The Daily Telegraph

November 27, 1999

Six stars, a Sydney lunch and a bright green Claudia

By Page 13's JO CASAMENTO

 

IT was a Sydney power lunch without a suit or tie in sight.

Instead, the men gathered at an inner city restaurant yesterday dominate Australian and international acting.

 

The testosterone-charged blokes' lunch yesterday featured Sam Neill holding court with Australia's favourite son-in-law Tom Cruise, his Cocktail co-star Bryan Brown, Mission Impossible II actor John Polson, SeaChange's Diver Dan aka David Wenham and Muriel's Wedding star Matt Day.

 

``We get together from time to time,'' Polson said of the mighty and formidable team, dressed casually for a sunny afternoon.

 

``We're just catching up, kicking back and having a relaxed lunch,'' he said of the impressive line-up, who declined to be photographed while dining.

 

The festive table filled the Boathouse Restaurant at Blackwattle Bay with plenty of laughter -- Tom Cruise's famous toothy grin and Brown's raucous bellow interspersing the conversation.

 

Brown laughed: ``I hope they got me in the photo -- I paid the bill,'' when the crew left after almost two hours of bonding.

 

At one stage the group stopped their conversations and admired Claudia.

 

``She's beautiful -- such a great colour,'' Brown's broad ocker voice boomed.

 

Claudia's colour was a bright, vibrant green. Very beautiful, for a large oil tanker, slowly moving past the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Pyrmont Fish Markets.

 

The Two Hands star was then overheard telling Wenham, who will be seen next year in Russia Doll and is now filming Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, of his travels around the world.

 

He also asked Neill about his latest projects, which include starring in The Dish -- the latest film to be released next year from Working Dog Productions, which did the comedy hit The Castle. White wine was the drop of choice for the lads' luncheon with starters including duck with corn cream, seared scallops, freshly shucked oysters, broccoli soup and crayfish.

 

For mains, they dined on blue eyed cod, salmon, snapper pie and milk-fed lamb. The actors left at 4.45pm and all except Brown piled into Polson's navy jeep. Polson returns to LA tomorrow to finish filming on Mission Impossible II.

 

Brown jumped into a taxi -- no doubt heading for his Balmain home after the day out.