Isabel Lucas is featured in the February 2010 issue of Vanity Fair magazine with an absolutely stunning image and a short write up. This is an instant favorite shot of her for me – she’s just so beautiful!

Isabel Lucas
Perhaps you remember her work in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Ah yes, she was the android who mounted Shia LaBeouf and strangled him with her tongue. But seriously, Isabel Lucas has a higher purpose. The 24-year-old Australian has worked on irrigation projects in Namibia, raised money for orphanages in India, and paddled out into the Pacific Ocean to combat whaling off of Japan, where she is now wanted for interfering with global commerce. We’ll soon get to see this more soulful side of Lucas in The Pacific, an HBO mini-series about the American-Japanese conflict during World War II, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. This month she stars in Daybreakers, a futuristic thriller in which she plays human in a world taken over by vampires. After that it’s Red Dawn, a remake of the Cold War–era anti-Commie shoot-’em-up. Lucas takes her “action movie” characters every bit as seriously as the others—even when certain directors don’t. “It’s interesting,” she says, referring to Michael Bay, “when the only direction is ‘You’ve got to be more sexy!’”

Arriving in Calcutta sans some of their luggage, high-powered lawyer Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and her laid-back musician hubby Ben (Joel Edgerton) quickly get a taste of what it’s like to operate on Indian time. After getting little satisfaction at the baggage claim (“This is India,” a tired worker proclaims), they face an irritating wait for their hotel-dispatched driver, Krishna (Samrat Chakrabarti).

Things don’t go smoothly with the adoption, either. As the agency continues to put off their appointment, long-unresolved relationship issues start to surface. Fiona and Ben ultimately grate on each other’s nerves to the point of separation.

As the pic progresses, the way the multiple themes of McCarthy’s script play out starts to feel overly schematic and often forced. Moreover, the information slowly revealed about the couple’s past and personal secrets might have had more impact if incorporated earlier on.

Mitchell, also credited as an executive producer, nails the character of an abrasive Type A personality gradually accepting her lack of control. Likewise, Edgerton credibly plays the initially more passive partner who progressively develops maturity and strength. Thus, it’s even more of a shame when McCarthy ends several intense emotional scenes between the two by resorting to visual cliches.

Standout lensing by Denson Baker modulates from an intimate semi-verite style within the closed confines of the couple’s luxury hotel to a more distanced, observational stance as they move outside. A DV camera into which they separately express their hopes and fears about parenthood becomes a dramatic marker in their relationship.

The rest of the strong tech package makes Calcutta palpable.

Source: variety.com

By this description alone, you understand this is no “Monsoon Wedding” or even “City of Joy.” While the film’s grip on a viewer dramatically increases as the story moves deeper and deeper into an experience that exposes a couple’s troubled relationship, McCarthy makes no concessions to commercial considerations. The film is solely designed for festivals and art venues but word of mouth should help “The Waiting City” reach a receptive audience.

Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton play a 30-something Australian couple, who comes to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) to claim an adopted daughter, Lakshmi. Red tape delays things so they are forced to wait in this exotic and often trying city.

The wife, a lawyer, juggles her mobile phone and laptop so that it’s like she never left the office. The husband is a musician so with an adventurous spirit and guitar in hand he makes friends easily in the city. His running into a pretty fellow musician (Isabel Lucas) causes displeasure in his wife, the first notable crack in the happy-couple facade.

Kolkata with its frustrations, alien customs and thousands of gods put the couple’s relationship to a test. Long-ignored resentments, hidden feelings and one very bad secret bubble to the surface.

Mother India herself seems to challenge the newcomers. A hotel worker (Samrat Chakrabarti), who befriends them, doesn’t even disguise his concern about a white couple adopting an Indian child or about the wife’s lack of religious faith. A clear-headed nun (Tilotamma Shome) demonstrates her love for the child is equal to theirs.

A trip to their daughter’s hometown and a first encounter with Lakshmi herself puts further stress on their stability. Are they even suitable as a couple, much less parents?

When one is surrounded by gods and devotion, Western dismissal seems shallow. In Kolkata, a filthy river is holy and a Catholic orphanage thinks nothing of closing to celebrate a Moslem holiday. The culture is steeped in belief. When life hangs in the balance in this place, unbelief is no help.

The film is not without its touristic elements. The director and her cinematographer, Denson Baker, aren’t going to pass up the opportunity to show the glories and the muck of this ancient city. Bureaucracy, lost luggage, destitute beggars, upset bowels and a snake assail the visitors.

Yet McCarthy is not about to fetishize poverty or celebrate the exotic. India offers the couple a different way to look at everything. It invigorates them. Their former life has become the dream and the intense experience of India is now the reality.

