This week on the set of Baz Luhrmann's new period drama, Australia, co-star Bill Hunter offered AfterEllen Hottie No. 94 Nicole Kidman a friendly hand. Australian papers couldn't help but caption this (and clearly, nor can I):

Northern Territory News: "Nicole Earns a Territory Handshake"
Daily Telegraph: "Nicole's Bum Steer in Outback"
Me: "Nicole's Helping Hand Down Under"

We can anticipate a big-screen tweaking of Kidman's bum when Australia opens in 2008. Set during WWII, this scene from the movie is designed to show the difficulties that her character, Lady Sarah Ashley, faces in a male-dominated world. (Gee, I wonder what that's like?)

The on-site filming suffered its own goose from Mother Earth this week. It's a bummer when your arid desert floods. But the movie itself sounds promising: the epic story of a nation as told through one woman's journey to save the land and herself. Plus, Nicole on a horse?

Luhrmann's description of the film as Crocodile Dundee meets Gone With the Wind is oddly compelling. (Just imagine the possibilities for dialogue. Fair Dinkum, Scarlett! I don't give a rat's.)

And Luhrmann is also the guy who brought us Moulin Rouge (2001). Remember the gorgeousness of that?

As an added bonus, Hugh Jackman costars. I suspect he won't be shaking rainbow maracas in this Outback saga, but I'm still a fan of any man who can ride a camel across a stage in cabana pants.

Now we just need a spunky yet sweet girl from the bush who can introduce the helpless lady to the ways of the Outback, á la Cold Mountain (hello, Renée Zellweger!). Is that too much to ask?

(Thanks to http://fan.geekish.net/gwtw for the Scarlett O'Hara image, sans Paul Hogan)