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Simon News, Articles, Info - Part 1
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| beautyfulbabyboy |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 10:25 AM | Message # 256 |
 True Blue
Messages: 782
Status: Offline |
 still can´t watch it... |
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| Fran |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 2:24 PM | Message # 257 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 4127
Status: Offline |
This is a transcript of an Australian magazine feature on Rebecca from June 1995, shortly before they moved to the US. Obviously the focus is on Rebecca not Simon, but I found it interesting.
Mover and Shaker
Rebecca Rigg’s penchant for moving on hasn’t inhibited constant demand for her services
Rebecca Rigg, strands of black hair dangling waywardly across her eyes, plonks herself cross-legged on the couch. “The reason everything is in boxes is that we just moved here two weeks ago” says the 27-year-old actress. “After a year of living somewhere I look for reasons to move. I convince myself I don’t like the wallpaper or I don’t like the colour of the paint. I look for stupid reasons to move. And yet I battle it because I don’t want to be like that. I really want to find somewhere and stay, but I also really like moving on to something else.”
And that’s one of the reasons the uncertain life of an actress holds no fear for Rigg; that and the fact that for now – she has as much work as she needs. During the past 12 months, Rigg has found herself skipping from theatre to TV to films and back to TV with an ease many of her peers envy. “That just seems to be the way with me; I don’t like being in the same spot for too long” she says, unconsciously repositioning herself on the couch in their flat near Bondi Beach that she shares with long-time partner (and fellow actor) Simon Baker-Denny and their daughter, 22-month-old Stella.
On June 5, she stars as Gary Sweet’s love interest Claudia Bartier, a mysterious French artist, in Cody:Bad Love for the Seven Network. Filmed a year ago in Sydney, Bad Love, the third Cody telemovie, was the beginning of a roll for Rigg, who has since filmed the first of a six-part series, Naked, for ABC-TV (to be screened later this year), completed her first theatrical role as Cathy Earnshaw in the CrossRoads Theatre production of Wuthering Heights and starred with Patsy Kensit in a new Australian psychological thriller, Tunnel Vision, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival and will be released here in the next few months.
“Playing a Frenchwoman was something of a novelty and a challenge, mainly because the character, Claudia, is so multi-layered and mysterious” says Rigg. “I also like doing accents.” So much so that after she won the part, the producers asked her to tone down her Gallic growl so as not to distract viewers. The final product though, was worth the effort “Rebecca carried it off beautifully” says director John Laing, “It’s rare when an actor is asked to play an accent that they can sustain their performance over many scenes, but Rebecca did and did it effortlessly.”
Add to her recent success the satisfaction Rigg finds in being a mother, the love of Baker-Denny, and her faith in a new business venture (a pregnancy calendar, Breeze Baby, she developed while pregnant with Stella) due to be launched next week, and Rigg has almost all the ingredients of a very successful, if ever-changing, life story. “I love my life” says Rigg enthusiastically. “I have a beautiful daughter who is the linchpin of my life, a wonderful man whom I love, and I get paid to act; I have everything I need”.
And more than enough to do, Rigg and Baker-Denny, 25 (who starred in Home and Away and E Street) have combined forces to work up a movie script and an idea for a situation comedy (“But we can’t write together; we find we argue from the first word” she says), which they may one day pitch to a TV network. “I don’t feel very creative when I’m acting; it’s someone else’s writing, it’s someone else’s set, it’s someone else’s direction. I feel more creative when I play my guitar or write a song or story.”
Friends and peers, however, have a different view of Rigg’s talents. “Rebecca isn’t only a wonderful mother”, says friend of five years (and godmother to Stella) actress Naomi Watts, who makes her Hollywood debut in the sci-fi movie Tank Girl (which opens on June 15). “She is an incredible talent. Although she is doing well at the moment, I have always been surprised that Australia hasn’t embraced her as she deserves to be.” Phil Avalon, producer of Tunnel Vision, is just as effusive in his praise: “She’s a superlative actress, and I think she’s just beginning to hit her straps. I think she’s going to make a huge impression in the next few years.”
Whether she has sufficient time to make that impression is another matter. Rigg is hoping her Breeze Baby concept will be a commercial success. “It’s a calendar for expecting mothers, so they can mark appointments and make comments about their feelings, and later roll it up as a record of their pregnancy. “I’m very excited about it”, she says. Observes Baker-Denny: “Rebecca’s a very strong and independent woman, and if she says she’s going to make something work, she will. Though I don’t think she’ll ever give up acting, she’s at a stage where she has to look for a new challenge”.
Challenge has featured in Rigg’s life since childhood. Born in Sydney, Rigg moved often with her parents, Philip, a musician, and Mary (who makes and markets her own brand of jam), who separated when Rigg was a toddler. Acting first attracted Rigg at age 11 when her mother, who worked for an entertainment agency, suggested she audition for the film Fatty Finn. Rigg won the role, but her mother changed her mind about her daughter’s involvement. “At home I had my mother always trying to talk me out of every job that I did because she had spent 20 years in the industry and knew the reality and thought, with my education, I could go on to do other things” says Rigg.