It comes as no surprise to learn that McCarthy has worked in orphanages and the slums of India so hers is both an insider and an outsider’s viewpoint. This attitude informs every frame of this fascinating drama, a welcome addition to the new Australian cinema.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

In the first Transformers movie, it all seemed so simple: Boy meets impossibly hot girl, witty banter is exchanged, boy gets girl and giant robots attack. In Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, however, a bizarre love triangle disrupts the lives of Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox) — with some help from a mysterious new woman.

“She is playing more of the seductress,” explained Isabel Lucas, the sexy young Australian actress who plays Alice in Fallen, the blockbuster film currently breaking box-office records worldwide. “She’s got mysterious intentions that we don’t really know about towards him. He is obviously in a relationship and still with Mikaela at this stage — so he is resisting it quite strongly.”

Although millions of fans are pouring into theaters to see the massive robots of Transformers, this Mikaela/ Sam/ Alice conflict serves as a major component of the film’s human element.

“It’s not that Sam is turning his back on Mikaela,” explained LaBeouf, whose character meets Alice while at college. “It’s just that a priority for Sam at this point is not only a relationship, but trying to juggle him liking himself.”

“They’re trying to maintain a long-distance relationship, because Sam goes away to college and Mikaela can’t afford to go to college,” Fox explained of the duo’s relationship struggles. “She has to stay behind, and she’s working the grind at a chop-shop with her dad who is released from prison.

“He gets into some trouble at college — which is really innocent — but to [Mikaela] being so far away, being on the outside, it doesn’t seem as though it’s innocent,” she continued. “I go there to figure out what’s happening, and he’s in a sticky situation with a Decepticon. Then we get sucked up into this ongoing battle between the Autobots and Deceptions.”

But the entryway to all that action is Alice — a character who may similarly be more than meets the eye. “She’s a character that certainly causes some conflict,” said Lucas, flashing a sly grin. “She’s quite a layered character — you’re not quite sure of her intentions when she’s introduced.

“Shia is incredible to work with,” said the actress, best known Down Under as the star of the soap Home and Away. “He is so innovative in that he is always coming up with new ways to play the scene — he’s a real risk-taker and will throw himself off the cliff. He is very brave in that sense. … He’s carrying the entire film, he is very talented.”

Those who’ve already seen Revenge of the Fallen know the answer to Alice’s secret — but may still have one question left: How could a guy even think about cheating on a woman who looks like Megan Fox?

“Right … well … ” Shia struggled. “That’s totally understandable.”

Source: MTV.com

“I haven’t dated anyone since June last year and I think it has been really positive for me to be solo and have time on my own,” Lucas has told Vogue Australia, out next Wednesday.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen star has had a series of high profile loves, including Entourage star, Adrian Grenier.

She also looked very cosy with Joel Edgerton, her co-star in The Waiting City, when they were snapped kissing on the beach at Byron Bay in January, then cuddling up at an outdoor cinema venue in Melbourne in February.

But the 24-year-old stunner has quashed any reports that the pair were a couple in the interview. Just good friends, we guess

Source: News.com.au

How did you land the role in Transformers, Isabel?

I was working on an HBO miniseries called The Pacific, which was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and apparently Steven suggested me to read for the role of Alice, so I went in and auditioned for Michael.

Not exactly a bad person to recommend you for a role.

No (laughs). I’m still pinching myself that’s how it all came about.

Tell me about your character, Alice, in Transformers 2.

Alice is a student at Princeton University. My scenes are predominantly with Shia LaBeouf and Ramon Rodriguez. An interesting relationship develops between myself and Shia, but I’m not allowed to give too much of that away.

Were you a huge fan of the first Transformers?

I loved it. When I watched the first film, though, I saw it back in Australia and was particularly impressed by the CGI and the technology used. It was seamless and incredible, very impressive. I loved the pace and the energy of the film.

The action sequences look incredible in this. What was the most challenging part of the role for you?

Running in high heels! I never wear heels because for me it’s all about comfort and practicality so Michael had to show me how to do it (laughs). He told me the trick was to run on your tippy toes and it worked.

Some people have said this role could change your life. Do you think it will?

I think it’s very subjective. I think you just need to stay open minded and appreciative. Work wise, I feel very fortunate to have been a part of it.

Michael Bay is known for his passion, particularly for Transformers. What was he like on set?

He loves extreme and edge. He is very passionate and energetic and he’s a perfectionist who won’t settle for anything else. He’s also a master of the blockbuster genre. For me, being challenged and being pushed to your limits is a really positive thing because you learn so much more.

It was a long shoot for many of the cast members. Did you find it exhausting?

Not so much for me because I was only on set sporadically over the course of three months. But I know for Shia it was. On his chair on set, there was a wooden armrest and he had it marked all the days of the shoot. Every day, he’d cross one off, like when you’re waiting for the last day of school (laughs). My days were more dispersed and scattered.

With the anticipation so high for this film, what can fans expect from Transformers 2?

This film is much more a coming of age story. It’s about a boy turning into a man, taking on real responsibilities. Shia’s character is really growing up and the film is a lot more global. Michael Bay had unprecedented access to shooting the pyramids in Egypt with an Imax camera. I promise you it will be insane. Also, expect a lot more transformers in this one. It’s quite a ride!

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is showing now at Birch Carroll And Coyle Cairns Cinemas.

Source: Cairns.com.au

What they also got was the impossibly hourglass-shaped Megan Fox bending over the engine of hero Sam Witwicky’s bumblebee-yellow Camaro. The mechanically savvy Mikaela still holds the crown as every robotics nerd’s dream date.

But starting today, she better watch out. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, she faces competition that comes with sweeter weaponry than the average Decepticon.

Australian hottie Isabel Lucas joins the franchise as Alice, an alluring classmate Sam (Shia LaBeouf) meets in his first days at college.

“An interesting relationship develops between myself and Shia,” Lucas, 24, has said. In interviews she remains coy about the exact nature of the characters’ bond. “I’m not allowed to give too much of that away.”

The Aussie actress landed the part after shooting an HBO miniseries, The Pacific, a Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks-produced foray into World War II action that will hit TV next year. Spielberg suggested Lucas for a role in the Transformers sequel.

Says Lucas, “I’m still pinching myself that’s how it came about.”

Since then, she has added steam to the franchise, both on the set and off. She was riding in the passenger seat when LaBeouf crashed his car last July, badly injuring his hand. Gossips seized on the incident as the nail in the coffin of Lucas’ romance with Hollywood heartthrob Adrian Grenier.

She laughs off the rumor, and insists LaBeouf is nothing more than a friend.

“Adrian and I broke up like a month before the car accident happened,” she recently told Australian reporters. “I know there was some love triangle that they were writing about, but that was completely nonexistent because [Grenier and I] weren’t even ­together. … Shia is one of my closest platonic friends in L.A.”

One might think that 23-year-old Fox, whose tough-girl vibe has generated persistent comparisons to young Angelina Jolie, would resent the introduction of another hottie, but Lucas insists her co-star was nothing but nice.

“Megan was really sisterly and warm to me when I began working on the production,” she has said. “She was aware that it is intimidating coming onto a new set where everyone is established, and she was cool.”

The two have plenty in common. For one thing, Fox has worked up a collection of denials when it comes to rumors that she, too, is romantically inclined toward LaBeouf.

“There is a bond,” Fox has acknowledged, “but he also can be a brat and we have fistfights and brawl. He’s like a brother.”

But for the starlets, the most problematic man on set may have been director Michael Bay, known as much for his blockbuster touch of gold as for his brusque persona. Fox has said he handpicked her wardrobe of cutoff shorts and belly shirts. Lucas says he put her in stilettos for the scenes in which she sprints to safety.

“He’s a total nightmare when he’s on set,” Fox has said. “Off-set, he’s another person and I enjoy his company. But when he’s on set he’s a nightmare.”

“Many times he was like, ‘You’ve got to be more sexy,’?” adds Lucas of Bay’s on-set instructions. “I haven’t had that direction before, so it was challenging for me, but great. He is very passionate and energetic and he’s a ­perfectionist who won’t settle for anything else.”

In the end, though, both women say they found a home in the boys-and-their-toys world of macho machines. And Fox, at least, sounds like she’ll be back for any number of sequels.

“I kind of miss the madness of it,” she said recently, “being in this constantly abusive relationship where you never know where the explosions are going off, and there’s screaming and running.”

Source: NYDailyNews.com

The action sequel to 2007’s hugely successful Transformers features Lucas vamping it up as Alice, a student bombshell trying to seduce co-star Shia LaBeouf.

“It’s so enjoyable playing a character that’s so different from yourself, because you can really go and take risks,” Lucas told The Sunday Mail while in Sydney for the premiere of the film, also starring Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel.

To listen to US tabloid gossip, however, it’s art imitating life for the LA-based starlet who lived briefly in Kakadu National Park before moving to Cairns.

For the past 12 months she has been pitted at the centre of a love triangle between her co-star LaBeouf and her ex-boyfriend, Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, who apparently called it quits after learning Lucas was in a car accident while LaBeouf was behind the wheel.

“Me and Adrian, unfortunately we broke up like a month before that car accident happened (in the middle of last year), I didn’t even know Shia at the time,” she revealed.

