MOVIE DEVELOPMENT:
June 2007 - December 2007
The following is a
detailed summary of movie news and speculation that was reported from June 2007
(when filming moved to Darwin) until December 2007 (when filming of Australia
wrapped).
All news is accompanied
by the name of the media source, and links to original articles.
Click here to return to my main
Australia page.
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Elton John's on song to join Baz Luhrmann's Aussie epic
Daily Mail, 14 December 2007
Elton John would jump at the chance of writing a love song for Baz Luhrmann's
epic movie Australia. The singer-composer and his partner David Furnish visited
Luhrmann's set in Sydney on Wednesday and watched the film's leading lady Nicole
Kidman at work in the studio, filming a ball scene set in a stunning recreation
of the lush gardens of Government House in Darwin. (When the couple walked onto
the set, the film's band burst into Crocodile Rock in their honour.) I noticed,
though, that he and Furnish sat well away from the acres of real grass that had
been laid out. "That sod leaves a bit of an aroma," one crew member
commented, referring to the grass that had been carefully bedded down for a few
days. It did pong somewhat.
Australia is the biggest movie yet to be made in this faraway continent and it's a sweeping, yet ultimately intimate, tale join an of an aristocratic beauty, played by Nicole, who travels from England to visit her husband's sprawling ranch Faraway Downs in the remote northern outback. One way or another she meets a rough-hewn cattle drover, Hugh Jackman, who has his complex relationship with the landscape and locals. "It's a small movie that I'm just coming to grips with after nine months," Luhrmann joked. Then he added, more seriously: of delight Down "This film tests me as nothing else I've ever done." Indeed, after a day on set I can see the movie has Luhrmann's stunning visual imprint. Filming will actually end next week although a mammoth end-of-shooting wrap party will take place tomorrow for 700 cast and crew - plus their partners.
With Elton in Sydney for the opening of the musical Billy Elliot, it was a perfect opportunity for the singer to discuss what he might contribute to Luhrmann's film. After watching footage on set, Elton, David and their two bodyguards were taken to a private screening room to watch a ten-minute rough assembly of scenes. Both Elton and David told me they loved what they saw and thought Australia could become like Titanic on dry land. David said that Elton would run over hot coals to be able to write a memorable love song for the mammoth £100million production. Elton has film form, of course. He and Tim Rice won an Oscar for their work on Disney's The Lion King, and scores of Elton's hits have been used on movie soundtracks over the past three decades - including some on Luhrmann's incredible Moulin Rouge movie.
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Why Nicole Kidman's dreaming of a hot Christmas with the family
Daily Mail, 14 December 2007
Nicole Kidman glided up the grass-covered walkway in a red gown created by
Oscar-winning designer Catherine Martin, a gardenia tucked in her beautifully
coiffured hair and, on her feet, a pair of ... Birkenstock sandals. Of course,
they were out of shot, and it was easier for the actress to do multiple takes in
a pair of Birkies than in feet-killing stilettos.
The setting is 1939, and Nicole's character, Lady Sarah Ashley, is attending the
annual Mission Ball at Darwin's Government House. Scenes had already been shot
on location, but director Baz Luhrmann wanted to do close-ups in the studio,
hence the pongy grass underfoot. Completing the party mood were Chinese
lanterns, an 11-piece band and scores of extras (including the director's sister
Amanda, president of Baz's film company Bazmark, her hair in a Marcel wave and
wearing a glamorous gown). Nicole is thrilled to
be starring in Australia - but still can't quite believe she's playing a bloody
Pom. "I'm in one of the biggest films to be made in my country, and I'm playing
an Englishwoman. Can you believe it? I'm frightfully English," she said in her
best cut-glass accent. The long shoot has taken the actress over vast reaches of
Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
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Baz Luhrmann's stage accident
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney Confidential), 6 December 2007
He's put his blood, sweat and tears into the Australia epic, now Confidential
can reveal how Baz Luhrmann has really put his back into the flick - and ended
up in a wheelchair in the process.
The Aussie director is understood to have been injured about 10 days ago on the
Fox Studios set of his labour of love, hobbling around with the aid of a walking
stick since.
With production on the local blockbuster already behind schedule, due to weather
delays and unexpected reshoots, Luhrmann has soldiered on with a noticeable
limp.
But a sneaky snap of the Moulin Rouge master being helped into a wheelchair by a
friend and wife Catherine Martin at the Park Hyatt hotel on Sunday apparently
isn't what it first seemed to be.
"That was just a bit of fun. He's still got a bit of a sore foot (from the set
spill), but the wheelchair was just him skylarking with a wedding party on the
day,'' his publicist, Maria Farmer told Confidential yesterday.
Studio spies reported yesterday Luhrmann is clearly on the road to recovery.
"He must be on the mend because he was leaping about the place wearing a
wetsuit. There are a number of water scenes they're doing at the moment which
explains that (outfit),'' the Australia insider said.
Luhrmann's trip up must have worried the film's bean counters, especially given
the director's track record.
His leading lady famously shattered her knee during the filming of Moulin Rouge
in back in 2000, which saw Kidman quit her role in the Jodie Foster-flick Panic
Room and resulted in two claims for delays and a massive $US3 million insurance
loss.
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Nicole Kidman's Australian dream
People News, 3 December 2007
Nicole Kidman has revealed her new film 'Australia' is the movie she "dreamed of making" since she was a child. The Oscar winning actress is extremely proud to be a part of the romantic epic directed by 'Moulin Rouge' creator Baz Luhrmann and co-starring Hugh Jackman. Nicole, 40, said: "It's just extraordinary in epic-ness. This is the kind of film that I dreamt of making as a little girl. For 'Moulin Rouge' we did everything in the studio but for this we've been on location the entire time - in Darwin, up in Queensland and then camping out in tents in the middle of the desert."
'The Golden Compass' star also admitted one of the best things about working on fellow Australian, Luhrmann's World War II romantic epic was filming without a green screen - the industry term for working with computer generated images. She said: "Green screen is definitely not my favourite thing. I became an actor because I wanted to act with other actors. That's been the beauty of Baz's film - you are on location breathing the air, feeling the impact of the sunsets. With something like 'The Golden Compass' you really have to use your imagination, and it's a different challenge. But it's where movies are heading. 'Australia' is the last of a dying breed and this is part of the new wave."
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Nicole Kidman is Margot At The Wedding
Coming Soon, 13 November 2007
CS: What's it been like working in the outback of Australia with Baz?
Kidman: I'm very happy to be in Australia actually. I've been there since April making this film ("Australia") and it's my dream of making this film since I was a little girl and I hope it lives up to my expectations because I wanted to make a film that's deeply romantic. It's a got a magical quality to it, but still it's a sweeping drama filled with some comedy and we can pull that off, I'd be very, very pleased. It's also nice to stand by a director you've worked with before and say, "I'm right here next to you again. Let's go. Let's try to do something unusual and special." Who knows? Next year, you'll be sitting here and saying it didn't work. We're certainly working hard towards putting something magical on screen.
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Nic's Big Sister Routine No Act
Sydney Morning Herald, 22 October 2007
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are back on set for Australia in Sydney, after Kidman made a quick trip to the US to fulfil a contractual obligation. Kidman and Jackman are working full-time at Fox Studios in Moore Park to complete filming for Baz Luhrmann's epic film. The stars are expected to remain here until the end of next month, when filming is scheduled to finish. Despite industry speculation that Luhrmann was running behind schedule and beyond budget on his spectacular film, reports from the set suggest otherwise. "The studio is happy," one insider said, adding the Hollywood heavyweights behind the film had been pleased with the progress of the movie.
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Baz
Luhrmann's Australia set lit pink for Breast Cancer Month
National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), October 2007
Baz Luhrmann has unleashed a pink spotlight over the country by illuminating the set of his motion picture Australia to support breast cancer research and the National Breast Cancer Foundation's annual Pink Ribbon Campaign. The mythical homestead 'Faraway Downs' featured in the film, and housed on Stage 7 at Sydney's Fox Studios, forms part of the 2007 Estée Lauder Global Illumination program. Since this project was launched by Evelyn Lauder in 2000 hundreds of famous landmarks in over 40 countries have been lit pink to raise funds for breast cancer research and awareness of the disease.
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Tourism wagon hitches to the stars of a romantic epic
Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 2007
Tourism chiefs are banking on the epic romance Australia, starring Nicole Kidman
and Hugh Jackman, to deliver a tourism bonanza not seen since the Crocodile
Dundee franchise cast the country as the land of the larrikin.
The country's peak tourism
body, Tourism Australia, is in talks with the director, Baz Luhrmann, about
creating a large-scale marketing campaign centred on the film with the stars
playing a role in pushing Australia as a tourist destination that can offer more
than the major sites. Set in the years leading up
to World War II the film portrays the affair between an English aristocrat and a
cattle drover, played by Kidman and Jackman respectively, and takes in a sweep
of Western Australia and Queensland, parts of which are bracing themselves for a
flood visitors on the film's release next year.
The Herald understands the marketing could play
on the film's romance to position Australia as a destination for lovers. And,
rather than replace the
So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?
campaign, there are plans to incorporate the controversial line into the
Australia-themed campaign. "Romance and adventure
aren't necessarily the way that we have portrayed Australia in the past," said a
source close to discussions.
A spokesman for the film's
distributor, 20th Century Fox, Steve Newman confirmed talks were under way and
said in a statement that Luhrmann would be "thrilled" to work with the tourism
body. Tourism Australia declined to comment.
While a number of films have helped put Australian locations on the map, few
have had the effect that Crocodile Dundee had in the US following its release
there in 1986, where it capitalised on the awareness generated by the Paul Hogan
"Shrimp on the barbie" ads. Following the film's release arrivals from the US
and Canada shot up by a third. Even films that could be considered tourism
liabilities appear to have helped; there were fears that 2005's Wolf Creek might
deter backpackers but in the year after its release numbers rose by nearly 10
per cent. A film about a man-eating crocodile, Rogue, to be released next month,
is expected to do the same for the Northern Territory. John Morse, who helped
promote Crocodile Dundee and is now the chairman of Tourism Victoria, said:
"There's no question there's going to be a boost."
