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June 2010
26 June
2010
'Australia' Limited Edition DVD
Australian website
ezydvd.com.au has reported that a Limited Edition of
the Australia DVD (Celebrating 75 Years of
20th Century Fox) will be released on 28 July
2010. Unfortunately, the website does not reveal whether
there will be any extra special features included on
this new release. I've also heard that many Fox titles
are being re-released soon as part of their 75 year
celebration, which indicates that perhaps this will just
be the same DVD with a different cover. I hope this is
not the case, but unfortunately I do not have any
further information at this time. If anyone has any
further details, please feel free to
e-mail me.
Baz Luhrmann Tribute
Broadwayworld.com has posted a fantastic
review of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles' Baz
Luhrmann Tribute, which was last week staged at
Hollywood’s Avalon. The 'staged
spectacle' included the following songs: (Moulin
Rouge!) - Nature Boy, Children of the
Revolution/Smells Like Teen Spirit; Your Song,
Everybody's Free, La Vie Bohème, Come What May, Medley
from Moulin Rouge; (Romeo + Juliet) - Young
Hearts Run Free, Kissing You/One Day I'll Fly Away, When
Doves Cry; (Strictly Ballroom) - Time After Time
and a 'spectacular rendition' of Love Is In The Air. The
review also features excellent photo coverage, including
the image above!
Baz Luhrmann's Next Project
TheFilmStage.com recently posted a detailed
summary of the various projects that may or may not be
Baz Luhrmann's next venture. Blogger Joshua Blackburn
discusses the possibilities – all of which we are
already aware of – but which he does a great job of
summarising, including links to various sources. He
reports as follows:
According to
AP, the
Moulin Rouge
director said he hasn't decided on his next
project and is juggling between three movie projects and
two stage productions. Details about his movie projects
were given via his collaboration on a
charity auction with partner
Catherine
Martin where one lucky winner will get
the chance to appear as a featured extra in the next
motion picture by
Luhrmann.
The auction tells us that "Luhrmann
intends to shoot a new motion picture no earlier than
2011, and is currently coming to a determination about
whether it will be a historical epic, a major musical
work, or a literary adaptation." The literary adaptation
would
most likely be a film
adaptation of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel
The
Great Gatsby, which
Luhrmann
purchased the rights to back in 2008.
Luhrmann
has been attempting to bring a historical epic to
the screen for awhile with the failed fruition of his
version of
Alexander the Great. While
this project never made it to screen,
Luhrmann
has made
comments about temporarily
abandoning his ideas for an epic trilogy in favor of
"something short and pop and very immediate before (he)
leapfrogs into a larger work".
Since
Luhrmann
is best known for his musical works, the ideas
of his next musical are the highly anticipated.
Luhrmann
recently met with
Slumdog Millionaire
composer,
A.R. Rahman,
about collaborating on a film that would shoot
in India. In a
comment from The India Times,
in reference to working with
A.R. Rahman,
the director said, "We had a discussion and he's
fantastic. We are planning to create some work together,
but it’s too early to talk about it. I'd just say that
we want to create the right piece, for the right story
so that it can be told well." Another musical
possibility would be a larger scale production with
previous collaborators,
Hugh Jackman
and
Beyonce Knowles, which
Luhrmann
did a short number with for the 2009 Academy
Awards.
Luhrmann quoted to
Vogue on the possible future
collaboration with
Knowles,
that "one can only pray. My mind is racing already… I'm
sure that there is a dramatic cinematic life for her.
It’s been a long time since we've seen that kind of
performer, like
Barbara Streisand
and Diana Ross,
on the screen."
6 June
2010
Hong Kong Art
Fair Photos
A big thank you to site visitor, Holly
Hunnington, who has kindly shared six fantastic photos
she took while visiting the Hong Kong Art Fair last
month. Holly was lucky enough to experience the artwork
of Baz Luhrmann and Vincent Fantauzzo and wrote, "The
vibe of being so up close and personal to their art was
unbelievable - they were a big hit at the fair and
everyone seemed to love it." Holly's photos feature the
Indian themed booth. This booth displayed a portrait of
Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan, with the audience
encouraged to draw over the mural on the walls. Holly
captured some wonderful images of everyone enjoying
being part of the art -
click here to check them out. Also, Vincent Fantauzzo has posted some
great photos
of people enjoying their visit to the Indian themed booth on his
official website.
Hong Kong Art Fair
- New Section
As reported in my last news update, Baz Luhrmann and
Vincent Fantauzzo exhibited two booths at the Hong Kong Art
Fair, with one booth showcasing Bachchan's portrait and the other booth showcasing
their multi-media installation, "The Creek, 1977".
There has been so much interest and information about
their participation at the event that I have decided to
create a new section on my website dedicated to
their involvement. A link has now been added to my 'Facts
About Baz' page, and you can also
click here
to check it out.
Luhrmann's
Australia maintains tourism
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Baz
Luhrmann's Australia helped maintain the
country's tourism industry last year. While the article
unfairly states that the film was a "box-office flop"
(in fact, the movie did very well in Australia and
throughout Europe), it also points out that, despite a
poor performance in the United States, last year US
tourism in Australia actually grew by 10%.
On a sidenote, Tourism Australia has recently launched a
new Australian tourism campaign with the slogan "There's
nothing like Australia". Check out their
website
for more information.
Australia film helps keep
tourism steady
Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June
2010
Baz Luhrmann's Australia may have been a box-office
flop, but it was still a big winner for the tourism
industry. Global tourism declined by four per cent last
year, but Australia held its own, attracting 5.6 million
visitors despite the financial uncertainty plaguing the
world.
Tourism Australia chief executive Andrew McEvoy said, if
campaigns were an indicator of success, Australia
performed better than most countries. "You'd have to say
it had an element of success, it was a good campaign for
its time and my view ... is that Tourism Australia were
clever to try and capitalise on the publicity around
Australia, the movie," Mr McEvoy told a Senate budget
estimates hearing.
The campaign piggy-backed on a US$100 million global
marketing campaign of the 2008 film, starring Hugh
Jackman and Nicole Kidman. After much hype the film was
largely snubbed by cinemagoers in the United States and
received poor reviews from many critics. The US,
however, was one of Australia's tourism "stars" as the
US market grew 10 per cent last year, with airline V
Australia's entry to trans-Pacific services helping
price competition.
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