Category: Events

Ben took over the Sydney Film Festival with the premiere of ‘Una’, a screening of ‘The Year My Voice Broke’, a jam-packed conversation event with David Caesar, and several Q&As in Sydney and Melbourne.

Ben was hilariously captured on June 7th walking around Sydney, looking happy as a clam with his face stuffed in a meat pie:

Day 3 (June 9) of the festival kicked off with Ben at the premiere of his film ‘Una’, along with him introducing the film and speaking before several screenings. One of our favorite things about Mendo is his unique red carpet fashion, and he definitely didn’t disappoint:

The Sydney Morning Herald on ‘Una’:

Una, the third film to screen in the festival’s competition for “courageous, audacious and cutting edge” cinema, centres on a woman (Rooney Mara) confronting a factory manager (Mendelsohn) who sexually abused her when she was 13. After he has served time in jail and changed his name, she tracks him down to get an answer to the questions that have trapped her: did he really love her? Why did he leave?

Adapted from the acclaimed play Blackbird, Una features blazing, raw performances by the two stars as the confrontation heads in unexpected directions, interspersed with uncomfortable flashbacks, although opening up the play has diffused some of the potential drama.

Soon after, the much anticipated In Conversation with David Caesar with Ben took place. Here’s a few highlights:

• “I used to be the sweet affable, couldn’t-get-a-girlfriend kind of guy,” Ben Mendelsohn​ said of his acting career. “Then we perfected larrikinism. And then it suddenly went to murderers, paedophiles and Death Star builders.”
• He was funny about not being able to get an acting job in the early 2000s. “I was pretty happy,” he said. “I had a lovely girlfriend. She had a beautiful dog. I spent about two or three years just walking around Darlinghurst-Surry Hills with Tetsui the shar pei.”
• Mendelsohn was realistic enough to know why the Hub was packed. “I know you f—ers. You’re not turning up in these numbers without a Death Star in there somewhere.”
• That thing when Ben Mendelsohn’s dad tries to FaceTime him on stage in mid-interview

The next day, Ben arrived at a NSFA-restored screening of the film “The Year My Voice Broke”, and then traveled to Melbourne to promote ‘Una’ with 2 screenings and conversations with the audience:

The G’Day USA Gala was in full swing last night, bringing together notable Australians such as Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Oscar-winning costume designer Catherine Martin, director Baz Luhrmann, Luke Hemsworth, Rachel Griffiths, and Dominic Purcell.

“Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards presented Ben with an “Excellence in Film and Television” award. Gareth jokingly stated that Ben had “really made it because Target sold socks with his face on them” and proceeded to pull up his pants leg to show off his Director Krennic socks.

Some highlights from Ben’s speech:

“I think this means I have kind of made it,” he said.

“I don’t know what I did to get here but I’m going to keep on doing it and I thank my lucky stars more than most people…I know I am very very lucky to be here.” – news.com.au

Accepting the award, Mendelsohn regaled the audience with a speech full of jokes, seemingly random references and gentle self-deprecation.

He noted wryly he was “big in Australia from about 1988 to 1989”.

“I was the shit,” he joked.

Mendelsohn thanked Damon Herriman​, David Michod​ and Kate Beahan​ for backing him when it was, he said, “unfashionable” to do so.

He also thanked Simon Baker and Rebecca Rigg, Dominic Purcell and the late Heath Ledger for giving him a bed over the years, and acknowledged Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts for inspiring him. – Sydney Morning Herald

Ben also gave several interviews on the red carpet. He was asked about his current projects and named “Darkest Hour”, “The Land of Steady Habits”, “Hood”, and a to-be-announced project that he can’t talk about yet.

75 photos from the Gala have been added to the gallery: