NOVEMBER 2006
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26 November 2006
Today Show Interview Transcript
- As reported in my last news update, Baz Luhrmann appeared on Australia's Today Show on the morning of 23 November for an exclusive television interview about his movie, Australia. The video has been posted online here, and I have now completed a transcript, which is featured below.
Luhrmann was very animated in the interview, and is obviously very excited about making this much anticipated movie. Luhrmann has revealed that he hopes to name a third cast member, presumably the actor playing Lady Ashley's husband, within two weeks. Knowing Baz, he probably won't stick to this time frame, but hopefully this means we will have more casting news before the end of the year! Also in the interview, Luhrmann confirmed that he does still want to make Alexander the Great. He stated quite firmly, "My dream is that one day I will make that film."
Today Show Interview with Baz
Luhrmann
Date: 23 November 2006. Time: 8:10am. Duration: 5.50 minutes
Richard Wilkins - Well, he is one of Australia's most celebrated and acclaimed creative talents. His three movies Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge all struck box office gold and earnt him a reputation as one of the most exciting filmmakers in the business. He has of course a new project on the go and Baz Luhrmann joins us in the studio to tell us all about it. Lovely to see you.
Baz Luhrmann - It's great to be here, Richard.
R - A sweeping epic set in the north of Australia in the late 30's and early 40's
B - That's right.
R - Around the time of the bombing of Darwin.
B - It ends in the bombing of Darwin, yeah.
R - And it's...
B - Titled!
R - What is it going to be called? This has been a well kept secret.
B - Are you ready for it? It's called Australia.
R - Australia?
B - Yes.
R - Okay, not Australia: The Movie, just Australia.
B - No, look, actually, you know, I went through lots of titles I was looking at. At one stage I was even calling it the Great Southern Land. But you know, if you think of films like Casablanca or you think of
Oklahoma, you know, it represents not obviously the country, but it's a state of mind. You know, for the character in the film played by Nicole, who is this English aristocrat who comes out in the 30's and her life's over and...
R - Her husband's dead, right?
B - She thinks her husband's dead. She's on her way out to bust him, she thinks he's having an affair because he's selling a property the size of Belgium. But what happens is, she comes out, she meets this rough,
hewn drover character, played by Hugh Jackman. How are we going to get him rough and hewn, but we'll do our best (laughs) And there's this sort of African Queen journey out to the cattle station in which she hates the land. There's a big drama, she suddenly finds herself with the rough, hewn cattle drover and she's got to do this epic journey back to Darwin as the war is coming. And of course she falls in love with the drover and the landscape, you know, and it's metaphorically she finds life again. She discovers that life is never over, that there's always a new life to be had. And so Australia is probably the way she'd sum up the story of her life.
R - Wow. Any legal issues or anything by taking on Australia?
B - You know, I never thought of that, would you just check that? (looks off camera and laughs) You mean copyright?
R - I guess you can't copyright the name of the country but, um no, anyway...
B - You know what? There's been a great history of this actually and the idea that, you know, Brazil, for example. And I think that of course, for us, we'll have many many quick reactions to that and what does that mean. And in a way it named itself, Richard, because I wanted Australia to be in the title. The faraway in the 30's would have been Laurence of Arabia. It would have been Out of Africa. And I always wanted the name Australia in it - The Untitled Australian Project. Now, I looked at all those namings of Australia that aren't, you know, Great Southern Land. But in the end,
ultimately, just having the honesty of saying, of calling it, Australia seemed to be it named itself almost.
R - Australia with Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman...
B - And actually soon to be announced, we're just contracting now...
R - Soon to be announced? Say it now, we're on tele...
B - No, well, we're contracting. But in the next two weeks. You know they really are some of our finest Australian actors and this is one of the exciting things for me, is to be working with them.
R - Russell Crowe was attached to this project for a while.
B - Indeed, indeed.
R - What went wrong? Was it money, timing, what?
B - Well, look, Russell...
R - He said he doesn't do charity work for major studios.
B - Sure, sure. I mean Russell and I are still great mates and he is absolutely one of the card carrying greatest actors on the face of the earth and history will see that out. Having said that, there had to be an arrangement or an agreement between him and the studio and that was distinct from us. And really there was a deadline and what happened was, that could never happen. He's very busy. We could never get it together and rather than lose the film, at that same moment I was evolving text. And Hugh Jackman, I mean, what a phenomena is this performer. I ring my friends in France a week ago. All of Paris is at his feet. You know, X-Men opens, he's doing Boy From Oz. And the evolution of a story. Suddenly, this just seemed like the right way to go and I embraced that and I've got to say that in a sense we all think it's probably the right road, you know?