Locations featured in the film are readying themselves for the surge. Bowen on
Queensland's Whitsunday coast, which stood in as 1930s Darwin in the film, had a
record 20,000 visitors during the eight weeks of filming earlier this year.
Places worth a celluloid sell - Wolf Creek: Northern Territory and Broome,
Western Australia; Man from Snowy River: Snowy River, ACT; Finding Nemo: Great
Barrier Reefand Sydney; Mad Max; Broken Hill; Storm Boy: Coorang Wetland, South
Australia; Ten Canoes: Arnhem Land; Crocodile Dundee: Kakadu; Picnic at Hanging
Rock: Mt Diogenes, Victoria; The Castle: Bonnie Doon, Victoria.
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Local Legend
Filmlink Magazine, October Edition
Iconic Australian actor Jack Thompson gives us a sneak peek into his involvement
on Baz Luhrmann's highly anticipated epic Australia.
Baz Luhrmann's Australia has undoubtedly sparked the most media coverage of any
local production in recent memory, from blanket coverage as the production moves
from location to location, to journalists trying to scam their way on set for a
closer look at stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and a now infamous shot of
the aforementioned Kidman having her posterior squeezed by none other than
Aussie veteran actor Bill Hunter's in character of course.
The cast list is a cavalcade of well known Australian actors, including David
Wenham, David Gulpilil, Ben Mendelsohn, John Jarratt, Ray Barrett and Barry
Otto. The film also sees local legends Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson in their
first film together since Bruce Beresford’s 1980 classic Breaker Morant.
Jack Thompson is clearly enjoying the Australia experience. Complete with bushy
moustache and more than a 5 o’clock shadow, Thompson is in a jolly mood after
having spent the past few weeks shooting interior scenes at Fox Studios in
Sydney. This represented an unscheduled stop in production after rain flooded
the set of the lavishly recreated homestead featured in the film on a property
in Kununurra, in Western Australia’s East Kimberly region. “I’ve been flat out,”
says Thompson in his instantly recognisable voice as he does double duty
promoting his next film December Boys. “It’s just a joy really. It’s a lot of
fun to be a part of this living thing that’s emerging. It’s just such a huge
picture, and there are such breaks between my involvement. My role is certainly
a major support role, but it’s not the lead hero and heroine. It’s really their
tale, so we turn up when appropriate, and you’re often sort of sitting around.
This happens more as you do supporting roles as you’re waiting for the next
location.”
In case you've been living under a rock and don’t know the plot, Australia sees
Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) of the English aristocracy travel to a pre World War
2 Australia to rescue her outback cattle station from the grip of cattle barons
with the help of a local drover (Hugh Jackman). They embark on a cattle drive
which will lead them to Darwin, which is in the throes of a bombing by Japanese
forces, and also, inevitably, to love.
While Thompson won’t elaborate too much on his character, he is prepared to give
a brief outline. “It’s good fun; he’s a fun character. I couldn’t wait to get
into it. He is the station book keeper and accountant, who has an occasional
drinking problem,” says Thompson in the English-edged accent he’s presumably
using for the film. “He’s certainly not a drunk.”
What follows is a mini master-class in accent and elocution. It’s slightly
English but it’s not really English; it’s actually the accent of a well
educated, privately educated Australian of the ’40’s. It was the “ABC radio”
[accent] of that period,” explains Thompson of his character’s accent. “[My
character] might have spent a bit of time in the bush, so there’s a bushy edge
to him, but when he’s talking with Nicole’s character, it’s “Me Lady”. He
recognises that she is titled, so you speak correctly; you don’t want to be
taken for a colonial fool!”
Thompson, who has in recent times mixed work in local and Hollywood productions,
seems to be in his element at the moment with a string of local projects to his
name. Apart from Australia, he’ll next be seen alongside Daniel “Harry Potter”
Radcliffe in December Boys, which will be followed by Ten Empty from thesp-turned-director
Anthony Hayes (Look Both Ways). He can also currently be heard narrating the
documentary series South Side Story (about Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a
Court’s buy-out of the South Sydney Rabbitohs) on the ABC. Of working overseas,
Thompson simply says, “It’s hard to leave Australia when you’re an Australian.”
Australia is set for release next year.
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Nicole Kidman speaks with Echo
Kimberley Echo, September 2007
Actress Nicole Kidman agreed to an exclusive interview with The Kimberley Echo
just prior to her jetting off to Sydney to continue filming of the epic
'Australia'. The interview was conducted via email. In it she gives her opinions
of the East Kimberley and its people.
Echo: What have been your impressions of the East Kimberley?
Nicole: "This is a magnificent part of Australia. Like most people growing up in
the cities on the east coast, I knew the Kimberley region was big and
impressive, but until I got here and started to experience it I really didn't
understand the scale and wonder of it all. I feel privileged to be here working
on the film ‘Australia’, because many of our scenes have been shot in the early
morning or at dusk when the colours are so dramatic. It's breathtakingly
beautiful and I'll remember its glory forever. The sunrises and sunsets are a
spiritual experience and I am in love with boab trees now."
Echo: Have our temperatures been hard to handle?
Nicole: "Yes, being fair skinned and blue eyed I found the temperatures where we
are filming out at Carlton Hill a bit harsh to begin with. Also my character
Lady Sarah is English and has to wear fairly constricting costumes primarily
made of wool."
Echo: Have people been friendly and non invasive?
Nicole: "I find wherever I go that people are very friendly and welcoming and I
really appreciate that. I won't say the same about some paparazzi and the antics
they get up to, but Keith and I have enjoyed our visits to local bistros, shops
and cafes, although I have not had much time away from a very full schedule
filming six days a week and being in most scenes. I'd like to say thank you to
all those who have made us feel very much at home."
Echo: Have you visited the area before?
Nicole: "No, this was my first visit to the Kimberley but I'll be back."
Echo: Would you recommend it as a holiday destination?
Nicole: "Absolutely, yes. I think all Australians should put this area on their
must-see list and do some of the amazing things available here. I went out past
the Ivanhoe Crossing for a picnic and ate a beautiful barramundi barbecued next
to the waterhole where it was caught. I have never tasted fish as good and
expect I never will. It's an experience everyone should have at least once."
Echo: Has your part been a particularly challenging one?
Nicole: "Yes it is a challenging role. As well as wearing the constricting
costumes of the period, I have to maintain an English accent, do a lot of horse
riding and have had to learn to muster cattle. But it has all been an adventure
which I will always remember and which is ultimately what I am seeking from my
life - adventure and exploration of this beautiful world."
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Crowe's epic regret
News.com.au, 11 September 2007
His latest flick 3:10 to Yuma topped the box office when it opened in the US at the weekend, but Russell Crowe has revealed he still has regrets about his recent film choices. The Hollywood heavyweight admitted yesterday he's now sorry to have missed out on being part of Baz Luhrmann's sweeping outback epic Australia, currently shooting final interior scenes at Moore Park's Fox Studios. Crowe was originally slated to star opposite Nicole Kidman, but was forced to pull out when the project was delayed. The changes made headlines at the time, with Crowe making way for Hugh Jackman to take up the coveted role. "To be completely honest there's a tinge of regret that I'm not on the film,'' Crowe told Confidential. "Conversations about the Australia project started between Baz and I as early as 2002.'' But the Woolloomooloo local denied internet reports circulating yesterday claiming he was still waiting for payment from Luhrmann for stables he built for the movie. Crowe admitted building the eight-bay stables at his property at Nana Glen, near Coffs Harbour, but said there was never any issue over money. "Baz, Nic, Hugh and many of my other friends are in the cast and crew,'' he said. "It will be an instant classic and as a movie lover I can't wait to see it.''
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Nic and Hugh gallop into Kimberley sunset
Perth Now, 8 September 2007
Hollywood farewelled the Kimberley this week as actors Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman left Kununurra after shooting Baz Luhrmann's epic, Australia. The actors hugged at the town's airport on Thursday night before boarding separate flights. The romantic adventure movie wraps up filming in the Kimberley this weekend. More than 300 cast and crew have been based there since July. Road trains carrying sets and other equipment are beginning the three-day trip to Sydney today, where the next phase of filming is due to start at Fox Studios. Film publicist Edwina Wenkart said filming in the Kimberley had been arduous at times, but rewarding. "We were filming at Digger's Rest (station) this week in some very remote locations where you had strong winds and lots of sand and dust,'' she said. "We were camping in tents out there and everyone would finish for the day covered in dust. But it was very beautiful out there with the emus and horses, and we built up a really strong sense of camaraderie.'' Ms Wenkart said Kidman and Jackman had "been amazing throughout, working really hard and supporting each other''. Digger's Rest owner Alida Woodland said: "Hugh was lovely, he hung out on the veranda with everyone here, didn't have any airs or graces; he's a really genuine person.'' She said the station's infrastructure had been substantially upgraded for the film crew, including increasing the capacity of the power and water systems. Wyndham East Kimberley shire president Michele Pucci said the town had been buzzing since the film crew arrived in July. "Everybody's been really supportive of them being here, they've really become part of the community,'' she said. "We will certainly be sad to see them go, especially those of us not lucky enough to have seen the stars in person.'' She said the film had injected millions of dollars into the local economy and longer-term tourism benefits were expected to continue after the film's release. "I wouldn't say we've been starstruck, but we've certainly been quite chuffed about it all,'' Ms Pucci said.
