While in Berlin last year shooting Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, Xavier Samuel decided to take advantage of a rare night away from set to hit the clubs with his younger brother, Benedict, who was visiting from the suburbs of Sydney. Samuel, who plays vampire Riley Biers in the galactically popular Twilight saga, wanted to cut loose, unnoticed, among the crowds. “We walked up to the door of one bar, and people started screaming at my brother: ‘Jamie! Jamie! Jamie!’” says the 27-year-old actor.

“So he started posing for pictures and signing autographs.” The throngs had mistaken Benedict for Jamie Campbell Bower, Samuel’s Anonymous costar, both of whom boast long, meticulously tangled heads of hair. “The next morning, there was a photo of Benedict and me in one of the papers over a caption that read, ‘Jamie Campbell Bower and friend in Berlin.’ And friend? Come on!” From the shrub-encased patio at Culina inside the Four Seasons Los Angeles, the Australian shakes his head and lets out a laugh.

It seems mistaken identity was in the air in Germany, where Samuel spent three months perfecting his British accent while channeling the Third Earl of Southampton, the man to whom, according to many Elizabethan scholars, Shakespeare addressed his sonnets. As the film’s tagline, “Was Shakespeare a fraud?,” suggests, Emmerich’s thriller centers on the popular theory that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, played by Rhys Ifans, ghostwrote many of the famed wordsmith’s plays. “It’s a bit elitist to argue that Shakespeare, a man from the working class, couldn’t have done it himself, but there are some strange coincidences that could make you lean toward de Vere as the writer,” says Samuel, who took the stage in productions of Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream during his studies at Rostrevor College and Flinders University Drama Centre in Adelaide. “There are so many theories,” he adds. “I’m sure that if you wanted to, you could find a reason to believe that Muhammad Ali wrote the plays. What’s more interesting to me is the tension between art and politics. Back then you put on a play to overthrow the government. Now you do a movie to get famous.”

A drama about authenticity and authorship set in Shakespearean England doesn’t exactly scream Emmerich, the German special effects enthusiast behind Independence Day, Godzilla, and 2012. But Samuel wasn’t worried about the director trying to arm Ben Jonson with an AK-47. “Sure, he’s a bit of a dark horse, but people seem to forget that the reason Independence Day worked so well was because we cared about those characters—even as everything around them was blowing up,” he says. “Explosions on their own don’t really matter if the audience doesn’t care about the story.”

No franchise in recent history has catapulted a cast of unknown actors into superstardom with as much velocity asTwilight. In 2009, Samuel traveled to Vancouver to star alongside Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner in Eclipse, the second installment of the sunshine-averse saga. Although fans of the Cullen clan “never needed to be handcuffed or anything,” their advances were aggressive enough to force the cast out of their hotel and into a private residential compound. To enjoy their spare time, the actors had to get creative. “We’d have these strategic text conversations, like, ‘Okay, in 30 minutes let’s all meet at this place,’” Samuel says. “We even had lookalikes. When we’d all get to the meeting point, it was like, ‘Yes, we escaped!’”

Samuel, whose parents are teachers (“My dad used to say, ‘You can always go into law as a backup’”), has been acting professionally for almost a decade now, ever since appearing in an episode of the Australian series McLeod’s Daughters. Still, he talks about his recent films with the enthusiasm of a newcomer. He refers to his costars as “just-add-water families.” He describes Anonymous as a “totally awesome film—really, really awesome.” Working opposite Ifans was a near-ecstatic experience. “Acting is like sex,” he says. “It’s possible if your partner is bad, but it’s better if they’re good. And Rhys, well, he’s probably one of the most generous actors I’ve ever worked with.”

Minutes from now, Samuel will drive out to Venice Beach, where he’s learning to carve waves for Drift, a surf movie he’s soon to start filming alongside fellow Aussie Sam Worthington. “What’s next?,” however, is a question he’s come to loathe, even though he’s already got two more films—A Few Best Men (a wedding farce he likens toBridesmaids) and Bait (a horror film about vicious tiger sharks and tsunamis)—in the can. As it turns out, this aversion to looking to the future stems from his recent past. “I was doing a play in Sydney, and David Field, a really respected Australian actor, came to the show. I made the fatal error of saying, What are you doing next? He was like, ‘I’m fucking changing nappies, you fucking cunt. What are you fucking doing?’” Samuel reclines in his chair and lights the cigarette he’s been rolling. After exhaling a thick cloud of blue smoke, he asks, “Why look ahead when you can stop and appreciate the moment?”

