The Whaleman Foundation are running an auction where the highest bidder will get to spend an afternoon with Isabel or Hayden Panettiere on a private dolphina and whale watching tour off the coast of California!

You and up to 5 guests will join Hayden or Isabel on separate cruises aboard Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari off the coast of Southern California to witness some of the most spectacular dolphin and whale feeding grounds and the chance to see the ever-elusive Blue Whale.

The total package includes a private whale watching tour with either Hayden or Isabel and Jeff Pantukhoff, world-renowned whale researcher, marine life film maker and founder of The Whaleman Foundation.

Proceeds from the winning bid will benefit The Whaleman Foundation. The Whaleman Foundation is a public IRS 501 (c) (3) non-profit research, education, conservation, and wildlife film production organization dedicated to preserving and protecting our ocean world. Whaleman’s primary mission is to educate key decision makers, while raising public awareness, on the issues that affect cetaceans (dolphins, whales & porpoises) and their critical habitats through our films and media outreach. www.whaleman.org

The auction opened on August 25th and closed on September 4th.

View full details at the Whaleman Foundation Ebay page and visit the Isabel auction page here. You can also sign a petition to stop all commercial whaling at the first link too.

And there is a short message from Isabel at the site too:

“Hey, I’m currently on set shooting my new movie Red Dawn and really excited about going out to see the dolphins and whales with you. Remember all the proceeds from the auction go to The Whaleman Foundation and our Save the Whales Again! Campaign. Thanks for your support and helping such a great cause!”

~ Isabel

New Australian feature The Waiting City is set to make a splash at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The film as directed by young Australian filmmaker Claire McCarthy, whose previous credits include Sisters and the feature film Cross Life, starring Paul Caeser and Tony Barry. The Waiting City is a definite step up for McCarthy in terms of her cast’s notoriety, with such big Australian names as Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and Isabel Lucas starring. It also has the unique distinction of being the first Australian film to be shot entirely in India.

The Waiting City follows the story of a young, seemingly happy couple travelling to Kolkata to finalise the adoption of an Indian child. However, whilst on the unfamiliar, intoxicating streets of a new city they start to drift apart from one another, the vulnerability of their marriage eventually revealing itself. It is a complex love story set against the epic backdrop of the bustling, historical city of Kolkata.

The Waiting City has been selected as a part of the TIFF’s Special Presentation section, a distinction usually reserved for older, more experienced filmmakers, which shows just how impressed the Toronto programming team is with the film. This fact will go a long way to distinguishing Claire McCarthy as an elite film director.

The Waiting City was developed in association with the former Australian Film Commission’s INDIVISION program and was financed by Screen Australia, the new Producer Offset, Spectrum Films, Efilm, Exodus and the NSW Film and Television Office. Radha Mitchell is also an Executive Producer. The Waiting City joins other Australian films Bright Star, Mao’s Last Dancer and The Boys are Back at the festival. All films will be released by Hopscotch in the coming months.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from 10th-19th September.

TIFF Links:
TIFF Reviews
Official TIFF Site ‘The Waiting City’ page

ISABEL Lucas has taken a leaf out of Lara Bingle’s books and starred in an Australian tourism campaign.

Yet while Lucas is a rising star in Hollywood, recently stealing the limelight from her Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen co-star Megan Fox, she’s become the face not of the whole country but of the Victorian resort town of Daylesford.

The campaign, which hits TV screens tomorrow, comes with a $7million price tag but there is no word yet on how much of that was needed to secure the LA-based star. While here she spent time getting cosy with Joel Edgerton.

DAYLESFORD – lead a double life.
That is the message of a new advertising campaign promoting the region as Australia’s premier spa and wellbeing destination.

Featuring Hollywood-based Australian actress Isabel Lucas, the ad was screened for the first time last night at The Convent Gallery to an impressed audience.

More than $7 million was spent on the campaign, which is hoped will attract more interstate visitors to Victoria by highlighting the dualities in Daylesford _ decadence and purity, indulgence and rejuvenation and temptation and redemption.

Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding said the Daylesford and Macedon Ranges region was the perfect vehicle to spearhead Victoria’s tourism campaign over the next three years.

Isabel’s management company, Meissner Management, reports that Isabel has been cast as Erica in the re-make of Red Dawn. This re-make is to be directed by Dan Bradley, and stars Chris Hemsworth (Isabel’s friend/ex-costar/ex-boyfriend!), Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki. IMDB has a release date set at 24th September 2010, but I haven’t seen any details on when and where filming will take place yet.

You can read more about the original film at Wikipedia or IMDB, and stay tuned here for further news on Izzy’s involvement in the new version!

Thanks so much to Ida for the heads-up on this!

New to the fashion circus, Isabel Lucas, the Australian actress who’s won international fame for her role in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” said she’s rapidly adjusting to the limelight. “It has been a whirlwind. I’ve had a very tight schedule,” she related. Accompanied by her law graduate sister Nina, who was also decked out in Chanel, Lucas said she’s looking forward to wearing more couture for a spread in Italian Vogue.

– wwd.com

MIA has come from nowhere to be Australia’s most popular girls’ name, possibly thanks to tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt and his wife Bec.

A McCrindle Research survey found traditional names dominated, but some parents chose the unusual, such as Mickayla, Jaedyn, Me-a, Thai-son, Ty’Ana and Al’Bert, the Herald Sun reports.

McCrindle looked at birth records nationally and found Jack, William and Lachlan were the most popular boys’ names registered last year. Mia, Chloe and Isabella topped the girls.

Some star-struck parents added a celebrity angle. They included: Sienna (Miller), Lily (Allen), Ruby (Rose), Imogen (Bailey), Eva (Mendes/Longoria Parker), Scarlett (Johansson), Isla (Fisher), Charli (Delaney), Keira (Knightley), Isabel (Lucas), Angelina (Jolie), Jack (Black), (Prince) William, Harrison (Ford), (Prince) Harry, Seth (Green) Ashton (Kutcher) and (Prince) Charles.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” isn’t exactly a hit with the critics. But it is a hit with an equally vocal group: oglers.

Lookups on Megan Fox, the film’s comely star, are up 176% since the film opened. Not too shabby. However, that spike is small potatoes compared to the sudden interest in Isabel Lucas, the film’s other hottie.

Since “Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen” hit theaters, lookups on Ms. Lucas are up a staggering 1,098%. Fox is still much more popular overall, but for now Lucas has the momentum.

DESPITE being one of the hottest young stars in Hollywood, Isabel Lucas can’t find a bloke – and is happily single.

“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.

» Just Jared reports that Isabel “will be the special guest of Chanel at their Haute Couture show in Paris on July 7th.” That’s pretty cool, and quite an honour – Chanel!! Isabel is clearly making more waves in Hollywood

» Just Jared has also posted some new candids of Isabel from this week.

» And Isabel attended the “(500) Days Of Summer” premiere in LA last night. See photos from that event here.

» Photos from the recent events plus loads of candids will be ready and waiting for you in our Gallery when it opens, and be sure that we will provide you with photos from the Chanel event on July 7th