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Australia to put the Kimberley on the international tourism map
E-Travel, 4 September 2007
The stage is set for Western Australia's Kimberley region to be showcased as a
key international tourism destination, when Baz Luhrmann's film epic 'Australia'
is released. Culture and Arts and Tourism Minister Sheila McHale visited the set
to experience the enormous scope of the film being shot at Carlton Hill, 100km
west of Kununurra. Ms McHale met filmmaking legend Baz Luhrmann to discuss
possibilities for ongoing tourism benefits for WA when 'Australia' was released
internationally. "This is a significant cultural tourism initiative and we are
very excited that Baz Luhrmann agreed to film part of his feature in WA," she
said. "'Australia' is one of the most anticipated movies in our recent cinema
history and when it is released, the eyes of the world will be on us as a top
tourism destination. "We hope the movie will be a big drawcard for international
tourists to the Kimberley region, similar to the impact 'Lord of the Rings' had
on New Zealand tourism." The Minister said the Carpenter Government had
committed $500,000 to secure filming in WA, with the financial return to the
economy already reaching $4million during shooting alone. "The benefits to the
region are enormous, apart from the excitement that comes with having Hollywood
stars here, there are huge financial benefits to local business generated by a
400-strong cast and crew in town for several weeks," she said. Ms McHale said
shooting was due to finish on September 6, but the State Government was looking
ahead to the longer-term benefits for WA. "The release of 'Australia' provides
enormous potential to trigger other international film productions to shoot
here, which is great news for our screen industry," she said. "There's also the
added boost to the Kimberley's profile as a tourism destination of having
international travel and entertainment media in Kununurra.
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Stars come out for $15 bush dance
The West.com.au, 3 September 2007
When Kununurra residents received invitations to the inaugural NAIDOC ball, nowhere did it say the party was an A-list event. So guests were stunned last night wh Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban walked in and mingled with the 200-strong crowd. Word spread quickly that the $15-a-ticket ball was turning into one of WA's most star-studded gatherings of the year when Hugh Jackman and partner Deborra-Lee Furness followed. It was a night locals won't forget in a hurry. "We had extended an invitation to the stars but we didn't actually expect anyone to turn up," Waringarri Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Richard Beeck said. "Everyone was thrilled." Nathan Dyer, 28, said Kidman and Jackman spent 15 minutes mingling and posing for photos. "It started off fairly low-key but suddenly everyone started whispering and pointing at the door and people realised Nicole was in the room," he said. "At first, they weren’t sure whether to go up to them but when a few people introduced themselves, everyone rushed over hoping to shake hands." The stars have spent the past five weeks in the Kimberley filming Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic film Australia. Tourism Minister Sheila McHale said $500,000 was ploughed into the WA economy during shooting alone.
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Snippet from MTV.com
Early September 2007
Nicole Kidman has been in the Australian outback shooting her new film Australia. The flick is being directed by Baz Luhrmann and it also stars Hugh Jackman. Nicole told us that this is the first film she has really concentrated on in 2007. "A lot of my focus was about just my home and my family and this is the first thing I've really gone into with a lot vigor and enthusiasm. So really, this film is my passion this year." Nicole told us how filming is going. "It's actually the hardest film I've ever had to do because we are living out in our trailers and we are about two hours from the closest town and the closest town in very, very small. I mean there's no cinema, nothing." Even with the 4:30 AM calls to set for sunrise shots and being stranded from civilization, Nicole explained that she is completely thrilled about this new project. Australia is set to open in the US sometime in 2008.
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Tour of
movie set
Kimberley Echo, 30 August 2007
Kununurra
Chamber of Commerce and Industry members and their families visited the 'Faraway
Downs' set on Carlton Hill Station on Sunday. The set is the fictitious
homestead in the epic Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia', starring Nicole Kidman and
Hugh Jackman. Location manager Phillip Roope took about 100 people on a tour
through the homestead grounds. The tour ended with refreshments at the film
company's dining area overlooking the Ord River. The crowd was amazed at the
attention to detail portrayed in the sets. The fake boab and fake dead cows were
a particular hit. There was also a magnificent collection of pre World War II
vehicles. Many were amazed that only 10 weeks ago the area was just a bare
plain. Chamber president Frank Rodriguez thanked the production on behalf of the
group. Mr Roope said the crew had enjoyed working in Kununurra and would leave
with very fond memories of the East Kimberley. The film will be internationally
released in December 2008 and should focus world attention on the East
Kimberley.
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Stars welcomed in the outback
Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2007
From
Sydney to Bowen, Darwin and now Kununurra, Aboriginal communities have been
welcoming Hollywood royalty. At Kununurra in West Australia, the Miriwoong and
Gajirrawoong communities conducted welcome to country ceremonies for the stars
of Baz Luhrmann's new epic Australia, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. As part of
the ceremony, Kidman and Jackman, along with Australia's cast and crew, were
told local stories, watched traditional dances and splashed with water from the
local river. Kidman said: "It was beautiful to receive the blessings. I felt
very honoured to be a part of this deeply spiritual land. The warmth and
kindness (they) are showing us is very much appreciated''. Production on the
film - described as an antipodean Gone With The Wind - began in Sydney in April.
The $100 million-plus 20th Century Fox action-adventure, set in Australia's arid
north before World War II, will open next year. Kidman plays Lady Sarah Ashley,
an English aristocrat left in charge of a huge cattle station. Jackman plays a
drover who helps move her cattle, under the threat of Darwin being bombed by the
Japanese. Luhrmann said outback filming was important to the film's integrity.
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Set is
magnificent
Kimberley Echo, 16 August 2007
Filming
of the epic Baz Luhrmann production 'Australia' is proceeding both at Carlton
Hill Station and Digger's Rest. On Sunday, Mr Luhrmann said he had four days of
filming completed and the crew had been overwhelmed by the scenery. Businesses
around town have been kept flat out supplying the cast and crew with a plethora
of goods and services. Star Nicole Kidman flew to Sydney at the end of last
week, returning for this week's filming. Co-star Hugh Jackman has won plenty of
local fans as he mixes freely in Kununurra. Local indigenous people journeyed
out to the set to conduct a 'welcome to country' ceremony last week. Joining
Kidman and Jackman in the cast of the film is a who's who of Australian acting
talent including legends Ray Barrett, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson and Bill Hunter
who will feature alongside David Wenham, Ben Mendelsohn, John Jarrett, Kerry
Walker, Barry Otto, Matthew Whittet, Arthur Dignam, Bruce Spence, Tony Barry,
Sean Hall, Essie Davis, Eddie Baroo, Nathin Butler, Jacek Koman, Sandy Gore,
Yuen Wah [Kung Fu Hustle] from China and indigenous cast Lillian Crombie, Ursula
Yovich [Jindabyne], Angus Pilauki, Crusoe Kurrdal, Jamie Gulpilil, David
Ngoombujarra [Rabit Proof Fence, The Missing], David Gulpilil [Ten Canoes, The
Tracker, Rabbit Proof Fence] and 11-year-old Broome boy Brandon Walters, in his
feature film debut.
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Nicole Kidman Interview - 'Invasion'
Movies.msn,
Mid-August 2007
Q - How is "Australia"
going? Do you feel any added pressure making a movie that's been tagged the
"Gone With the Wind" of Australian history?
A - I was unaware that it was tagged "Gone With the Wind." I think it's very,
very different to that film. I love working with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine
Martin (his wife), and this film has been a part of my desire creatively since I
was a little girl. Not the actual story, but the idea of making a film that uses
my country as a backdrop to deal with core emotions such as love, loss,
survival, in a simple and pure way.
---
Nicole
Kidman Explores Sci-Fi (Excerpt)
MTV.com, 15 August 2007
"I will sign on to a movie, having not read the script, just based on the
director," Kidman said. "That's just the way I do it. Obviously, filmmaking is
all about the director. That's their medium. And the actor is just one of the
tools in the creation of the vision. You're in the hands of that person, so you
have to be careful who that is." That's why, she explained, she's currently
shooting the pre-World War II epic "Australia" — not because she couldn't resist
the lure of co-star Hugh Jackman (and really, who couldn't?), but because she
couldn't resist director Baz Luhrmann. "I did 'Moulin Rouge' with Bazzie,"
Kidman said, "and we're closer than ever. We've known each other for 15 years,
and I love working with him. I adore him and his wife, who does all the costumes
and production design. It's a family affair. And he's a genius, Baz. He's
inspired and unusual and a complete original." Plus it probably doesn't hurt
that Baz wrote the role — an English aristocrat who inherits a cattle ranch amid
terrestrial warfare and bombings — with Kidman in mind. "It's a beautiful way to
work," she said.
---
"Australia" heads West!
E Travel Blackboard, 8 August 2007
Baz Luhrmann’s epic movie “Australia” resumes principal photography in the East
Kimberley region of Western Australia. Filming in WA follows three weeks of
shooting on the stages of Fox Studios in Sydney. “Australia” commenced
production April 30 on location in Sydney before moving to Bowen, North
Queensland and then to the Top End in Darwin.
Luhrmann, the writer/producer/director of such films as “Moulin Rouge!”, “Romeo
+ Juliet” and “Strictly Ballroom”, conceived the project three years ago and
insisted that the film be shot on location in “the inspirational locations of
our own home country”. He sees these regions as one of the last great frontiers
in the world today and is thrilled to be able to expose international audiences
to their natural wonders. Inspired by what Luhrmann refers to as “the brilliant
color palette and drama of the East Kimberley landscape” he and his company are
thrilled to have arrived in Kununurra to commence work on this pivotal section
of the film shoot.
Filming will take place throughout the region over the coming weeks and will
include scenes shot at the spectacular homestead set designed by two-time
Academy Award-winner Catherine Martin. Lady Sarah Ashley, played by Nicole
Kidman, journeys to the homestead accompanied by the Drover, played by Hugh
Jackman, as the film begins.
In addition to Kidman and Jackman, a cast of stellar Australian actors will be
featured in the film including David Wenham (“300”, the “Lord of the Rings”
trilogy) and screen legends Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown, reunited together for
the first time since their starring roles in the award-winning classic film
“Breaker Morant”. Other featured actors shooting in the region include David
Gulpilil (“The Tracker”, “Rabbit Proof Fence”), David Ngoombujarra (“Rabbit
Proof Fence”, “The Missing”) and 11 year-old actor Brandon Walters in his
feature film debut.
“Australia” is set in the country’s northern outback prior to World War II and
centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who finds
herself unexpectedly fighting to save a cattle station the size of Belgium. When
local cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a
rough-hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to drive 1500 head of cattle across
northern Australia’s breathtaking, yet brutal landscape. Love ensues, but they
must still face the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese forces that had attacked
Pearl Harbor only months earlier.
