Australia and New Zealand being the tall poppy syndrome, so she's not alone in that sentiment.

I don't think her words were as damning as Melissa George. She got pissy because interviewers dare referenced her character on "Home and Away" and threatened to never return to Australia because she could be in her homes in Paris or NYC. Fast forward a few years later she returned to Australian TV tearfully pleading her case about her custody dispute with her husband, and apologized to her homeland for what she said.

[Quote] Fast forward a few years later she returned to Australian TV tearfully pleading her case about her custody dispute with her husband, and apologized to her homeland for what she said.

Seems like she's doing better these days.

[Quote] There have been several pap pictures of Debicki with Michelle Rodriguez hanging out in LA.

They make a cute couple.

And now zac efron wants to move to Australia full time. And he's from California, born and raised. But he wants peace and quiet though.

I'm sure he'll tire of small town life.

Wow, she has crazy eyes in that OP picture. I don't know who she is so wasn't interested in reading the posts but I had to comment on those crazy eyes. She has the same look as Elizabeth Holmes - the Theranos bitch who still hasn't been to trial.

[quote]“You’re supposed to be like, I don’t know, sometimes I just do this thing, the camera rolls, then like, I go home!

So basically the Aussies are right.

I can’t stand this chick. She ruined Widows for me. She’s like 7ft tall—gross.

I think she's actually eight feet tall.

R49 Fraggle Rock

I've never heard if this part-time Sheila either.

But it's true about Aussie-Land; 40% of them lives off Guvment handouts

[Quote] She’s like 7ft tall—gross.

What an odd thing to complain about.

I think I get what she’s saying, though. I’m Canadian and actors here are similarly hampered by the culture of the country. Most successful actors in the US have some level of delusion and (perhaps unearned) confidence — they’re encouraged by boosting themselves up and barreling through doors even when they aren’t open to them yet.

Elsewhere in the world we’re cursed with self-awareness and the need to self-deprecate, downplay and show deference to one another.

Michi likes snausage, apparently.

The only thing I know about this actress is that she was unfortunate enough to be pulled into the Hammer's orbit while filming Man from U.N.C.L.E. At some wrap party, Elizabeth kept passing her baby around to any celebrity willing to pose with it. This woman was one of those "celebrities."

R14 I saw The Maids in Sydney, and I agree she was the one who stood out the most. Which is strange cause I am a MASSIVE Huppert fan. Blanchett was just a bit 'there'. Not spectacular, not terrible. But Debicki was quite revelatory in how she stole it from these two titans.

Anyway, these comments of hers come across quite badly. The tall poppy syndrome is very real here, but there honestly isn't even much of an entertainment 'industry' in Australia these days so i'm not sure what she's on about. Who is saying you can't be proud to work in it? And anyway... she doesn't even really work here to make such a comment.

She's lucky she barely had to slum it in soap operas and short films like everyone else in the industry. As soon as she graduated from drama school she got a key role in both the Stephan Elliott (of 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' fame) movie, and Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby.' Since then she's worked non stop in Hollywood with huge names, and when she came back to Australia it was to headline her own cable miniseries despite barely being known here. Aside from that she has barely even participated in the local industry and lived overseas for almost the entirety of her career. I don't know what she's on about, and can't imagine who is 'cutting her down'.

What it sounds like is that she was waxing lyrical about her "craft" and someone told her to stop being pretentious, sparking this rant.

She obviously believes in the maxim that actors in the legitimate theatre are far superior to those kids who appear in TV soap. A bit like that Yael Stone person who stuck the knife into Geoffrey Rush.

Actors need a reality check.

They aren't 'artists'.

Writers create characters, they don't.

She’s right. That’s why young Cate Blanchett settled for a starring role as Britain’s greatest monarch and has gone on to have such a limp career since then.

Also Nicole Kidman, who could have been a tall poppy in Hollywood but has let herself go to seed. Does she even play anything but doting old grandmas in Hallmark movies?

Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Guy Pearce, Rose Byrne, Rachel Griffiths, Miranda Otto, Julian McMahon, Simon Baker, Eric Bana, Toni Collette, Naomi Watts, Sam Worthington, Mel Gibson, Margot Robbie, Isla Fisher, Mia Wasikowska, Rebel Wilson, Eroll Flynn, Judy Davis, Anthony LaPaglia, Abbie Cornish, Emily Browning, Olivia Newton-John...if only the Ozzies weren’t so camera shy!!

I don't know what to make of Australians. Most seem to have a cold hardness to them even when they smile . It seems like it would be a terrible place for anyone who is non conformist. The Anglo /scots /Irish population remind me too much of the conservative contingent in the US. I just don't trust or feel comfortable with that culture. Though at least they had the common sense for nationalized health care.

She is upset that in Australia she is expected to behave with humility? Happy that in America she can be more "ME! ME! ME!"

Okay.....

I don't know what to make of Australians. Most seem to have a cold hardness to them even when they smile . It seems like it would be a terrible place for anyone who is non conformist. The Anglo /scots /Irish population remind me too much of the conservative contingent in the US. I just don't trust or feel comfortable with that culture. Though at least they had the common sense for nationalized health care.

I suppose they have mixed feelings about their expats; they love when they become internationally famous, but I suppose it also highlights the limited opportunities back on the auld sod. She does sound rather full of herself, even for an actress, who are supposed to fake at least some humility.

As an American, I wish some of our celebs - like say Kanye - would leave this country & never come back; he can wax on about how accepted he feels in Dubai or some other place that tolerates his nonsense all he wants. So long as we're rid of him.

I watched the Real Housewives of Melbourne and the women could have passed for drag queens and were among the most egotistical of all the Housewives franchises.

Clearly she never watched Olivia in Xanadu. It changed acting forever.

It’s not uncommon for especially privileged expats (moving between highly developed countries) to rubbish their home countries. It helps them justify their decision to move, and they think it helps gain acceptance by people in their new country. Go to any expat group, and you’ll see this. People brag about how enlightened they are as a ‘person of the world’ blah, blah, blah, but then have incredibly narrow views on their home countries. It usually comes out they are projecting something that happened in their personal or professional lives on an entire country,

She's not wrong. We are a nation of bogans. The self-appointed "European in style" Melburnians are thick as pig shit idiots who refuse to isolate and are dying of Covid at a rate of knots.

That said, she is a friend of Elizabeth Chambers.

Someone is trying to take Melissa George's crown

That's not trashing us, OP. Tall Poppy Syndrome is an accepted aspect of the Australian Way - except in sport, of course, where you can be as excellent as you like and grown men will only fawn on you. We already know that. And frankly, "too comfortable" is not much of an insult in the world we live in.

[Quote]  in sport, of course, where you can be as excellent as you like and grown men will only fawn on you.

Ugh so true.

In Kidman's case, she never should've had a huge career considering no one even goes to see her movies.

Tall poppy syndrome - it can't be worse than the English. They love to build people up and then mercilessly destroy them in the press.

It's a very ugly trait - must have been exported from England with all the 10 pound poms. Canada doesn't seem to have this so much though, do they?

You know what's funny to me about those who attack people like this woman and now I see Melissa George was also attacked.

These are the same assholes who go off about political correctness running amok and how thin-skinned people are because they can't handle any disagreement. So they expect people to take racist and bigoted shit and have it roll off their back, but these people can't even handle mild criticism of their country by a couple of actresses FROM their country.

The Tall poppy syndrome is an interesting syndrome. Other people call it Egalitarianism.

I’m curious about the nuances of tall poppy syndrome. Are you allowed to be a tall poppy and people just disapprove, or is it more like a ‘bucket of crabs’ where people actually pull you down or actively thwart you?

There's a difference, R86, as "egalitarianism" doesn't imply resentment, disparagement and dismissal.

R87 It's something you nurture and grow. Take pride in it, then you stand back and allow others to admire it too. That's when jealously and feelings of inadequacy can creep in. If the subject becomes too successful or aloof, then they can suddenly be seen as a threat to someone's ego. Performers, sportspeople, politicians, and businesspeople are all subject to it. Unless they have the "common touch" and they can get away with just about anything.

I've never agreed with this vulgar sentiment until reading this thread - Ms. Debicki, this is for you.