May 2009 - August 2009
 

15 August 2009

Baz Luhrmann: The Photographer

The Sydney Morning Herald has published an insightful story about Baz Luhrmann's photography at the recent handover of native title to the Nyangumarta community, which includes the family of Australia star, Brandon Walters. Click here to check out the stunning images that accompany the below story.

Luhrmann's happy ending to an Australian story
Sydney Morning Herald, 8 August 2009

The world knows him as the director of Australia and Moulin Rouge but Baz Luhrmann has long had another creative interest - taking photographs.

As a schoolboy growing up in a small-town petrol station on the state's North Coast, he took pictures of car rallies and road accidents to sell to the newspaper at nearby Wauchope. He learnt the craft from his father, an underwater photographer for the navy who met the filmmaker's mother while she was working in a photography shop.

To highlight the significance of what he calls one of the great experiences of his life, Luhrmann has shared some of his striking photos with the Herald.

The event was the handover of native title to almost 40,000 square kilometres in remote Western Australia to the Nyangumarta community, which includes the family of the young Aboriginal star of Australia, Brandon Walters.

Before casting Walters as Nullah in the film, Luhrmann visited the family in their Kimberley homeland, hunting roos and bush turkey during a week-long walkabout. He was invited back for the handover in June, along with politicians and representatives of the mining and pastoral industries.

The emotional festivities extended into corroboree and an evening meal around a fire. It was a humbling, down-to-earth experience for a director whose world includes film premieres, the world's great festivals and the Academy Awards.

''I loved it,'' said Luhrmann. ''It was thrilling to be genuinely included in that moment.''

It took 20 years of trying before the Federal Court awarded the land to the Nyangumarta people. Luhrmann said they could now hunt in the pristine country without having to get an official document signed.

'I think every Australian should, once in their lives, have some sort of traditional indigenous experience,'' he said. ''For me, it put some part of me at rest about my country.''

Luhrmann's connection with the community influenced the stolen generation story in Australia. Travelling the world to release the outback epic in cinemas and on DVD, the director has been struck by how much international audiences have responded to Nullah's story, especially children.

''Not in a negative way, just in the sense 'I didn't know','' he said. ''I feel good that that story about the stolen generation ends in the movie with a sense of healing and that, more importantly, the [Prime Minister's] apology came [in the same year].''

10 August 2009

'Australia' at Teen Choice Awards

Australia was been nominated for three categories at the Teen Choice
Awards, which aired on Fox on Monday, 10 August. The nominations
were for Choice Movie Romance, Choice Movie Actor Drama (Hugh
Jackman) and Choice Movie Actress Drama (Nicole Kidman). It's great to see that teenagers enjoyed the film so much but, of course, it was the popular Twilight movie that swept the board and won 12 awards. However, well done to Australia star, Hugh Jackman, who won two awards for Choice Actor Action Adventure and Choice Movie Action Adventure for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Animal Logic Website

Animal Logic have created a fantastic section on their website about their work as the lead VFX company for Australia. Animal Logic has previously worked with Baz Luhrmann on Moulin Rouge! and the Chanel No. 5 film, and their webpage demonstrates how they have once again worked their incredible magic in creating stunning special effects for Australia.

Everybody's Free (to vlog)

Check out this You Tube video called Everybody's Free (to vlog), a hilarious spoof of Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen. If you're a video blogger, or even just a regular blogger, you will definitely relate to the witty lyrics. And even if you have no idea what vlogging is, I guarantee you'll still get a chuckle out of this video! :)

25 June 2009

Exclusive 'Australia' Music Videos

As reported in my previous news update, Anton Monsted has kindly provided me with further material relating to the newly released Australia soundtrack. I am very pleased to share with fellow fans two stunning music videos. The first is the video clip for the iconic Waltzing Matilda and the second is the video clip for the beautifully haunting By The Boab Tree. Both songs are by Ophelia of the Spirits, and each clip features a collage of images from the film. The videos are very moving and beautifully put together, and I feel the clips are perfect accompaniments to a remarkable film and a wonderful soundtrack - enjoy!