Produced by Baz Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown and Catherine Knapman under Luhrmann’s
Sydney-based Bazmark Film banner, Australia will be distributed wordwide by News
Corporation’s Twentieth Century Fox.
---
Nicole Kidman gets west
wild
Herald Sun, 7 August 2007
It was billed "Hollywood in the East Kimberleys" when Nicole Kidman and Keith
Urban arrived in the West Australian town of Kununurra.
About 250 locals were on hand to greet the actor and her singer husband when
they flew in just after 2pm yesterday.
With co-star Hugh Jackman and director Baz Luhrmann, Kidman is expected to spend
several weeks filming scenes for the coming epic Australia on Carlton Hills
Station, a well-known cattle property 40km out of town.
Unlike Jackman, who lingered at the airport and met fans on Sunday, Kidman's
plane was met by a police escort yesterday and the star was whisked away in a
dark 4WD.
Peter Grigg, manager of Kununurra Visitor Centre, said locals hoped to see some
of the cast and crew in person in coming weeks.
"The town is really, really buzzing – it's all go. We have a few things in place
and we'd like to think we could showcase our town to them," he said.
"We'd like to think we can definitely make them warmly welcome to our part of
the region."
---
They're Here
Kimberley Echo, 2 August 2007
A Ozjet Boeing 737-200 carrying 102 members of the cast and crew for the Baz
Luhrmann epic film 'Australia' was due to touch down in Kununurra at 5.30 this
afternoon.
It was the first time a 737-200 had landed in Kununurra and marked the beginning
of four or more weeks of frantic action in the East Kimberley.
The film, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, is set in the days leading up
to World War II.
Locally, it will be filmed mostly on Carlton Hill Station with some action on
other stations.
Major parts of the film have already been shot in Bowen, Darwin and Sydney.
Kununurra's accommodation is all full and many people have leased their houses
out for about $2000 a week to house the film crew.
The stars of the film are expected to fly in aboard private jets in the next few
days
---
Kununurra accommodation still available during 'Australia' shoot
ABC News, 31 July 2007
Peter Grigg from the Kununurra Visitor Centre says there is room for tourists
during filming of Baz Luhrmann's movie Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh
Jackman.
A Kununurra tourism authority says the much anticipated filming of Baz
Luhrmann's movie Australia has caused confusion for some holiday-makers.
Filming of the epic starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman is set to start at a
Kununurra cattle station, in northern Western Australia, next Monday.
The film is set in World War II northern Australia, focusing on the cattle
industry and the effects of the Japanese bombing Darwin.
About 80 camper vans have been set up to house the crew at the Kununurra Turf
Club.
However, Peter Grigg from the Kununurra Visitor Centre says it has had to place
advertisements clarifying there is still room for tourists in the town.
"We do have accommodation here, we would love to make
anybody that's coming to Kununurra, give them a big warm East Kimberley welcome
and ... they hopefully might even be able to catch up with Nicole Kidman or Hugh
Jackman," he said.
The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley president Michelle Pucci says there is
definitely a sense of excitement brewing around Kununurra.
However, she is yet to spot Kidman or Jackman.
"I haven't actually seen any of the stars yet, but I do know some of the crew
... are obviously ... staying at a number of the boarding houses and our hotels
and I think there's been lots of discussion with locals with that crew," she
said.
---
Jackman just a family guy
Daily Telegraph, 30 July 2007
Enjoying his last taste of the sea air for a while before shooting moves to the
outback this week, Australia star Hugh Jackman hit the beach with his family at
the weekend.
The Aussiewood nice-guy hit Bondi with wife Deborra-Lee Furness and their
children Oscar and Ava.
They spent Saturday afternoon together, playfully wrestling, piggybacking and
playing games of chase along the famous stretch of sand. It was a rare break for
Jackman, who has been busy shooting interior scenes at Moore Park's Fox Studios
for Baz Luhrmann's latest movie extravaganza.
---
HEY
BOWEN! Nothing here says BOWEN
Northern Territory News, 17 July 2007
The Queensland town of Bowen is up in arms over suggestions the premiere of Baz
Luhrmann's film Australia could be held in Darwin. A North Queensland newspaper
and the local MP have taken up the cause for the town where Luhrmann, Nicole
Kidman, Hugh Jackman and crew spent a month filming. Parts of Bowen were
recreated to look like Darwin, where much of the film is set, including the
dramatic bombing climax. But the parochial Queenslanders say this entitles the
lookalike town to the film's real premiere. Luhrmann was quoted last week saying
the film could "possibly" premiere in Darwin. The Queenslanders saw red. Bowen's
local Federal member Peter Lindsay saw an opportunity to score points. "Come on
guys, this is where a majority of the movie was shot," Mr Lindsay said. "We
looked after you - now you look after us. We want the world premiere in Bowen.
The majority of the film was shot in North Queensland ... the whole community
accepted the disruptions that occurred and took it with good grace and gave
every assistance."
And while Darwin is the scene of the film's climax, an article in the Townsville
Bulletin said the Territory capital did not measure up. "The film crew spent
only a little over a week filming in Darwin ... but it was Bowen that became the
Hollywood hang-out when the films' stars stayed for two months, drifting around
the coastal hamlet's main streets, which were transformed into a 1940s-styled
Darwin." The Bulletin quoted Bowen Mayor Mike Brunker as saying Luhrmann had
promised a premiere during their Bowen stint. But councillor Brunker was more
realistic, saying Bowen was not equipped for the world premiere. "I hope we
don't miss out on some type of premiere," he said. "If Darwin gets the major
premiere that is fine but as long as we get ours here as well, and not just at
Darwin, we will be happy."
---
Baz hints at movie snub
The Townsville Bulletin, 16 July 2007
Bowen has been snubbed by its best mate Baz. Australia director Baz Luhrmann is
rumoured to be planning a world premiere of his epic film in Darwin. Mr Luhrmann
hinted to Darwin media last week that he was looking at the Northern Territory
capital as the site of the first screening in 2008. The film crew spent only a
little over a week filming in Darwin this month where the film's star Nicole
Kidman was spotted eating out at local cafes and visiting markets. But it was
Bowen that became the Hollywood hang-out when the films stars stayed for two
months, drifting around the coastal hamlet's main streets, which were
transformed into a 1940s-styled Darwin. Herbert MP Peter Lindsay said he was
shocked to hear North Queensland had potentially been forgotten. He said Bowen
had opened its heart to the crew, welcoming them and helping them on set, yet
Darwin was being positioned as the likely premiere base. "Come on guys, this is
where a majority of the movie was shot. We looked after you, now you look after
us," Mr Lindsay said. "We want the world premiere in Bowen." He said it would be
very unfortunate if North Queensland was snubbed for any premiere. "The majority
of the film was shot in North Queensland. The people of Bowen and North
Queensland opened their hearts to the movie crew, they were really well looked
after when they were here. The whole community accepted the disruptions that
occurred and took it with good grace and gave every assistance. "I reckon the
people of Bowen deserve the world premiere after all they did."
Bowen Mayor Mike Brunker said Mr Luhrmann had promised a premiere during their
Bowen stint. While he didn't think Bowen had the scope to host a world premiere,
he said they should have some type of premiere. "I hope we don't miss out on
some type of premiere," Cr Brunker said. "If Darwin gets the major premiere that
is fine but as long as we get ours here as well, and not just at Darwin, we will
be happy. We don't want to miss out on one after all." He said Bowen was still
riding on the filming buzz with tourists and locals still visiting the set site.
"I think we will still feel it for a long time," Cr Brunker said. "I think the
next big stage will be the premiere next year. We hope we will take part in that
in some way but, regardless, people will want to come here to see where it was
shot."
---
Baz's
epic may premiere in Top End
Northern Territory News, 12 July 2007
The premiere of Australia may be held in Darwin, director Baz Luhrmann told a
local audience last night. Luhrmann appeared at Darwin's Deckchair Cinema for a
question and answer session before a special screening of his film Moulin Rouge.
Speaking to the media before his appearance he said the Australian premiere of
Australia could "possibly'' be held in Darwin. Luhrmann said he would also
consider filming a movie in Darwin again. "I would (work in Darwin) again, for
sure,'' he said. About 300 people turned up to hear Luhrmann speak before the
screening of his 2001 film Moulin Rouge, which also starred Nicole Kidman.
Luhrmann said he expected Australia to be released in November 2008. "Filming
finishes in November, and post production takes about a year,'' he said. "So if
I don't fall horrendously behind it should be out in November next year.''
Film-goers quizzed Luhrmann about his film making skills, with most people
wanting to know how he came up with the idea of making both Moulin Rouge and
Australia. "You have a passion and that passion becomes your life,'' he said.
"With (Moulin Rouge) it was about how to tell a story using music as the
predominant language in this point of time.'' Deckchair Cinema manager Jett
Street said she was thrilled Luhrmann spoke to the audience last night. "He is
passionate about his films and the chance to hear him talk about his work is
amazing,'' she said.
---
Baz bids Darwin farewell
ABC News, 12 July 2007
Movie madness in Darwin has come to an end with Hollywood director Baz Luhrmann
spending his last night in the city at the local outdoor cinema. Darwin's Stokes
Hill Wharf will today be undressed and return to modern days. For nearly a week
there was intense shooting at the wharf for just five minutes of footage for
Luhrmann's film Australia. Luhrmann last night chose to farewell the Top End by
taking centre stage at Deckchair Cinema where Moulin Rouge was being screened.
Outside the theatre, he said shooting in Darwin went particularly well. "The
light, the water, those particularly, those visual elements are really worth
coming to photograph," he said. As for Darwin's future in the movie industry, he
said: "That's in the hands of the Darwin film-makers I think." And the director
did not rule out holding the premiere of Australia in the Top End. "Possibly,
possibly," he said.
---
Nicole
says thanks ... and I'll be back
Northern Territory News, 12 July 2007
Nicole
Kidman has fallen in love with Darwin. She said shooting a film in plain view of
the public in the city was a "lovely'' experience. In an exclusive interview
with the Northern Territory News, the Hollywood star said Territorians were
"very, very down-to-earth'' and seemed "very relaxed''. And she revealed that
she had pottered around town on a scooter. "We rode scooters around and went to
the markets, ate oysters and mussels, listened to a little music and did a
little browsing in some stalls,'' she said. "There seems to be a very easygoing
and appealing nature to Darwin. And I just want to extend a big thank you to
everyone in this city who has accommodated the film. I look forward to coming
back next time I am on holiday.'' She said her trip to Kakadu National Park --
where she went crocodile spotting on a boat cruise -- was "glorious.''
