Tasmanian-born actress Rachael Taylor hit the big time when she chosen to play one of the few females in the boy’s club blockbuster Transformers. The Michael Bay-directed flick generated over $250 million dollars worldwide and has since spawned a sequel (due for release in July). But Taylor, who says she has to “follow her heart and not think about finances”, didn’t want to be part of the sequel – let alone be involved in another big blockbuster movie any time soon. As far as she’s concerned, she’d be quite happy doing small, more meaningful independent movies for the rest of her career.

There are no killer robots in Taylor’s latest film. Bottle Shock, released independently in the states, is the story of a group of Californian winemakers who take on the stiff British in a landmark competition. Whereas another actress may have bounced straight from one blockbuster to another – grabbing the riches along the way – Taylor decided to take the road less travelled and please herself. And this was the film she wanted to do.

“There’s an argument that says you try to book the big job, or the big movie, but I don’t really prescribe to that as this moment – for better or for worse. I guess it could backfire”, she says, “I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ve got everything I need. I don’t have any desire to drive a Porsche. I think I have a lot of dues to still pay”.

Taylor didn’t choose Bottle Shock just to give the finger to the studio system. She quite simply, just loved the story.

“I got the script for Bottle Rock and had to do it. I fought for it. And it was a great opportunity to work with Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman. It’s just a pleasant film. It’s a sweet film with a sweet heart. I don’t think it’s sugary or saccharine, it’s just sweet. There’s no meanness in it. It’s a positive life-affirming movie – kinda like a sporting movie in a way, but about wine. Great old-fashioned American underdog tale. The project had a lovely spirit. I’m really pleased with this film.”

The film is based on the true story of father-and-son winemakers Bo and Jim Barrett, who opened Chateau Montelena, which the film is centred in and around.

‘’It’s set in the 70s. Jim, who was this really passionate man, had this passion to make chardonnay. He smuggled wine to Paris and he won this competition. And that was the start of the Napa Valley wine industry. Australian Wines, Californian Wines – suddenly all those new-world wines had a place”.

Taylor based her character, Sam, a beautiful intern at the vineyard who (needless to say) steals the boys’ hearts, on Heidi Barrett, Beau’s real-life partner.

“She makes Screaming Eagle”, Taylor says of Barrett’s now-famous drop. “She’s the most fascinating woman. Before I met her, I’d decided to play Sam sort-of Tom Boyish, but Heidi, whose at the pinnacle of her dream being a winemaker, is so feminine and light-spirited. She has this incredible lightness to her. And that’s what I was trying to do with the character of Sam, which is to not make her too boyzy or too farm-girlish. I wanted to keep her light, and really breezy, because that’s the energy that I got from Heidi.

“I sat down with her in one of her cellars one day, and we drank wine, and I learnt about her life – it was awesome!”

So having said, do you have to like wine to do a film like this?

“I like wine – but I didn’t know much about it, or why I like it. My grandfather is quite a big wine enthusiast. After doing this film I know a little more about wine, but I’m by no means specific about what I like.”

More of an attraction for Taylor, than getting to spend the day with bottles of bottles of funky grape juice, was working with legendary actor Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Igby Goes Down, Brokedown Palace) – who plays Jim Barrett.

“He’s so funny, Bill. When we were at the Premiere in the United States I said to him ‘You know Bill, you have this great American sense of Paternity about you’ because he plays that American father-figure so well. And he was like “well thank you so much Rachael, you’ve completely desexualised me as a male. He’s so funny. But it’s true – I think what Bill lends to the film is emotional strength and realism. He’s very solid. He’s an inspiration to me.

“He and Alan Rickman (who plays Brit winemaker Steven Spurrier in the film) are very different. Bill will go into a scene and thrash it out; he goes to-to-toe with it. He’s in there, and if it doesn’t work he’ll want to do it again. He’s sort of messy – if that makes sense. Whereas Alan is more, well, English – I suppose; he doesn’t make much of a fuss, keeps it simple and is somewhat aloof. Still, he’s very warm and collaborative. These are the people that I want to continue to work with. These are the people that I learn from.”

Playing young wildcard Bo Barrett, Jim’s unruly son, is future mega-star Chris Pine. Shortly after Bottle Shock, Pine was cast to play Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie – and Taylor can’t contain her excitement for him.

“Can I just say, for the record, I have never been happier to hear about anyone getting a role like that. I’m thrilled. He’s nailed it now. He’ll turn into a huge movie star. The next time we go out for a beer the paparazzi will follow him. I’m sooo happy for him. He’s so professional and he’s such a sweet person. He’s worked his ass off. He’s generous. He really deserves it. He really does. I’m so happy for him.

“I’ve seen some of the previews and he looks so steely and handsome in Star Trek. I said to him the other day, ‘Chris. This is retarded. You look ridiculously good-looking and leading man in this’. Whereas, in Bottle Shock he kinds play like a vagabond.”

Since wrapping Bottle Shock, Taylor returned to Australia to shoot another rather small movie, Cedar Boys, in which she plays a “girl on a downward spiral. She’s such a lost creature, but doesn’t have any of the resources to climb her way out of that”.

Taylor continues, “It’s about the Lebanese community – which is sort of a hot topic at the moment”, says the actress. “It’s from an incredibly talented Australian director by the name of Serhat Caradee. It’s his first feature. He’s one to watch. He just doesn’t direct stuff – and not that there’s anything wrong with this – that feels like it’s from an Australian film. He has a very European sensibility.”

Taylor, whose currently voicing a character in an animated movie (“It’s the most fun I ever had at work ever. I play an Owl in Zack Snyder’s new animated film, The Guardian’s of Ga’Hoole - which has a bunch of Australian voices in it. Zac is a great person to be working for. He’s lovely), says she hopes audiences discover Bottle Shock.

“It’s a lovely film. It’s gentle. It’s the kind of film you can watch with your lover over a bottle of wine. And quite frankly, that’s what I want to watch at the moment”.

- CLINT MORRIS