Waltzing Matilda    By The Boab Tree

24 June 2009

'Australia' Soundtrack Now Available!

I am very happy to announce that the full Australia soundtrack is now available to download through iTunes! Movie fans have been waiting for the release of the soundtrack for a long time and I'm sure that everyone will be thrilled with this exclusive iTunes release.

The Australia soundtrack is also accompanied by a stunning 51 page booklet of movie stills and song words from the film, and this is available to download when you purchase the entire album. The soundtrack combines memorable songs from the movie with pieces of the stunning score by David Hirschfelder. The full track listing is as follows:

1. Welcome to Australia (Overture) - David Hirschfelder and David Gulpilil
2. The Drover’s Ballad - Elton John
3. All Night Long - The John Butler Trio
4. You Ride Your Way, I’ll Ride Mine - Rolf Harris
5. No Man Hires Me, No Man Fires Me - David Hirschfelder and Mark Lizotte
6. Cantero de Ti - Amelia Farrugia
7. The Rush - David Hirschfelder and John Butler
8. First Kiss - Felix Meagher and Bill Risby
9. Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
10. Across the Room/Begin the Beguine - David Hirschfelder, Stephen Pigram and Alam Pigram
11. Faraway Downs - Felix Meagher, Baz Luhrmann and Angela Little
12. Whoa Babe - The Ink Spots
13. Life Begins Again - Felix Meagher, Baz Luhrmann and Angela Little
14. I Will Come For You - David Hirschfelder
15. Fire From the Sky - David Hirschfelder
16. King George Calls - Felix Meagher, Baz Luhrmann and Angela Little
17. Nimrod (From the Enigma Variations) - Edward Elgar
18. By The Boab Tree - Ophelia of the Spirits
19. Waltzing Matilda - Ophelia of the Spirits

A very special thanks to Anton Monsted who contacted me to announce the soundtrack release. He also kindly provided me with further material which I am hoping to get online shortly, so check back soon for a further update! :)

13 June 2009

Baz Joins Brandon For Historic Ceremony

On 11 June 2009, the Australian government returned almost 40,000 square kilometres of land to the Nyangumarta traditional owners in a historic ceremony. The land is known as Eighty Mile Beach, a stretch of the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Broome. Australia star, Brandon Walters, and his family, who are part of the Nyangumarta people, as well as Baz Luhrmann, were there to join in with the emotional celebrations of the day. The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

"When Baz Luhrmann was looking to cast the young Aboriginal star of Australia he spent a week-long walkabout with Brandon Walters's family in the remote Kimberley region. They shot roos and bush turkey, shared music around fires and traded stories on the Nyangumarta community's traditional lands. The trip sealed a bond that continued yesterday when Luhrmann joined the community in celebrating their successful native title claim over almost 40,000 square kilometres of pristine country.

He was an invited guest, alongside politicians and representative of the mining and pastoral industries, at a ceremony at Wallal Downs, near Broome. It was followed by a corroboree with dance, songs and stories. "I just thought how am I going to make a film like this with this little boy unless I really have a connection with him and his family," Luhrmann said. "It's an extraordinarily dramatic landscape - powerful and overpowering - so it was quite a privilege to be with the family and experience how they relate to the land in an almost religious way." The Sydney-based director of Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge said seeing Walters play harmonica and learning about his mother's life on a cattle station fed directly into the script for Australia.

One of the traditional owners, Nyaparu Rose, said recognition of the community's land claim was important to all Aborigines. It was a moment of great happiness and sadness because of the elders lost in the past decade. "Connection to country and the ties we have to our land is as important to us today as it was to our ancestors," she said. The land handed down by the Federal Court, extending from the coast into the Great Sandy Desert, is considered of cultural and spiritual significance to the Nyangumarta people."