The Oscar winner flew
out of Darwin on Tuesday after completing the Top End scenes for Baz Luhrmann's
film Australia, where she plays an English aristocrat who comes to the Outback
to sell a cattle station. Kidman could not comment on the content of Luhrmann's
epic, where she stars with Hugh Jackman, but said she enjoyed shooting the film
in public view at Stokes Hill Wharf. "It was actually lovely because it seemed
like a celebration of the film and part of the reason I wanted to make this film
was to see more of this country and to be around Australians, and to have them
see how we make films,'' she said. "This is a pretty big film, I have to say,
and I enjoy sharing that. The Darwinians -- is that what I'm allowed to call
you? -- have been extremely warm and open and helpful. I just hope we get to
show off the city in all its glory -- or at least the wharf.''
Kidman said she was amused when a picture of actor Bill Hunter touching her bum
was identified as a "Territory handshake'' on the front page of the Northern
Territory News. "It made me laugh,'' she said. "I was slightly embarrassed
that my bum was on such display ... not usually my style.'' The actor, who drew
a crowd each time she appeared on the water at the wharf, will soon head to a
cattle station across the Western Australia border to continue the ambitious
shoot. And she said much of this vast country had remained hidden to her,
despite her extensive travel. "The adventure of it -- seeing parts of Australia
I have always wanted to see and never taken the time,'' she said when asked why
she was looking forward to heading into the Outback. "I have seen more parts of
the rest of the world -- obscure countries and places -- than I have of my own
country and I am ashamed of that. So this gives me the chance to show the rest
of the world how beautiful this country is and for me to see it, feel it and
experience it.''
---
Nic red faced about bum pinch
Perth Now (Sunday Times), 12 July 2007
Nicole
Kidman has spoken of her "embarrassment" at having been touched on the bum by
veteran actor Bill Hunter. Kidman said she was amused when a picture of actor
Bill Hunter touching her bum was identified as a "Territory handshake'' on the
front page of the Northern Territory News. "It made me laugh,'' she said. "I was
slightly embarrassed that my bum was on such display ... not usually my style.''
The Oscar winner flew out of Darwin on Tuesday after completing the Top End
scenes for Baz Luhrmann's film Australia, where she plays an English aristocrat
who comes to the Outback to sell a cattle station. She said shooting a
film in plain view of the public in the city was a "lovely'' experience.
In an exclusive interview with the NT News, the Hollywood star said Territorians
were "very, very down-to-earth'' and seemed "very relaxed''. And she revealed
that she had pottered around town on a scooter. "We rode scooters around
and went to the markets, ate oysters and mussels, listened to a little music and
did a little browsing in some stalls,'' she said. "There seems to be a
very easygoing and appealing nature to Darwin. And I just want to extend a big
thank you to everyone in this city who has accommodated the film. I look forward
to coming back next time I am on holiday.'' She said her trip to Kakadu National
Park - where she went crocodile spotting on a boat cruise - was "glorious.''
Kidman could not comment on the content of Luhrmann's epic, where she stars with
Hugh Jackman, but said she enjoyed shooting the film in public view at Stokes
Hill Wharf. "It was actually lovely because it seemed like a celebration
of the film and part of the reason I wanted to make this film was to see more of
this country and to be around Australians, and to have them see how we make
films,'' she said. "This is a pretty big film, I have to say, and I enjoy
sharing that. "I just hope we get to show off the city in all its glory -- or at
least the wharf.'' The actor, who drew a crowd each time she appeared on the
water at the wharf, will soon head to a cattle station across the Western
Australia border to continue the ambitious shoot. And she said much of this vast
country had remained hidden to her, despite her extensive travel. "The
adventure of it -- seeing parts of Australia I have always wanted to see and
never taken the time,'' she said when asked why she was looking forward to
heading into the Outback. I have seen more parts of the rest of the world -
obscure countries and places - than I have of my own country and I am ashamed of
that. So this gives me the chance to show the rest of the world how beautiful
this country is and for me to see it, feel it and experience it.''
---
Hollywood
heart-throb gets nod of approval
Nothern Territory News, 11 July 2007
Hundreds
of female fans undressed Hollywood heart throb Hugh Jackman with their prying
eyes yesterday. The actor mingled with fans in between filming scenes for Baz
Luhrmann's Australia at Darwin's Stoke Hill Wharf. And many girls were there for
one thing only _ to get a glimpse of one of the most famous bums in Hollywood.
"I stood behind him for 10 minutes and the entire time I was checking out his
bum," one female fan said. Another fan said: "I didn't know where to look first.
At his bum or his pecs." Jackman seemed unaware of the attention from the girls
as he signed autographs. "I love Darwin, it's awesome," he told the Northern
Territory News. Most of Jackman's scenes were shot on board the Anniki clipper
on the harbour. "I've been on that boat far too long," he said. Kurt Ramjan, 13,
scored an autograph from the star after waiting more than five hours. "We have
been waiting since 9.30am," Kurt, from Darwin, said. "He high-fived me."
Visitors to the wharf watched as Luhrmann directed Jackman and hundreds of
extras, including local children, during the last day of filming. Machines blew
smoke over the harbour as Luhrmann filmed scenes of post-bombing Darwin. Filming
ended last night, with the crew working throught the night to pack up the set.
---
Stars In
Their Eyes
Northern Territory News, 10 July 2007
Darwin
was chock-a-block with superstars last night after the rumoured arrival of
country rock star Keith Urban. He is believed to have arrived in a private jet
from Sydney last night to visit wife, Nicole Kidman. And star-struck locals also
got their first glimpse of Hollywood star and fellow Aussie heart-throb Hugh
Jackman. Decked out in period costume and sporting a jackaroo tan, the
star was surrounded by hordes of adoring fans as he made his first appearance on
the set of Australia. Contacted by the Northern Territory News last night,
Kidman's spokeswoman said she was not aware of any planned visit by Urban.
Kidman herself took time out on the weekend to search for some Territory
crocodiles. The superstar took a cruise on Kakadu's Yellow Water over the
weekend. Darwin High School teacher Kyalea Young was with her disabled mother,
Jan, when they bumped into the actress. "No one was there but us and Nicole and
her entourage," Kyalea, said. Despite the protests of her entourage, Kidman
agreed to a photo. Jan, 60, was amazed at how normal and natural the Hollywood
star was. "She put her arm around me and I put my arm around her," she said.
"She was really soft, cuddly and warm. Really beautiful." Kyalea said no one
recognised Kidman until a group of Spaniards spotted the star. "She wasn't
disguised and looked very relaxed."
Jackman spent yesterday afternoon filming with children on the Anniki clipper.
"Filming has been fantastic," Jackman said. "Beautiful weather - I love Darwin
and wish I could stay longer." He made time to chat with his fans and was
surprised by the turn-out. "It reminds me of being at the Oscars," he said. A
long-time fan said she had been at the set for days waiting for the actor.
Sharon McAlear said it was great meeting and sharing a photo with him. "I have
got the shakes. It was nice of him to stop and talk to us," she said.
---
After Baz, Bowen is a
Better Place
The Epoch Times, 10 July 2007
With Baz Luhrmann now filming his multi-million dollar epic Australia in Darwin,
the locals from his first location in the North Queensland Town of Bowen are
coming to terms with the movie industry experience. "The impact on Bowen has
been immense as far as raising the profile of the town," said property developer
Erik Fairbairn whose vacant site on the Bowen harbour front was leased by the
film crew for the duration of their filming. "The production company and their
crew have made many friends in Bowen and I am sure left Bowen a better place,"
he said. Mr Fairbairn said he was initially surprised when approached by the
film crew to lease the site but saw the potential it had to increase interest in
Bowen and to further the town's economic growth. Locals lined up to volunteer as
tour guides to tourists during filming and many more assisted with set
construction and catering for the cast and crew. Meanwhile hundreds of Bowen
locals were given roles as extras, twenty of whom have been asked to go on with
the cast and crew to the other locations for further filming.
Therese Saad of Tourism Bowen said the town was going through a bit of "PMS; or
post movie syndrome" as the crew cleaned up and moved on to the next town, but
that the opportunity had been an extraordinary one that she felt had brought the
community closer together. Businesses in Bowen say they have had an increase in
trade and tourism as a result of the filming with curious sightseers drawn to
catch a glimpse of the action, especially the two lead actors Hugh Jackman and
Nicole Kidman. The Tourism Bowen website had 190,000 hits last month and now
there are plans to set up a permanent display of memorabilia from the movie for
future visitors to the town. Converted to look like Darwin in the 1930s for
several months, Bowen was chosen for its similar coastline to pre-war Darwin,
having no high rise buildings to jeopardise the authentic feel of the set. Local
construction crews were used to recreate the Territory Hotel and red dirt was
even freighted into the small town to recreate the old-time cattle yards in a
vacant block. The film is a romantic adventure saga set in the 1930s and 40s
around the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour and Darwin. Utilizing
the dramatic Australian scenery as a backdrop, the film tells the story of an
English aristocrat, played by Nicole Kidman, who inherits a large cattle station
and seeks the help of a drover, played by Hugh Jackman, to move a herd of cattle
across the wild Australian landscape in order to thwart a plot to take over her
land.
---
Nicole
cops a little bit extra
Northern Territory News, 6 July 2007
Nicole
Kidman was struck in the head with a gun barrel by a Darwin extra on the set of
Australia yesterday. The incident occurred while Baz Luhrmann was filming his
epic love story at Stokes Hill Wharf. It was the second apparent mishap
involving Kidman in two days after the launch she was sitting in reportedly came
close to running head-on into a much bigger boat on Wednesday. Yesterday Kidman,
playing English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley, was running through army officers,
shouting out to people leaving the wharf on a boat, when one of the extras
accidentally hit her in the head with the barrel of his gun. An on-site source
said Kidman bent over clutching at her head. Production staff denied reports of
the launch near-miss. But an on-set source claimed the boat, meant to take
Kidman from a plane to Stokes Hill Wharf, "suddenly shot forward'' straight at
the other moored vessel as it neared the wharf. The source said an extra on the
launch jumped up and took the helm from veteran character actor Bill Hunter. The
launch just stopped short of a collision.
