28 June 2003
The Courier Mail - click
here for original source
Baz needs
Diggers to film here
By Maria
Moscaritolo
AUSTRALIA'S deal to clinch the epic film Alexander the Great hangs on one thing – the loan of hardened soldiers and cadets to play the conqueror's army.
Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann said without man-power from Australia's Defence Force, the film would go overseas.
"If we knew we had these 200 troops tomorrow, it's a done thing – without it, we're gone, we can't really do it," he said yesterday.
"This isn't just a 'gee, wouldn't it be nice, this is technical reality'."
The outback town of Broken Hill is hot favourite to stage the $300 million blockbuster, which will star Leonardo Di Caprio as the king of ancient Macedonia and Nicole Kidman as his mother, Olympia.
But the man who reinvented the movie musical said he needed the real thing to portray Alexander's tough invading army – extras and actors would not do.
"We have one singular problem – New Zealand was able to give some military support to Lord of the Rings – and without some military component, we'll never be able to make it because you can't actually fake that element.
"We need a few hundred soldiers, or cadets, or police . . . we really need guys who can bivouac down and be in the desert, otherwise we just can't do it."
The film director met Prime Minister John Howard yesterday afternoon to personally make his pitch, accompanied by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis, wife Catherine Martin and Arts Minister Rod Kemp.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said the Government wanted to see the film made here and was seriously considering the request.
The already stretched ADF would have to be consulted before any decision was made.
Who pays for the wannabe film star soldiers' costs would be worked out once the support was guaranteed, Luhrmann said.
Still in enthusiastic pitch-mode, he warned that other countries were aggressively lobbying to host the movie, and the jobs and industry dollars it would bring.
"To the extent that he (Mr Howard) can look into it and help out . . . everybody's enthusiastic because it's about focusing on the town of Broken Hill and embracing that town," he said.