Australian News Articles -
23 February 2006
Australian News Articles
-
23 February 2006
Search
on for Baz's next (little) big star
Sophie Tedmanson, Entertainment reporter, The Australian
February 23, 2006
As Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe begin rehearsals for their first movie
together, the Australian film's director, Baz Luhrmann, said he was still
missing a key cast member.
Luhrmann yesterday put out a casting call for an indigenous boy, aged 7-10, to
join the cast of his untitled Australian epic, set in Darwin in the 1930s.
The director, best known for the musical Moulin Rouge, said Kidman and Crowe,
whose characters become involved in a love triangle, will begin rehearsing in
Los Angeles in two weeks.
With a rumoured budget of $40million, the movie will be shot in Australia and is
set to be one of the most expensive and adventurous local films.
Speaking from the north Queensland town of Bowen, which may double as Darwin,
Luhrmann described the film as an epic on the scale of Gone With The Wind, Out
Of Africa or Giant.
"It's a classic emotional romance between two characters," he said.
"We have some of the most extraordinary landscape on the planet and we want
to get two of the most extraordinary actors in the world and put them, acting,
in that landscape."
While the movie, co-written by Luhrmann and Australian screenwriter Stuart
Beattie (Collateral), is not based on a true story, Luhrmann said events such as
the bombing of Darwin in World War II would provide a backdrop to the story.
While Darwin's wharf may be used for filming, financial restrictions may force
more out-of-the-way locations such as the Kimberley to be recreated at Sydney's
Fox Studios.
Shooting is expected to begin in the next few months - by August at the latest
because of the wet season - and Luhrmann is expected to announce the name,
location and other cast members in the coming weeks.
The director, who has been working on the movie for the past seven years, said
it came from a passion shared between himself, Kidman and Crowe to "do
something purely Australian on a scale the world hasn't seen before".
"It was kind of, 'What can we do at home?' because we love being
here," he said.
Sydney-based Luhrmann said he would use an Australian crew, including his wife
and creative partner, Oscar-winning costume and production designer Catherine
Martin. "CM and I just put our domestic life in order so that we can work
at home and make something, give as much as we can back to the country and be
part of it," he said.
---
No
music - but big like Ben Hur
By Garry Maddox Film Reporter, Sydney Morning Herald
February 23, 2006
The light-hearted working title has been Project Oklahoma.
But the director Baz Luhrmann has confirmed that his next film, which will star
Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, is not another Moulin Rouge.
"It's not a musical," he said with a laugh yesterday.
"And it's not Oklahoma!"
Speaking publicly about the film for the first time, Luhrmann described it as a
"classic romance that uses the sweeping landscape of Australia" and
runs from the mid-1930s to the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Filming will start in August at the latest, to beat the wet season in northern
Australia, with backing from the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox.
After the postponement of Alexander the Great, Luhrmann said his first film
since Moulin Rouge would be comparable in scale to Gone with the Wind and Giant.
"My motivation is not to do it [with computer-generated images]," he
said.
"It's to go the Lawrence of Arabia road and take two of the world's most
extraordinary actors - more than two - to some of the most extraordinary scenic
landscape in the world.
"We're going to do what David Lean did. He shot in Wadi Rum [in Jordan].
We'll be shooting in the Kimberleys."
Luhrmann said Crowe and Kidman were passionate to make "something at home,
for home", especially after their aborted plan to work together on
Eucalyptus.
"We've talked about it for over seven years, that we must do something
together in Australia. We're in the extraordinary place now where we can do
that.
"Because you've got two Oscar-winning actors, you can actually make a film
at a scale that you could never do for an Australian film before."
While not commenting on the budget, Luhrmann said there was widespread
enthusiasm for putting the Australian landscape on screen.
"People understand they can really show the country to the world through a
big emotional film with these two actors."
One key role being cast is an indigenous boy aged between seven and 13.
"We've got people all over Australia looking," Luhrmann said.
---
Baz's
bombshell
By Michael Bodey, The Daily Telegraph
February 23, 2006
It's not Oklahoma!, it's not Gone With the Wind and it's definitely not a
musical – but Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe will feature in a "sweeping
romance" directed by Baz Luhrmann.
"Yes and it's very passionate," the Moulin Rouge! director said of
their on-screen relationship.
Luhrmann confirmed details of his highly anticipated next movie ahead of an
official announcement in three weeks, when the title will be revealed.
The beginning of the epic begins in the mid-1930s and concludes with its major
set-piece, the 1942-43 Japanese bombing of Darwin and the exodus south, known as
the Adelaide River Stakes.
Luhrmann, who has researched the film for 10 years, said the tale will be a
"mythological telling" drawn from books and historical material.
"Russell, Nicole and I have been wanting to do a large Australian piece for
a very long time," he said.
Both actors have dramatically lowered their fees in order to work on the film.
But Luhrmann's biggest task has been convincing Twentieth Century Fox that he
could shoot the film in the Australian Outback.
"In this day and age of computer generation, no studio wants you to step
outside the studio to shoot locations anymore" he said. "Making it in
a traditional sense is not something people support you in."
Luhrmann will rehearse with Kidman and Crowe in Los Angeles in March and will
begin shooting five months later.
Filming will take place in the Kimberleys, Darwin and Queensland, with an almost
entirely Australian cast, including a 7 to 9-year-old indigenous child in a
major role.
---
Stars
go for Aussie passion
By Michael Bodey, Herald Sun
23feb06
It's not Oklahoma!, it's not Gone With The Wind and it's definitely not a
musical.
But Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe will feature in a "sweeping
romance" for Baz Luhrmann.
"Yes, and it's very passionate," the Moulin Rouge! director said of
the two stars' on-screen relationship.
The epic begins in the mid-1930s and ends with its major set piece, the 1942-43
Japanese bombing of Darwin and the exodus south, which became known as the
Adelaide River Stakes.
Luhrmann, who has researched the film for 10 years, said the tale, co-written by
Collateral's Stuart Beattie and The Pianist's Ron Harwood, will be a
"mythological telling" drawn from books and historic materials.
"Russell, Nicole and I have been wanting to do a large Australian piece for
a very long time," he said.
It is understood both actors have dramatically lowered their fees in order to
collaborate with Luhrmann.
Shooting begins in August on location in the Kimberleys, Darwin and Queensland.
"We're in a unique moment where we can make an Australian film on a scale
that's never been made about Australia with Australian actors in all the primary
and lead roles," Luhrmann said.