Parts of the wharf have been made-over, coming to resemble a 1940s militarised
Darwin for the period film, based partly on the World War II bombing of the
city. Locals and tourists were touched by Hollywood as they flocked to the
public viewing areas to watch. They rubbed shoulders with Luhrmann and robe-clad
actor David Wenham. Business owner Janne Stewart watched on as the reconditioned
pearling lugger Anniki she owns with her partner was the centre of filming
action. "Anniki is an authentic pearling lugger and now she's become a hero
boat," she said. "Filming has been very exciting. I met Baz and he is pretty
interesting, but full on -- he just runs and runs and doesn't stop."
Schoolteacher Dean Sciacca from Melbourne said he had come to Darwin "to catch a
glimpse of our Nic. Just joking," he said. "It's amazing though, that they are
shooting before our eyes." Filming with Aboriginal children being taken to a
mission was carried out yesterday afternoon. Hugh Jackman is set to arrive in
Darwin in the coming days and one of the first scenes he will film will be
rescuing those children from the mission to the backdrop of a post-bombing,
smoke-filled Darwin.
---
Nicole gets the NT handshake
Herald Sun, 5 July 2007
The "Territory handshake" has entered film director Baz Luhrmann's on-set
vocabulary. In the film Australia, being filmed at Darwin's Stokes Hill Wharf,
screen veteran Bill Hunter's character welcomes Nicole Kidman's English
aristocrat to the Territory with a pat on the bum. The cheeky pat, dubbed the
Territory handshake by an onlooker, has become part of the on-set talk. While
calling the actors through their moves Luhrmann has now taken to calling out
"Territory handshake" to cue the bum grab.
Kidman, Hunter and teams of local extras spent yesterday sweltering in the sun
in 1939-style suits and frocks on the boat that brings Kidman to shore. Much of
the filming yesterday was done in the middle of the harbour, with the boat's
passage interrupted at one stage by a passing livestock export vessel. Having
landed in Darwin on a flying boat, Kidman's character heads for the shore where
she is to meet her love interest (Hugh Jackman) -- a rough and ready stockman
who she has been told is "a man she can trust". But in scenes that won't be
filmed in Darwin, Jackman's character is finishing off a fight in a pub when she
arrives. Jackman has
not been seen on set and is not needed until the latter part of the shoot, set
during the bombing of Darwin in World War II.
Sources close to the film say the bombing scenes will not involve anything being
blown up, with this to be added by special effects in post-production. But the
production crew will set fire to some boats at the wharf as filming nears its
finale. Producers had
planned to film in a warehouse in Darwin but it is understood these plans have
been scrapped, with efforts to focus on the harbour area and the tropical
blue-green water.
---
Hundreds
gather for glimpse of film magic
Northern Territory News, 4 July 2007
Territory movie buffs were seeing triple on the set of the blockbuster film
Australia yesterday. Hundreds of tourists and locals watched on as star Nicole
Kidman floated around Darwin harbour on a boat during filming. But some were
left wondering if it was the real Nic out there - with at least two body doubles
spotted around the wharf. Some observers said it was "definitely the real Nic"
in the morning. But late yesterday afternoon onlookers were sure body doubles
were being used. This still did not quell the enthusiasm of Territorians and
visitors alike, all keen to get a glimpse of the stars and see movie magic
unfold before their eyes. Stokes Hill Wharf was blocked to traffic from near
Frances Bay Drive, onlookers caught shuttle buses to Stokes Hill Wharf where
they could watch the filming of one of the film's first scenes. Kidman's small
boat floated past the wharf many times as as numerous takes were filmed.
Responding to a call from an onlooker on the wharf, Oscar winner Kidman said she
was enjoying her time in Darwin. "Lovely," she called back. "I haven't seen much
yet - I've been sitting on this boat." Captaining the launch was Australian
acting legend Bill Hunter, who was pictured yesterday in the Northern Territory
News as his character grabbed Nicole Kidman on the bum when she alighted the
vessel. Watching their positions on wharf were scores of local extras, dressed
in World War II-era clothing and playing the parts of stockmen, Chinese miners,
onlookers and dock hands. With the filming taking hours, the extras sweated it
out in the midday sun - but with smiles on their faces. Kidman and Hunter are
joined in Darwin by Luhrmann, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham and Bryan Brown.
Among the tourists and locals craning their necks for a look was Anna Degeling
of Malak. Nicole waved to us, it's pretty exciting," Ms Degeling said. Her
mother Jenny, on holiday in Darwin from The Hague in The Netherlands, said the
film set was "the big happening event". "Here we are in Darwin starspotting,"
she said. "It was all quite exciting - all the beautiful harbour with the blue
sea ... it's quite spectacular."
---
Risking life and
limb on the set of 'Australia'
National Nine News, 4 July 2007
I am the most unpopular person on the set of 'Australia'. Baz Luhrmann's movie
only starting filming on Monday, yet I've already been evicted from the location
once, and told to go away on nine different occasions. Covering a good news
story has never been so hard. Darwin has been abuzz since the weekend over
Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Keith Urban's arrival for the movie 'Australia';
a romantic tale set in the 1940s and based around the bombing of Darwin.
Accordingly, the newsroom at Channel Nine began preparing to cover the event,
and our cameramen were in place around Stokes Hill Wharf when filming started at
dawn on Monday morning.
The Darwin Harbour Master has ordered a 300 metre exclusion zone around the set
to ensure no boats or aircraft get in the way of production. This means our
cameras are forced to the edge of the wharf, which has still been adequate.
After checking each crew was ready, I decided to see if I could go for a wander
onto the wharf to take a look at the set and film some of the action with my
handicam. Three security guards were checking cars, but ignored me as I strolled
out towards the movie cameras. Once on set, the first thing I learned was
filming movies can take a long time. No one paid me any attention as the crew
scrambled to prepare for the first scene in which Nicole Kidman's character
"Lady Sarah" arrives at the wharf in a small boat. Rehearsals started, but the
'Moulin Rouge' star was nowhere in sight. In her place, a body double acted the
part in jeans and bright red rubber shoes. After an hour of observing this, I
was summonsed to a safety briefing by an angry looking man with long blonde
curly hair. I joined the rest of the film crew, sans Kidman, as we were told in
menacing tones about the location rules. I was not to think I was a big
shot (fairly safe there). I was not to get angry at security guards for asking
to look at my pass (definitely safe here). And most importantly, I was not to
get on a boat without a safety vest. If anyone broke these rules (and the
angry man didn't care who they were), their bags would be packed and their
"backsides" would be "shipped off the wharf!" We were all then ordered
back to our spots to get ready for a long day of filming. As I didn't have a
spot I wandered off to the edge of the pier and amused myself by imagining the
angry blonde man giving Russell Crowe a safety briefing.
After another 45 minutes of wondering if the film crew would supply breakfast to
someone who had nothing to do with the movie, I was asked by a producer what was
I doing. "I'm going to film a video of the set", I replied. "Have you been
videoing here?" he asked in panicked tones. "Not yet, I’m waiting for it to
start." "And who's this video for?" I sensed my eviction was near. "Anyone who
wants it", I said hopefully. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." And
so it was, my two hour stint on the set of 'Australia' came to an end. I was
escorted off the wharf and all security guards were told to ensure I was "moved
on".
After that there was nothing to do but wait with a
cameraman at the end of the wharf for Nicole Kidman to appear. After half an
hour of waiting, the movie producers realised that we would be able to film the
action on the water. This wasn't to their liking. Security guards were sent to
get rid of us, even though we were standing in a public place. When we pointed
out that we had a right to be there, the police were called. They arrived and
also pointed out that we had a right to be there. I tried my best not to look
smug, but probably failed. The producers responded to this setback by attempting
to erect large black screens to block our view. Unfortunately for them, the
screens weren't big enough and the wind blew them over anyway. They gave up and
concentrated on making the movie.
Nicole Kidman then finally made her entrance, dressed elegantly in a full length
tan coloured dress with a blue jacket. She also wore a pale hat and shaded
herself with a parasol. We watched as she rehearsed and then acted out her
character's first moments in Australia; disembarking from the boat and chasing
after a young boy who she had been caring for. The scene was redone at least a
dozen times as Baz Luhrmann watched on and made suggestions. But the producers
were still not impressed by Channel Nine witnessing this and called their
publicist to try and move us along. She asked us to consider leaving, telling us
nothing more of interest would be happening today. If "you work with us, we'll
work with you", she said. I proposed that we would go away if we were allowed on
set for five minutes to get some shots. Unfortunately they weren't prepared for
that sort of working with us. Despite the fact we weren't invading anyone's
privacy, disrupting production or giving away the movie's ending, they wanted us
gone.
Once Nicole finished her scene, we went to the one part of the wharf that hasn't
been quarantined off. A lot of the extras were waiting around and we interviewed
a few of them who were genuinely enthusiastic about their experiences. None of
them had met Nicole yet, but all were keen to get a photo with her. The job
meant a lot of waiting around they said, but it was a once in a lifetime
opportunity and they were thrilled just to be there. One person who wasn't
thrilled was a stage manager who ran around furiously reminding all extras of
some forgotten fine print in their contracts stipulating that any contact with
the media was banned. He warned that anyone who breached this faced serious
consequences. The extras all looked slightly puzzled as they just wanted to say
how excited they were. We were asked to leave again and complied this time as
our deadline was approaching.
