Often there are films that catapult one young star into the Hollywood spotlight — after all, you just need that one amazing big break — such as Hailee Steinfeld or Elle Fanning. Rarer are the movies that feature a strong cast made up of fresh talent, usually requiring the young actors to carry much of the story. Check out some of our favourite young casts from this year’s releases — and expect to see a lot more from these stars.
It's been a big few years for makeup artist Leslie Graham. Not only has she made up some of the biggest names in the biz (Tyra Banks and Jamie-Lee Curtis to name a few) she was also responsible for the makeup looks for the vampires on The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse, Sucker Punch and Tron: Legacy with pal and mentor Rosalina Da Silva. We were lucky enough to catch up with Leslie to talk vampires and the inspiration behind her favourite beauty looks.
BellaSugar: You created some of the looks for the vampires in New Moon and Eclipse — who did you look after and what were the key products you used to create their looks?
Leslie Graham: For New Moon I was brought in to be a personal makeup artist for actor Jamie Campbell Bower, who played the role of Caius (one of the leaders of the Voluturi). For Eclipse I did the makeup for all of the Wolfpack [Alex Meraz, Julia Jones and Chaske Spencer], Jodelle Ferland and some of the newborn vampires. On set I would take care of Dakota and the other Volturi. We did a lot of air-brushing using MAC Micronized Airbrushed Formula to give the "onion" skin tone. It has a little silicone in it, which works to keep the makeup in place as we were often working in the woods and in the rain — vampires in the rain can be quite difficult!
You may have caught a glimpse of the gorgeous Jamie Chung in The Hangover's sequel, or in this year's Sucker Punch, or maybe even remember Chung's early days on MTV's Real World: San Diego waaay back in '04, but if you haven't seen her lately, you'll want to take a closer look. Aside from an acting career that's generating some serious buzz, the 28-year-old up-and-comer is now becoming something of a fashion fixture, and our latest style crush. With an affinity for bright colour, chic cuts, and courage to pull off a leather playsuit, we're finding it hard not to get gushy about the actress's rise to style stardom. Alexa, there's a new Chungster in town! Better watch your back...
Sucker Punch is an action-fantasy hybrid that tells the story of a young woman known only as "Baby Doll" (Emily Browning). In an engrossing prologue, we're introduced to Baby Doll's plight; when her mother dies, she and her sister become the targets of their sadistic stepfather. In a tragic twist, Baby Doll is involved in an accident that lands her in a dilapidated mental institution. Unable to accept her new reality, Baby Doll escapes into a fantasy world in which she imagines that she and the other female patients (Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone and Jamie Chung) are beautiful dancers in a burlesque theatre. 
Even in Baby Doll's parallel world where she and the others are gorgeous seductresses, there's still danger from the evil club owner. Fixated on escaping from the theatre, Baby Doll learns from a mysterious mentor that she needs five tools to earn her freedom. The other girls are willing to help, and each time they retrieve one of the tools, they all disappear into a second fantasy world in which they're gun-toting, sword-wielding warriors tasked with defeating a variety of faceless enemies. Does that sound confusing? It is. Though director Zach Snyder tries very hard to make Sucker Punch something of an instant classic for the gamer set, all he creates is a messy illustration of female eye candy atop a half-baked story.
To find out why Sucker Punch left a bad taste in my mouth, just read more.
Abbie Cornish joined her co-star Emily Browning in bringing their kick-ass movie Sucker Punch back home last night. Both Aussie actresses attended the Sydney premiere and Abbie wowed us with her fresh-faced beauty look. Keeping things dewy with a sheer cheek tint, the NSW beauty rocked a sultry mauve shadow and finished off the look with dusky pink lip.
Following big premieres in LA and London, Aussie Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning and Abbie Cornish brought their action movie home last night with a premiere in Sydney. The girls were happy to chat about their experiences making the film, with Emily saying the most challenging thing about shooting Sucker Punch was “the physical aspect,” but that she got addicted to the adrenaline. She also revealed that when she and her co-stars Abbie, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone and Jamie Chung weren’t filming, they had “Wednesday night cheat night” where they would go to dinner and “order every dessert on the menu” to break from their strict diets. Abbie shared that the movie’s final result is very similar to what she imagined the first time she read the script, saying, “There’s something about Zach’s [Snyder, the director] mind I really connect to.” She also said that her W.E. director Madonna “is a lot of fun to work with.” Other Aussie stars who turned out for the movie include Lincoln Lewis, Rhiannon Fish, Sophie Lowe and Angus McLaren.
The Sucker Punch girls have been hard at work on the premiere trail, working a load of carefully put together looks for red carpets all over the world. Last night it was Sydney's turn to host the premiere party, with local girls Abbie Cornish and Emily Browning representing the star-studded cast in ultra feminine frocks. Leading the sartorial charge, the stylish stars wore Alberta Ferretti and Erdem (again) respectively. Other outfits of note? Maude Garrett's leather shorts get up was super cute, and Sophie Lowe's lo-fi look had us at hello. Flip through to see the rest of the stylish attendees.
The girls of Sucker Punch headed to London for a big premiere of their movie as part of their promotional tour in Europe. Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone and Jamie Chung hit the red carpet at Vue West End in a variety of colourful dresses, with most of them switching up their styles from last week’s LA premiere. Vanessa also hosted a party at Pure Nightclub to celebrate the film’s release in the US last week, while Emily spoke to Teen Vogue about how much she loved being part of a movie with tough, lead female roles. There were also some hot men at the premiere with new Superman Henry Cavill (it’s being directed by Sucker Punch’s Zack Snyder) and Red Riding Hood’s Max Irons (who is dating Emily) suiting up for the event. Emily and Abbie will be in Sydney for another red carpet outing this weekend.
We’ve already talked about how Red Riding Hood’s bad boy Shiloh Fernandez was almost cast as Edward Cullen in the Twilight series. But did you know Aussie Emily Browning was author Stephenie Meyer’s “first choice” for the role of Bella Swan? The Sucker Punch actress tells Teen Vogue’s April issue that she wasn’t ready for another franchise after starring in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004. So she turned down the Twilight audition and appeared in a few smaller movies before landing the lead role of Baby Doll in the upcoming girl power flick. Apart from transforming herself physically for the role, she loves how the movie portrays a strong, female cast, saying, “You never see an all-female action film. If people do attempt it, it’s like a parody: ‘Look, these girls are fighting, and that’s hilarious because girls aren’t tough.’ Girls — and their strength — are taken seriously in this.” We can’t wait to see Emily and her hot co-stars kick butt in the movie. What about you?
Aussie actress Emily Browning totally transformed herself for the role of Baby Doll in Sucker Punch, exercising "six hours a day, five days a week" and ditching her normally-dark locks in favour of an Abbey Lee-esque platinum blonde, which earned her some unwanted attention. She told Teen Vogue:
"It was kind of like a funny little social experiment. People make all of these assumptions about your personality. And I definitely attracted more creeps."
It isn't the first time the 22-year-old Melbourne actress has lightened up or drastically switched up her style though. Back in 2007, when she was the ambassador of L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, she went blonde and she got a pixie crop cut in last year. Emily can easily pull off any hair colour, but do you find what she's saying about people's perceptions true? Have you found that people react differently when you're rocking a specific hair hue?