7 June 2009

Baz's Next Project?

I have been receiving e-mails from site visitors asking what Baz Luhrmann's next project will be. The only answer at the moment is - no one really knows. A while back, it was reported that Luhrmann had bought the movie rights to the legendary F. Scott Fitzgerald book, The Great Gatsby. However, Luhrmann later said that he had not yet decided what his next project would be and that he would take 'several months' to decide. We are therefore currently in limbo waiting for further news. A recent report by my local newspaper, Adelaide Now, reported how Australia star Hugh Jackman will team up with James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, for the Broadway play, A Steady Rain. The article also reported that "Luhrmann has serendipitously been in meetings in the US" but it is not known what these meetings have been about.

17 May 2009

'Australia' Update

Australia is now available to rent and buy on DVD and Blu-Ray all over the world. I highly recommend getting a copy so that you can experience the magic of this movie in your very own living room! Despite receiving a relatively poor reception in the US, Australia has done very well internationally. I do believe that this movie will be appreciated more and more as time goes by, and Baz Luhrmann and co. should be very proud of this wonderful film. Check out my Australia section for more information and my very own movie review.

Last month, Catherine Martin was the guest editor for Vogue and she did a wonderful job with this special edition of the magazine. Inside, she revealed where Luhrmann wrote much of Australia. The Daily Telegraph reported the following snippet:
"The Chateau Marmont Hotel is an important part of Hollywood history and, it seems, in the annals of Australian cinema, too. As this month's guest editor for Vogue, Catherine Martin recalled the times spent with husband Baz Luhrmann within the walls of the LA institution - and that they usually stay in the same suite. "Baz wrote a lot of Australia in room 48, where I'm staying now," she wrote. "This is where Baz did the deal for Romeo + Juliet . . . we lived in one of the bungalows when we were working on the opera La Boheme (and) we've been here when we've done testing for our movies."

To celebrate the release of Australia on DVD and Blu Ray, an English reporter from handbag.com was lucky enough to be invited to Sydney to meet Baz Luhrmann at the House of Ioan and also go on her own outback adventure in the footsteps of Lady Sarah Ashley. Check out her account of her experiences here, including videos of interviews with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin.

According to Easier.com Travel, Australia has boosted tourism to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The key Kimberley film locations included the Cockburn Range, El Questro Wilderness Park, Purnululu National Park, Digger’s Rest Station, Home Valley Station, the King George River and Falls and Carlton Hill Station – the location chosen as the home for Faraway Downs Homestead. Australia movie tours are also operating in the region so that visitors can see the film's locations for themselves.

The Sydney Morning Herald has also reported that Baz Luhrmann's inspirational 'Come Walkabout' television campaign has won a US award:
"Baz Luhrmann's ... $40 million campaign to sell Australia as a tourist destination has won a prestigious advertising award in the US. His "Come Walkabout" television ad for Tourism Australia won a silver Clio Award at a ceremony in Las Vegas on Friday. The award was for best cinematography in the television/cinema/digital category. The ad features Sibylla Budd as a stressed New York executive who finds herself by cavorting in an outback billabong. Luhrmann paid tribute to cinematographer Mandy Walker, who also shot the film Australia that inspired the ad campaign. "I'm so proud of Mandy Walker and her work on the Tourism Australia campaign and it's so great seeing her work, together with that of the entire production team, being recognised in this way," he said. Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley said despite criticism, the campaign was working: "It is gratifying that the creative industry, too, is giving recognition to the campaign."

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The New-Look 'Baz the Great!'

In May 2009, Baz the Great! was given a complete makeover. I would like to thank everyone who has supported this site over the years and I hope you enjoy the new look! :)

I have removed a lot of old information that I feel is now out of date. However, if you notice anything I have removed that you would like to see back on the site, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also please feel free to contact me if you notice any broken links or if you have any general comments about the new look website.