I wasn't to know, but Tuesday would be even more exciting. Tuesday, July 3 -We
were greeted at the wharf by a new burly security guard who immediately told us
we were risking legal action by filming and to go away. We were happy to let the
police's decision from yesterday stand and stayed. The publicist reappeared and
took our contact details and then left. One thing I was quickly working out is
the threats and orders usually meant something exciting was about to happen. And
so it was that Nicole appeared and proceeded to motor around Darwin Harbour in a
small wooden boat. She wasn't alone of course. The vessel was filled with extras
of all ages, and veteran Aussie actor Bill Hunter was at the tiller looking very
pleased with himself. I grabbed a spare camera and raced around to the other
side of the wharf where approximately 100 movie fans had gathered hoping to get
a picture of Nicole. I was pursued by several security guards who said I wasn't
allowed there with a camera and I risked prosecution by not leaving. The other
100 people could stay with their cameras, but apparently I had to leave. No one
could explain why or tell me what law I was breaking. So I stayed and luck was
on my side.
Nicole sailed close to the wharf and our cameras, and was
clearly pleased to see everyone. She bowed to the onlookers, called out "hi",
said the crowd was "fantastic", and commented on the "beautiful day". "What do
you think of Darwin?" I asked. "It's lovely", she yelled back. "Though I haven't
seen much of it. I've just been in this boat". A fair point on her behalf. I
found it quite ironic that after all the efforts to keep everyone away from her,
she was the only person from the movie actually being friendly. But as quickly
as she appeared, she was gone, with Bill Hunter directing them back towards the
large manmade pontoon where dozens of movie cameras were ready to get down to
business. Nicole though appeared to be having a ball, talking to all the
children in the boat, and encouraging them to wave to the public. With some
exclusive vision secured of a happy Nicole on set, I called it a day. As I
walked off, an unhappy security guard made a rude gesture in my direction. I
tried not to look smug, but probably failed.
---
Nicole's bum steer in outback
Courier Mail, 3 July 2007
Delicately
shaded by a cream umbrella and neatly dressed in a matching outfit, Hollywood
star Nicole Kidman skipped out of Bowen and into the sunny surrounds of Darwin
yesterday to continue her role as rich English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley.
With a helping hand from co-star Bill Hunter, Kidman stepped back in time more
than six decades to portray scenes of her character's arrival from England to
Stokes Hill Wharf in outback adventure Australia. While the Academy Award
winner's leading man Hugh Jackman was missing, the pair are expected to film
scenes together this week before shifting their focus from the $120 million
project to another worthy cause – as presenters at Sydney's Live Earth concert
at Aussie Stadium on Saturday. It appears the unseasonal rains that have flooded
the outback set of Baz Luhrmann's epic movie could prove a huge bonus for the
climate change event. It is believed the film's A-list stars will be back in
Sydney this weekend, preparing for interior shoots here next week while the
homestead in Kununurra, in the Kimberley Region, dries out. Kidman would no
doubt relish the opportunity to contribute to the global Live Earth event as her
husband, Keith Urban, recently signed on to appear at the New York concert.
Urban will perform a duet with R&B superstar Alicia Keys.
---
Nicole
earns a Territory handshake
Northern Territory News, 3 July 2007
Nicole Kidman began work in Darwin yesterday and was promptly given what local
girls call the "Territory handshake" - a tweak on the bum. The Hollywood star
gets the cheeky helping hand as she steps out of a launch during the filming of
Baz Luhrmann's Australia. Territorians and tourists watched from behind a line
set up by guards as her character arrived at Stokes Hill Wharf on a dinghy.
Another actor lifted her up by putting his hand on her bum - and got a dagger
look from Kidman. "She's been given the old Territory handshake," said one
onlooker. "Every Territory girl has had one of those."
But it was all part of the action - designed to show how Kidman's character is
trying to make it in a male-dominated world. Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham,
Bryan Brown and the cast of Australia are in the Top End to film Darwin
Harbour scenes Luhrmann said could not have been shot anywhere else.Access to
the wharf has been limited during filming on a closed set. And an exclusion zone
has been declared by harbourmaster Bruce Wilson, preventing anyone going on the
water within 300m of the wharf. Kidman plays an English aristocrat who flies
into Darwin on a flying boat to sort out a cattle station she has come to own.
Old-looking boats are moored at the wharf for effect and metal pylons have been
done up with fibreglass props to create the impression of an old wooden
structure.
The Darwin-shot scenes will make up less than five minutes of screen time,
production staff said. Cars were banned from the wharf yesterday. People were
ferried from Frances Bay Drive past the set in a shuttle bus. Most of the movie
is being filmed in Sydney and Bowen. But Luhrmann said he decided to film in
Darwin because the colour of the harbour water could not be replicated. The
maritime exclusion zone will be in effect until June 12.
---
Great opportunity for
local filmmakers attached to Australia
Northern Territory Government, 3 July 2007
Five Territory filmmakers have been given the opportunity to work on the set of
Australia while the production is filming in Darwin. The Northern Territory Film
Office (NTFO) negotiated for these attachments. Twelve emerging filmmakers vied
for the screen attachments on offer, which have been made possible thanks to
Catherine Knapman and Baz Luhrmann. The attachments are Phillipa Barr in the
Production Department, Curtis Brownjohn in Camera, David Hansen in Assistant
Direction, Bronwyn Wright in the Art Department, and Curtis Marriott in Second
Unit Camera. The NTFO is pleased that these attachments have been realised, as
they create opportunities for the development of skills that will remain in the
Territory when Australia leaves Darwin.
---
Territory
epic chews up cash
Northern Territory News, 2 July 2007
Filming
the epic movie Australia in Darwin is four times as expensive as Sydney for
director Baz Luhrmann. "There was a very long time when it looked impossible to
actually film here for financial reasons," he said. "But I don't believe
the water down there (in Darwin Harbour) is like anywhere else in the world."
During a sneak peek on to the Stokes Hill Wharf set, Mr Luhrmann said the movie
could draw tourists to Darwin like Lord of the Rings affected New Zealand.
He said the movie will transform Darwin into a "truly romantic place" because he
is telling a romantic story. Chief Minister Clare Martin said the
Territory's $200,000 contribution was a bargain. "I hope we can get
millions of tourists just wanting to see where it was shot. I think we got away
cheap," she said. Mr Luhrmann laughed off suggestions that his decision to film
in remote parts of Australia was a public relations exercise. "Are you
saying to me that you think that I've got 20th Century Fox to spend multi-
multi-millions of dollars because I want to be liked in northern Australia," he
said. "It's an artistic issue, not a political one."
For authenticity, a small section of the wharf has been modified to resemble
1930s Darwin. The concrete deck has been covered by 90sq m of timber and a 15m
fake railway track. An 11m long staircase was also built down to a 37sq m
floating pontoon and a working crane that will carry luggage to the wharf.
The two-week filming schedule starts today and the set will be used during three
scenes, but only minutes of footage will be used showing:
- Nicole Kidman's character landing in a Qantas Emperial Aircraft flying boat
and disembarking on to Darwin.
- A later scene where Ms Kidman's character is frantically pursuing a young boy
in her care while dodging up to 200 soldiers.
- Hugh Jackman's character under the wharf as part of a rescue operation
following the bombing of Darwin.
Mr Luhrmann said he was driven to make this film after growing up with epics
such as Lawrence of Arabia. "If you're talking about drama in landscape, we have
that in spades," he said. "What's interesting about the NT of the 1930s is that
it is a little bit of Asia, a little bit of the Wild West and a little bit of
Africa."
---
Stars
show up for Darwin film shoot
Northern Territory News, 1 July 2007
The cast and crew of Australia are rolling into Darwin in preparation for the
first day of shoot-ing tomorrow. Director Baz Luhrmann is in Darwin and it is
believed Nicole Kidman arrived yesterday with son Connor and daughter Isabella.
And co-star David Wenham was spotted wandering along Mitchell St yesterday.
Kidman, who plays Lady Sarah Ashley, will be on set at Stokes Hill Wharf
tomorrow to start filming scenes including her arrival on a Qantas flying boat
on Darwin Harbour. Hugh Jackman will be featured in a scene that takes place in
the aftermath of an attack by Japanese forces on the city as Australia enters
World War II. These scenes will be edited together with footage already shot in
Bowen in Queensland. The filming for Australia will take place at Stokes Hill
Wharf from tomorrow until Thursday and again on July 10 and 11. There will also
be two days of filming in a Darwin warehouse. Up to 300 Territorians have been
chosen as extras for Australia. Many of them, who are men, aged 16 to 70, have
been groomed to suit the era, which includes a 1940s hairstyle. It is understood
that extras will be required on set as early as 4am tomorrow for a full day of
work. They will be paid $15.70 an hour, for the first eight hours of work and
then overtime rates after that. Extras roles include priests, drovers, wharfies,
passengers on the flying boat and government officers. Australia is a closed set
but there will be free shuttle bus to Stokes Hill Wharf as businesses are still
open. The shuttle bus will leave every five minutes from a temporary car park on
the corner of McMinn St and Frances Bay Drive from 8.30am to 11pm until July 13.
---
Filming of Australia starts
in Darwin
TVNZ.co.nz, 1 July 2007
The US Navy is likely to cause more trouble on the night streets of Darwin than
the set and crew of the epic film Australia, says director Baz Luhrmann.
Speaking on Darwin wharf, where four days of filming of the movie starring
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman will begin on Monday, Luhrmann said his team
started at four every morning. "We're lucky to finish at seven, and then you
need an hour to do wrap down and reboot. You've got to be in bed by 9 O'clock
and then you go again. "It's pretty relentless. You'd have more trouble from the
US Navy than from ourselves I think." But the engaging director of such box
office triumphs as Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet, and Strictly Ballroom had a
disclaimer. "The crew have been incredibly exhausted so last night I would like
to go on record and just apologise to the local nightclubs (in Bowen) because I
think there might have been just a little bit of loosy goosy and having a good
time shall we say," he said.
The tiny Queensland town of Bowen is 'playing' most of Darwin in the movie. "But
we've done the ins and outs, the beginnings and ends in Darwin," Luhrmann said.