Source: Black Book

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Xavier Samuel may be best known as Riley in Eclipse, but the Australian actor takes on a new challenge with a part in this month’s period piece, Anonymous. The movie explores the mystery behind Shakespeare and happens to costar one of Xavier’s Twilight saga cohorts, Jamie Campbell Bower.

During our talk, Xavier told a funny story about a case of mistaken identity involving him, his little brother, and Jamie, and also weighed in on what he’s looking forward to seeing on screen in Breaking Dawn. He even admitted to playing one of the female characters in A Midsummer’s Night Dream during his college days. Check out our interview to hear Xavier’s story, and be sure to catch Anonymous when it hits theaters on Oct. 28!

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Xavier Samuel has a face that you might not immediately recognise – unless you’re a teenage girl or an aficionado of the Twilight movies – and it could be argued that this is what has set him on a sure path to superstardom. This year Samuel has three feature films due for release. And at just 27 years old, his CV is pretty impressive, with roles in movies such as September, Newcastle, The Loved Ones and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

There’s no doubt the Adelaide-raised actor has the right looks to be a Hollywood leading man but, unlike some other rising Aussie stars, he hasn’t had the pressure of being labelled the next Mel Gibson or the next Russell Crowe. Samuel has just been getting on with the job and, as his hectic work schedule attests, Hollywood’s power players have sat up and noticed.

WISH chose Samuel to be the cover star of our annual Best Dressed issue because, along with fellow actors Chris Hemsworth, Ryan Kwanten and Jesse Spencer, he represents a new breed of Aussie male: one who isn’t afraid to look good on the red carpet for movie premieres and awards shows and who recognises that it’s Hollywood after all. Forget Gibson and Crowe, these guys are the next Errol Flynns.

Samuel seems to be enjoying his itinerant lifestyle, going from one film set to the next. “There is some endurance involved with travelling and not having a permanent base and that’s part of the nomadic, gypsy excitement that comes with that,” says Samuel about his prolific, back-to-back film schedule – a rarity in the entertainment industry – that has been non-stop since he graduated from the Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005.

This is a golden age for Australian actors in Hollywood. In the past three years Aussie leading men have made cinema history, with Sam Worthington helming the biggest blockbuster ever made, James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), which grossed an estimated $2.7 billion in worldwide ticket sales and Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) raking in $1 billion.

“I have always felt fortunate but it’s also crazy, something of that magnitude, and hopefully I’m lucky enough to keep going,” says Samuel, whose own recent box-office triumph saw him as the vampire Riley in 2010′s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third instalment in the world-engulfing franchise of Stephenie Meyer’s novels.

Riley was the role that broke Samuel into Hollywood.Eclipse was his first American film but it gained him a nomination for “Best Breakout Star” at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. “I’d been doing American auditions for a while and it always felt like sending audition tapes off into the ether,” he told Interview magazine in 2010 about landing what would prove a pivotal role. “Just hearing anything back from anyone was kind of startling.”

Now on a serious career trajectory, the pressure of the audition circuit has lifted for the time being.  After a slew of career-building roles spanning independent Australian films such as 2:37, September, Newcastle and The Loved Ones, Samuel has since been working with veteran Australian filmmakers. He will appear in Stephan Elliott’s A Few Best Men and Australia’s first big-budget, 3D action flick Bait, directed by Russell Mulcahy, both of which are in the post-production stage.

“I’ve been really lucky in that the films I’ve worked on have been driven by people who are inventive and talented,” says Samuel, referring to the likes of Elliott and Mulcahy. “It has raised the bar for me; helped me to get better and look at things in different ways.” The sharply groomed Samuel declares his pride in the Australian film industry several times during his time on the set of WISH’s 2011 Best Dressed shoot.

