In a recent interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Irish actor and comedian of Bridemaids fame, Chris O’Dowd, made a throwaway comment that has managed piss off the entire Sydney suburb of Campbelltown after the Sapphires leading man labelled it a “dump.”
The Sapphires leading man was quoted as saying “Hey, I went to many beautiful places in Australia – I was very fortunate – but Campbelltown is a dump.” The comment has expectedly drawn the ire of Campbelltown residents on social media, with both locals and Mayor Anoulack Chanthivong and Liberal MP Bryan Doyle leaping to the city’s defence. In today’s Telegraph, Doyle event went as far as to describe the suburb as “the opal of the south west“. Sapphire would’ve have been more appropriate, but we won’t hold that against him.
UPDATE: This morning O’Dowd issued an apology via Twitter, attributing the city’s endless fast food chains for his moronic ramblings [Can vouch for this]:
In other Sapphire-related news, the film also enjoyed the best opening weekend of any Australian film at the box office in the last two years. Over the last weekend, it took $2.34 million, bring its total gross earnings to $2.59 million. Not bad for a little film with a lot of soul/money behind it.
According to residents protesting Dowd’s original remarks on the local paper’s Facebook page, here are some things about Campbelltown that might’ve made Dowd reconsider his initial comments:
Diversity of flora and fauna seen nowhere else in the world, which is difficult to appreciate if you come from an urban jungle. [Can also vouch for this, have been to Mt. Annan Botanic Gardens]
The people are real.
[We] have a huge Zumba crew of around 300 people.
If he watches the news [Campbelltown is] one of the most heritages places in Sydney.
There’s plenty of places to hock your grannies DVD.
People in Campbelltown are able to have a bath every day.
It has the best Christian schools ever.
It’s close to the country and beaches and has a great community spirit.
If this criteria is anything to go by – and I think it is – executives at Shine Productions are positively beaming with the prospects of another dramality series right about now. I’m thinking ‘The Town‘. You can thank me later, Shine.
Catch a glimpse of Campbelltown/the Macarthur Region on film in The Sapphires.
Via The Macarthur Chronicle Facebook Page
Photo by Valerie Hach for Getty Images Entertainment