These include a dramatic scene with a little Aboriginal boy on the stairs
leading to the wharf, the arrival and departure of Kidman and a rescue scene
which takes place under the wharf. The outback epic centres on Lady Sarah,
played by Kidman, who becomes the proprietor of a cattle station before World
War II. She enlists the help of a "rough-hewn" drover, Jackman, in a fight
against cattle barons who plot to take over her land. The pair drive 2,000 heads
of cattle across the Top End and get caught up in the Japanese bombing of
Darwin. Luhrmann agreed the film could be described as part Crocodile Dundee,
part Gone With The Wind. "They sold pretty good tickets, I like that," he said.
"The film is called Australia not because it's in Australia but it's a metaphor
for ... a thing that comes from a far away place and in the 1930s the far away
of the far away was the Northern Territory. "If you're talking about drama is
the landscape, we've got it in spades."
Shooting so far had revealed a lush and exotic lifestyle, Luhrmann said. "It was
a little bit of Asia, a little bit of the Wild West, a little bit of Africa -
all mixed in creating a natural and truly unique environment. "If Darwin was
like that in the 1930s where was I?" Luhrmann conceded that shooting in Darwin
was four times as expensive as filming in a Sydney studio, but he said the film
- if a huge hit - would be a tourist winner. "It takes it to another level
because it becomes globally mythologised," he said. "If the film does play, if
it's half good, I mean Lord of the Rings is the best example in the world ...
the response as far as tourism was unprecedented and unimaginable." NT Chief
Minister Clare Martin agreed. "The economic benefit we will get I think will far
outweigh the ($220,000) we put in (as a sweetener)," she said. "I think we got
away cheap."
---
Muddy hell as Kidman homestead flooded
Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 2007
It was meant to be the dusty, outback homestead playing host to Nicole Kidman
and Hugh Jackman - but the romantic set of Faraway Downs, the homestead at the
heart of Baz Luhrmann's Australia, has been flooded in a remote region of
Western Australia. Because of the flooding Luhrmann has pulled the pin on
filming at the homestead, in Kununurra, in the Kimberley Region, within the next
fortnight as planned. Instead, the stars of the film, Kidman and Jackman, will
travel from Darwin back to Sydney to shoot interior scenes while waiting for the
expensive set to dry out. Key crew members from Australia have expressed their
astonishment at the flooding of the set. "It's like rain in the Sahara, it's as
unexpected as that," said Phillip Roope, location manager for Australia. "But
we're making an epic and if you make an epic you're going to have setbacks.
That's the way [Baz] sees it, I guess." A spokeswoman for Luhrmann said: "We
need it to be rustic and outback, so we had no choice about changing the
schedule." The Aboriginal meaning of Kununurra is "big waters". Roope said
Luhrmann's filming schedule had been changed to minimise the financial effects
of the flooding. "There will be a cost involved but we did have stuff to shoot
in Sydney, so we'll go back there and regroup, and wait for it to brown off
again," he said. Kidman and Jackman, who are filming scenes in Darwin over the
next 10 days, will only be sent to Kununurra when the set has dried out. They
are expected to spend at least a fortnight in Sydney while waiting for the mud
to clear. The fake homestead was put in place three weeks ago by a crew of 40
workers after being prefabricated in Sydney and transported to Western Australia
in semitrailers. After it rained heavily in the first week Roope and his crew
used heavy equipment including graders to try to restore the set. But then it
rained again. Locals said they had never experienced such wet conditions at this
time of year. "We looked at the records which have existed since 1889 and there
has never been anything like this in June," Roope said. The average rainfall for
Kununurra in June is 10 millimetres, but last month the region received 100
millimetres. "The brown soil just turned to sticky mud straight away. Actually,
it's not really mud, it's clay," Roope said. "It's put everything back, because
nobody expected it." Luhrmann's budget of $120 million included the building of
an entire stand-alone set in the Queensland town of Bowen, the re-creation of
war scenes near Darwin Harbour and the construction of the outback homestead in
Western Australia. Roope said Faraway Downs was at the centre of the film,
housing much of the romance between the lead characters, so Luhrmann would wait
"until it is 100 per cent perfect".
---
Rain
puts dampener on Kidman in Kimberley
The West.com.au, 30 June 2007
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman’s arrival in WA has been delayed after an
unseasonal deluge of heavy rain flooded sets in the Kimberley. Filming of Baz
Luhrmann’s sweeping epic Australia was scheduled to start on July 13, but the
actress and her co-star Hugh Jackman will return to Fox Studios in Sydney until
the region dries up. However, both stars will be in Darwin on Monday to
shoot scenes at the bustling port, where hundreds of fans are expected to turn
out to see Kidman at work. A set had been constructed on Carlton Hill Station,
north of Kununurra, to represent the fictitious Faraway Downs featured in the
movie. But last night publicist Edweana Wenkart said filming, which was
scheduled to take place over six weeks, would be postponed after torrential
rains slowed down the construction of sets and water blocked access to crucial
locations. “The production made the decision to postpone shooting originally
scheduled for Kununurra and the surrounding area due to unseasonably bad weather
in the region over the past weeks,” she said. Luhrmann said last night that the
production would be in Kununurra once the water levels had subsided. "The colour
palette and drama of the East Kimberley landscape during the dry is worth
waiting for," he said.
---
BAZMARK PRESS RELEASE: FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY 29 June 2007
'AUSTRALIA' MOVES BACK ON THE ROAD!
Baz Luhrmann's epic movie 'Australia' will arrive in the Top End after filming
is completed in Bowen in Northern Queensland this week. Production commences on
Stokes Hill wharf in Darwin on Monday 2nd July. After filming wraps in Darwin,
the company's planned move to Kununurra will be postponed due to the
record-breaking unseasonably wet season. Instead, the production will return to
Sydney where filming will resume on the sound stages at Fox Studios.
Luhrmann, the writer/producer/director of such films as 'Moulin Rouge!', 'Romeo
+ Juliet' and 'Strictly Ballroom', conceived the project in the Top End three
years ago and has insisted the film be shot on location there. He sees the Top
End as one of the last frontiers for travellers to explore. Once the film is
released he believes that people will want to come and see it for themselves.
Luhrmann said: "If a film moves people, they want to see where it was shot. In
New Zealand, the popularity of 'Lord of the Rings' has resulted in a huge rise
in NZ tourism in 6 years. The film has to deliver, but if that happens, everyone
benefits."
In Darwin, the filming on Stokes Hill wharf will feature scenes with stars
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The filming will include the arrival to Darwin
of Kidman's character, Lady Sarah Ashley, on a Qantas flying boat at the
bustling wharf. Jackman will be featured in a scene that takes place in the
aftermath of an attack by Japanese forces on the city as Australia enters the
Second World War. These scenes will be edited together with footage already shot
in Bowen and Darwin will come to life as the exotic port it was then and remains
today.
The filming of "Australia" is expected to provide a substantial boost to the
local economy in Darwin. Film Representatives have been working closely with NT
Government, NT Tourism and local media to ensure that Darwin's businesses are
looked after and to help facilitate the increased exposure that filming will
bring. Local businesses are being used to source a range of products and
services and the crew of over 400 will be accommodated in hotels and motels.
More than 300 extras will be cast locally to appear in the movie and there will
also be opportunities for locals to be part of the action as volunteers. For
further information please contact Lisa Naumann, Volunteer Coordinator on mobile
0439 882 920 or email lisa.naumann@nt.gov.au.
Bazmark Film II has been working closely with Chief Minister, Clare Martin, to
implement a Special Wharf Task Force whose duties will include: minimising any
inadvertent impact on local business due to filming; car parking and shuttle bus
arrangements; waterfront construction and the potential of some intermittent
stoppages of specific noise generating activity and a Traffic Management Plan
with Ace NT which will be in place from 30 June to 13 July.
The first tangible sign that filming is coming to Darwin can be seen on McMinn
Street where a billboard has been erected to promote the free shuttle bus
service to the Wharf. Six buses will be operating daily from the Shuttle Base to
the Wharf between 8:30am and 11:00pm and as needed to Fort Hill Wharf for
harbour cruise boat customers. A Travel Guide Volunteer will also be appointed
to each bus to assist commuters with any enquiries. Further information about
the shuttle service is available from www.nt.gov.au or call 8999 6819.
Once filming wraps in Darwin, the company will return to Sydney where filming
will continue on the sound stages at Fox Studios. The production made the
decision to postpone shooting originally scheduled for Kununurra and the
surrounding area due to unseasonably bad weather in the region over the past
weeks. The torrential rains slowed down the construction of sets and the waters
blocked access to many crucial locations. Luhrmann insists that "the color
palette and drama of the East Kimberley landscape during the dry is worth
waiting for. Once the waters have subsided and our team can recommence work
there, we look forward to returning to Kununurra to complete filming."
AUSTRALIA is set in the country's northern outback prior to World War II and
centres on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who finds
herself unexpectedly fighting to save a cattle station the size of Belgium. When
local cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a
rough-hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to drive 1500 head of cattle across
northern Australia's breathtaking, yet brutal landscape. Love ensues, but they
must still face the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese forces that had attacked
Pearl Harbor only months earlier.
Produced by Baz Luhrmann , G. Mac Brown and Catherine Knapman under Luhrmann's
Sydney-based Bazmark Film banner, AUSTRALIA will be distributed worldwide by
News Corporation's Twentieth Century Fox.
FACTS AND FIGURES FOR DARWIN
On the Wharf the production is building:
100 M. of handrail
90 Sq. M. of timber deck
15 M. of fake railway track
11 M. long staircase down to the water
37. Sq. M. floating pontoon
A working crane will be used to lift luggage from the pontoon onto the Wharf.
The production is cladding the existing concrete and steel to look like timber
using a mixture of fibre-glass and plaster. Steelcon (Berrimah) is manufacturing
the set pontoon, and Workboats North Australia is providing workboats and crew
for construction. The production will be hiring at least two more pontoons (the
Labroy and the DMS one) and several dressing vessels TBC. The casting department
has built up a database of over 1200 extras. The production's caterer will be
sourcing all foods/supplies locally for approx 200 crew breakfasts, 280 crew
lunches and 200 afternoon teas per day plus approx 175 additional breakfasts,
lunches & teas daily for extras. A traffic management plan will move our crew
and wharf patrons through the wharf development and onto the wharf.
---
