When it comes to award ceremonies, Rick Findlater is usually back at a hotel making stars look their best.
But the Australian hair and make-up artist will now be at the centre of the action after being nominated for both British and American academy awards for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
“I’m just going to suck it up and enjoy the whole thing,” Findlater says from the home he is renovating on four hectares at Georgica, near Lismore in northern NSW.
Compared with Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables, Naomi Watts for The Impossible and Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook, Findlater is [Australia’s] unknown Oscar nominee this year.
Rather than sharing the honour with publicists and managers, he was alone at home with his black labrador Diesel when he discovered his nomination on the Oscars website – then calmly went to bed.
“I think I’d crack many bottles of champagne if I was ever lucky enough to win, along with my colleagues,” he says just as calmly. “But, for now, I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m even nominated.”