But the 1980 Fatty Finn role won her an Australian Film Institute nomination and since then Rigg has featured in films such as Fortress, Raw Nerve, Hunting and Spotswood, the TV series A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors and EStreet and the mini-series Emma:Queen of the South Seas and Come In Spinner.
“I’m not sure what the future holds” says Rigg. “I love being a mother but I think we’ll wait before having another child. There’s a lot of travelling and living to be done which would be possible with one child but might not be possible with two. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” What’s the bet it turns out to be the right move?
Photo caption: “Simon is laid-back and casual – I’m far more volatile” says Rigg, with partner Baker-Denny last year. “Sometimes that means it goes up in a ball of flame, but we complement eachother perfectly”.
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| Nixenkind |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 3:59 PM | Message # 258 |
 Jillaroo
Messages: 64
Status: Offline |
Great article, and I absolutely LOVE the picture of her and Stella- it's gorgeous! |
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| Tassie |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 4:20 PM | Message # 259 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 517
Status: Offline |
How nice to hear things from Recca's point of view at that time, and of course knowing now how their plans worked out. Sweet picture. |
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| Wand612 |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:14 PM | Message # 260 |
Jillaroo
Messages: 62
Status: Offline |
Thanks for this amazing article. I really like the way Simon and Rebecca have grown up with each other. They obviously faced a lot of challenges, due to temperament and circumstance. |
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| bee |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:21 PM | Message # 261 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1525
Status: Offline |
Lovely to learn something new about Rebecca, they have both certainly come a long way since that time. I agree the photo of her with Stella is beautiful. |
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| KathyF |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:23 PM | Message # 262 |
 Rip Snorter
Messages: 431
Status: Offline |
Wow! What a passionate lady! That is a precious picture with Stella too. I wonder if her baby calendar worked out? Thanks for posting this article. I can see why Simon loves her so much. |
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| Mrpf |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:44 PM | Message # 263 |
Ankle Biter
Messages: 28
Status: Offline |
Thanks very much Frank. 
I get lost in the dates, They went to the U.S. in December 1995 and married in 1996?
I love the old interviews about Simon and Rebecca and your site has many treasures.
Because Simon is best known to Rebecca, we know his love for her, but I think Rebecca has always been so in love with Simon: "I have a wonderfuld man whom I love ". Rebecca is a beautiful woman and so full of life. I love anything that has to do with her.
Sorry my bad english. 
Message edited by Mrpf - Sunday, 08-Jul-12, 0:11 AM |
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| Thrill |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:55 PM | Message # 264 |
 Dinkie-Di
Messages: 210
Status: Offline |
Great article - with so much unhappiness as youngsters you can see the strong driving force to have their own family as central to their lives. Rebecca appears very strong and very intriguing. Simon is very lucky!
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| Wand612 |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 6:16 PM | Message # 265 |
Jillaroo
Messages: 62
Status: Offline |
I thought I read somewhere that Rebecca's father was an architect. Assuming I remember correctly, I guess it was her stepfather? |
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| Alex |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 6:37 PM | Message # 266 |
 Blow-In
Messages: 7
Status: Offline |
It's rare and impressive to get Rebecca's point of view for their relationship... thanks for sharing! |
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| justlook3 |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 7:15 PM | Message # 267 |
 Bee's Knees
Messages: 501
Status: Offline |
That was very interesting. I wonder what became of some of that stuff? Her pregnancy calendar for example. Seems she was so excited about it, but then six months later they were headed to the US (and apparently in need of a fix in their relationship). Seems like it was an eventful six months that lead to that. Course, some of the problems may have already existed and were glossed over for this interview. These sorts of things often are.
Love that pic of her and Stella. So pretty. |
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| Evy |
Date: Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 11:27 PM | Message # 268 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1233
Status: Offline |
The blond curls, blue eyes , the look.... when I look at Stella on the picture, I see simon! You don't find ? |
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| Delaila |
Date: Sunday, 08-Jul-12, 1:50 AM | Message # 269 |
 Blow-In
Messages: 3
Status: Offline |
Yes SWEETEVY.. Stella looks exactly like Simon and super cute. Like copy paste.. for sure.  |
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| justlook3 |
Date: Sunday, 08-Jul-12, 9:33 PM | Message # 270 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 501
Status: Offline |
Stella pretty much looks like Simon while the boys favor Rebecca. But there's a pic of the now adult Stella (gosh how does that make Simon and Rebecca feel having a daughter who is now legally an adult?) sitting with Rebecca at a Lakers game and they have the same smile. And I suppose if you studied the boys they'd have some of Simon's features even if they favor their mum more in coloring. |
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