His next international film, scheduled for release in September, is Roland Emmerich’s provocative, political thriller, Anonymous, set against the backdrop of Queen Elizabeth I’s succession, but he believes his future is tied to Australia. “I find my time here really valuable and important, and not only for my state of mind but to continue to remain a part of an industry that supported me. There’s a tonne of great Australian filmmakers I’m keen to work with, if they’ll have me … directors such as David Michod and  Luke Doolan [who most recently worked together on Animal Kingdom], who have created lots of interesting work and continue  to do so.”

In addition to his acting talent, another advantage Samuel has working for him is his eye for great style. On the WISH set he immediately caught the crew’s attention for the way he made a range of high-end designer clothes his own. “With so many Australians on the world stage, great personal style has become more important than ever,” notes fashion editor Ken Thompson. “The moment Xavier walked into the studio, I thought: ‘There is a guy with innate style’ – and obviously that’s why he’s on the list. He looks at amazing pieces and puts them together his way. I think this embodies what the modern Australian man should know, and is doing at the same time.”

As part of the third generation of the gum-nut mafia to take on Hollywood since the 1980s when Mel Gibson, Paul Hogan and Bryan Brown first dropped a charismatic “G’day”, Samuel knows he’s in rarefied company but, in true Aussie style, remains completely laidback. “I don’t really have any preconceptions or a grand plan or anything that I’m particularly interested in projecting,” he says as photographer Max Doyle snaps away.

“If I can continue to work in a way that challenges me or keeps me interested I would be happy. It’s hard to think of an image of who you are and what you want to be. I guess it’s far more constructive to be yourself.”

Source: The Australian

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Actor Xavier Samuel of Twilight fame (who played Riley) has joined the upcoming 70′s surfer action flick ‘Drift’.  The twenty -eight year old Aussie performer, who is somewhat of a new comer to the biz, joins Sam Worthington and a rumored Myles Pollard.  The Australian action drama, from Benn Notts and Morgan O’Neill, tells the true tale of Jimmy and Andy Fisher, two brothers, and wave chasers, who attempt together to reinvent themselves as business owners.

Along the way they get caught back up in a life of crime, with a resident drug dealer a threat to their livelihood.   Xavier is said to be portraying one of the brothers, with Myles Pollard the other, while Worthington is set to play a film maker, and friend of the Fishers.  Drift is set begin filming on location in Australia this August with an estimated date of arrival in theaters next summer.  With only a few main stream surf movies around, Drift should be cool to see.  Could it be the next Point Break?  Check out the lengthy synopsis below and tell us what you think?

“Australia, 1970s. The Fisher brothers, Andy (28) and Jimmy (22), have one great passion: riding big waves. As kids, their mother escaped from Sydney to Margaret River, a sleepy coastal town with some of the world’s most challenging and dangerous waves. For the next 12 years, the boys perfected their surfing skills, always searching for the perfect ride. Free-spirited Jimmy is a gifted surfer and innovator but he starts to slip toward a life of crime to help the family out of debt. Andy makes a big decision. Quitting a stable job, he bets on Jimmy’s surf inventions and his own business skills and launches a backyard surf gear business. They rethink board design, craft homemade wetsuits and sell their merchandise out of their van.

Encouraged by their new friends, traveling bohemian surf photographer and filmmaker JB (Worthington) and his gorgeous Hawaiian surfer companion, Lani, who stirs the two brothers’ hearts, they start to seek ways to expand. After they get mixed up with a local drug dealer, it looks like everything they built up, will be ruined…”

Source: Shock Ya

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Xavier Samuel is trading in his fangs for a surfboard, as Variety reports the Twilight star has joined the cast of Drift, an Aussie surf drama starring Sam Worthington.

Set in the 1970s, Drift follows two brothers who open a surf shop and end up building an empire. The film will be directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill, who also wrote the script.

Samuel retreated back to his native Australia after a breakout role playing vampire Riley in the third installment of the Twilight series,Eclipse in 2009.

