Ben Mendelsohn has been cast as the third part of the love triangle in Baz Luhrman's outback epic "Australia" reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

The 1940's-set film follows Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), a married English aristocrat who moves to her husband's homestead in the Australian outback called Faraway Downs and becomes involved with a cattle drover (Hugh Jackman).

David Wenham plays a businessman who is working to nab the land from out under her. Mendelsohn's role is thought to be that of Kidman's husband whom gets knocked off relatively early in the piece.

Mendelsohn is known to many Australians due to the dozens of local films on his resume including hits "Idiot Box," "The Big Steal," "Sirens," "Cosi," "Spotswood," "The Year My Voice Broke," and more recently the acclaimed TV series "Love My Way." He's also popped up in such Hollywood films as "Vertical Limit" and "The New World."

Barry Otto, Lillian Crombie, Ursula Yovich, David Ngoombujarra and David Gulpilil have also joined the cast with production scheduled to get heavily underway in Bowen on May 14th.

A huge set has apparently already been built in Bowen which recreates 1942-era Darwin. The famous Japanese bombing of the North Australian city serves as the backdrop for the film's final act.