Despite raking in more than $A880 million worldwide the first time around, the release of the Transformers sequel will be competing against Ice Age 3 and tween sensation Miley Cyrus’s Hannah Montana: The Movie during this school holiday season.

But things look right on target in Australia for the tale about shape-shifting alien robots fighting their war on Earth being another box office smash.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen pre-sale figures are the biggest for the year and the second biggest ever, behind the last Harry Potter,” said Michelle Vecchio, national film marketing manager for Birch Carroll and Coyle.

It’s not the first time an Aussie has cracked the Transformer ranks. Tasmanian-born Rachel Taylor popped up in the original flick as Maggie Madsen.

Since leaving Home and Away, Lucas – who now calls Melbourne home when she’s not in LA – has roles in four projects due for release over the next year, including Stephen Spielberg’s mini-series The Pacific and Daybreakers with Ethan Hawke.

Source: News.com.au

The former Home And Away star and Logie winner was in Sydney this week to promote the new Transformers flick in which she stars.

While she’s no Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett – yet – Lucas, who undertook intense acting classes before she joined the cast of Home And Away, was enthusiastically telling reporters the lengths she had to go to take on her role as a Princeton University student in the sci-fi film.

All those acting classes must have come in handy to meet director Michael Bay’s demands that she be well tanned for her role. Lucas refined her “craft” in a Hollywood solarium, though she said the “claustrophobia” drove her mad so she opted for a series of spray tans. During the casting call, she was wearing a black dress, which Bay apparently found underwhelming. When she took his advice and came back in a colourful dress, she landed the role.

It appears big things are awaiting Lucas in Hollywood. This month she was featured in Vanity Fair as a face to watch. Indeed, Lucas’s prospects look bright, having followed the Sophie Monk formula for fame by dating a string of high-profile men.

She recently ended up in co-star Shia LaBeouf’s car when the actor had an accident, leaving her with a nasty bump on her head.

Source: Brisbane Times

Isabel, congratulations on getting the part of Alice in such a big film. How did it all come about?
I was playing a small role on the miniseries called The Pacific, which is produced by Tom hanks and Steven Spielberg. My agent got a call from Spielberg and asked me to read the role of Alice, because he was also producing Transformers. And I went in auditioned with director Michael Bay. It was surreal, and that’s how I got my foot in the door. It was an unusual audition, because the second half ended up being shot in his car. It was also unusual because when I first arrived, I was wearing a black dress, and he sent me away and told me to go and find a coloured dress, because it was for a summer blockbuster and he didn’t think black was right for the character..

Speaking of The Pacific, did you work on that here in Melbourne, or overseas as well?
I just shot in Melbourne, although the series was shot here and overseas. It’s so special working in your hometown, because when you’re shooting, you’re used to being in unfamiliar hotel rooms, which can be interesting too. Transformers was shot in Philadelphia, Princeton and LA, and I hadn’t been to Princeton or Philly before. But The Pacific was shot in Melbourne, and also Port Douglas. It was a massive production.

Did you grow up with Transformers?
No, I didn’t. I knew nothing about Transformers until I saw the first film, and I was awestruck by the CGI and special effects. I also thought Shia Le Beouf did an incredible job; he has an amazing ability to carry a film. It’s a big fun action film, and even though it’s a sequel, it’s a film unto itself.

Now you play Alice, who’s a bit of a seductress with quite a tongue on her! How did you prepare for the role?
When I auditioned, I didn’t know how my character’s story unraveled, and it was until I was cast that I was allowed to read the script, under supervision. None of us got a copy of the script, except for Shia, because of the incredible secrecy that Michael Bay insisted on for this film. When I had read further, it was exciting to read, because she was layered; it really is a different character from anything I’ve played before, and so different from myself, it pushed me out of that comfort zone, and forced me to explore something new. We wanted something odd about her, but she is mysterious, and we’re not really sure where her intentions lie.

The film involves a lot of CGI action. How did you go working with that?
It’s a different medium of work. Michael was incredibly specific when we were doing shots that involved any kind of special effects. I can’t talk so much about working with poles and tennis balls on top of them, but everything else had their own experiences, and I know it takes more imagination to create that illusion, but when there’s a pole, it’s not that realistic at all. It’s a different way of working altogether. I enjoyed learning about the process and now I have a bit of experience.

What other projects have you got coming up?
I wrapped on a film called Kim, which was shot in Melbourne, and The Waiting City with Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton, and Daybreakers, which comes out in January, and of course, The Pacific. I just think I’m fortunate to be working, because there’s not a lot of work out there.

Tim Hunter, Citysearch

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens 24 June.

Source: Citysearch.com.au