Around that time he also completed filming on Roland Emmerich’s Shakespearean political thriller Anonymous. Meanwhile, back in Australia, Samuel filmed shark attack horror Bait 3D and The Hangoverinspired A Few Best Men.

Production on Drift gets underway on August 1st in the Margaret River region and is aiming for a 2012 worldwide release.

Source: Courier Mail

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Congratulation to the Robert Pattinson & the fellow ‘Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ casts for winning the following awards!

Best Movie
“Black Swan”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″
“Inception”
“The Social Network”
WINNER: “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”

Best Female Performance
Emma Stone, “Easy A”
Emma Watson, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″
Jennifer Aniston, “Just Go With It”
WINNER: Kristen Stewart, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”

Best Male Performance
Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
WINNER: Robert Pattinson, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Taylor Lautner, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Zac Efron, “Charlie St. Cloud”

Best Fight
Amy Adams vs. The Sisters, “The Fighter”
Chloë Grace Moretz vs. Mark Strong, “Kick-Ass”
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint vs. Death Eaters, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″
Joseph Gordon-Levitt vs. Hallway Attacker, “Inception”
WINNER: Robert Pattinson vs. Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”

Best Kiss
Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Inception”
Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″
WINNER: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, “Black Swan”

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ADELAIDE’S Xavier Samuel is in the running to win an MTV Movie Award.

Xavier, who starred in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is up for Best Breakout Star alongside Andrew Garfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Hailee Steinfeld, Jay Chou and Olivia Wilde.

He’s also up for Best Breakthrough Aussie Star and Best Fight alongside Robert Pattinson and Bryce Dallas Howard. Fans can vote for Xavier at movies.mtv.com.au/movieawards.

Source: Adelaide Now

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With a swag of movie roles already under his belt including ‘September’, ‘Newcastle’, ‘The Loved Ones’, ‘Twilight: Eclipse’, ‘A Few Best Men’ and the hotly contested title of Hollywood’s newest ‘it’ boy, it’s hard to believe it’s only been three years since Xavier Samuel first got one of his big breaks appearing in the 2008 winning OPTUS ONE80PROJECT flick, ‘Dream Life’.

Now, fresh off the set of Australia’s first ever big budget 3D action flick ‘Bait’, Xavier once again returns to the Optus ONE80PROJECT as a celebrity guest to announce the Public Vote Award.We sit down the Adelaide born thesp to talk shooting mechanical sharks, what makes a good drama and how he gets his kicks…

MTV: Hey Xavier, welcome back! You’ve been involved with the Optus ONE80PROJECT for a few years now, first acting in the winning entry ‘Dream Life’ and then as a judge – what keeps drawing you back to the project!?

Xavier: I first got involved with the project through 2008’s ‘Dream Life’; it was this really cool insight into the underbelly of the north shore in this dark territory. It was so unique and original and fun, and I really started becoming aware of this project which is just an awesome initiative. There are so many talented filmmakers and this gives them an opportunity to have their talent recognized and gives them that springboard. There’s so few of those opportunities, especially in Australia, and I’m really happy to be here hanging out with these talented people.

MTV: What do you think are the ingredients of a successful TV drama?

Xavier: It’s so hard isn’t it, because you’re bound by nothing. I was at Tropfest a while ago andDavid Ngo, who won an award for his animation and gave a speech, and he said that any time he’s followed his heart and he’s done something that he really loved he’s been rewarded, and so I think that’s a good way to go in, thinking, if I get kicks out of this it’s probably the right thing. So it’s about following your instinct and going hey I like it, I have faith that other people will and that’s a good starting point.  • Read full story…

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Xavier Samuel is nominated in 2011 MTV Movie Awards. The voting closes on April 5.

• “Best Male Breakout Star”
• “Best Villain”
• “Best Fight”

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Aussie Twilight star Xavier Samuel will be a guest presenter at the Optus One80project festival in Sydney on Sunday.

Samuel will announce the winner of the short film festival’s Public Vote Award when he joins a host of other celebrities at the event on Sunday.

Celebrity judges already announced are actor David Wenham, actress Kat Stewart, Joel and Nash Edgerton and Animal Kingdom writer and director David Michod. • Read full story…

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