R - Well, it's a wonderful cast you've got there and we wish you well for the project. You've got 1500 cattle, you've been auditioning for that. You start shooting in March.
B - That's right.
R - We'd love to come up and see you when you're doing it.
B - Come and see our cattle, I've got 600 short horns, very attractive cast.
R - You've got 600 short horns, do you?
B - Yeah, at the moment. So if you've got any short horns, you know, I'm available.
R - Send them to Baz. We'll give you his address on the website, just post them in. Hey, um, the Chanel ad's been getting a flogging lately.
B - Not my fault (laughing)
R - I was reading the most expensive ad ever made? 18 million pounds?
B - It's not true. It's not true.
R - 18 million pounds?!
B - It's not true. Okay, I put a few in my little purse there, but no. It's not true. It's not the most expensive ad ever made. But one thing, we made it all here. I mean, it's shot - you see that it's set in New York. But it was all shot here in Sydney, Australia, at the studios, and one of the great things is, you look at Happy Feet. You look at Moulin Rouge. In terms of visual effects, we are in a place now that leads the world in the ability to create anything we want here and I think that that's something worth celebrating. And it's certainly something we experimented with. The same visual effects house that did Happy Feet worked with us to do Chanel, so I think there's the positive story, you know.
R - Which is, what's it called?
B - It's called Animal Logic. Yeah.
R - Just finally. Yes or no answer. Alexander the Great - is it still a work in progress?
B - You know what, I worked on that, producing with Dino De Laurentiis and Steven Spielberg. No one's ever read the script that I worked on with David Hare. There was a studio built in Northern Africa by Dino waiting to put Alexander in. And my dream is that one day I will make that film.
R - Okay, good. Baz, thank you for the update. There we go. An update into the world of Baz Luhrmann, which is an exciting one. The film Aust ralia. You heard it here first. It's being made in March up in the Northern Territory. Thanks for coming in.
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22 November 2006
Australian Epic Title Revealed!
Setting up: Baz
Luhrmann in Western Australia's Kimberley region,
one of the locations he will use when shooting starts in March.
Picture: Bazmark. Source: The
Australian
- I am delighted to announce that Baz Luhrmann has finally revealed the title of his much-anticipated Australian Epic. He went a little over schedule, but Luhrmann has delivered on the promise he made in his recent interview with
ABC Radio and he has gone ahead and announced the title. The film will be called,
Australia.
Luhrmann spoke to the Australian media from his production base, the House of Iona in Sydney. The news first appeared online around 1pm (UK time) this afternoon. The first publication to report the news was Australian newspaper,
The Age, with the following article:
[Please note the following articles are actually dated tomorrow, due to the time differences involved, so I guess technically this news was supposed to break on 23rd November ;)]
Luhrmann to parade Australia's epic scale
By Garry Maddox, The Age, 23 November 2006
Baz Luhrmann paused before revealing the title of his epic outback romance for the first time outside his inner circle.
"The name is shocking," the director said with a laugh. "It's called Australia."
The first film for the Sydney director since Moulin Rouge has been given the go-ahead from Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox. Luhrmann has overcome the withdrawal of Russell Crowe and budget concerns by the studio to begin pre-production.
There will be a workshop at Sydney's Fox Studios before Christmas, with the cast working on riding, costumes, the script and test scenes. Filming will start in the Kimberley in March and take five months.
The budget is believed to be $US100 million ($A130 million), which would make it, along with the new penguin animation Happy Feet, one of the country's most expensive films.
Luhrmann said the film centred on an English aristocrat, played by Nicole Kidman, who comes to Australia to sell a cattle property the size of Belgium.
After an epic journey across country, she and rough-hewn drover Hugh Jackman are caught in the Japanese bombing of Darwin during World War II.
The title Australia was chosen over Great Southern Land and Faraway Downs, the name of the homestead in the film.
"I'm taking the perspective of the rest of the world to this film how they might view Australia," Luhrmann said. "When you say Casablanca or Oklahoma! it means big. It means vast ... I'm not saying this film is Australia. It's a metaphor for a state of mind, for the faraway.
"What people tend not to know is that more tonnage of bombs were dropped by the same attack force on Darwin as Pearl Harbour. They bombed Darwin 64 times. We were completely lied to in the south about it."
This article confirms a lot of information. The shoot will supposedly last five months from March until August. The budget has also been revealed to be US$100 million. Until now, we were unsure exactly how high the budget was expected to climb, and this figure is certainly impressive.
The article also reveals that two other possible titles were Great Southern Land and
Faraway Downs, which will be the name of the homestead in the movie. Personally, I think
Australia was the right choice. :)
- Next, The Australian released the following article, containing further information and even more quotes from
Luhrmann:
Baz sees the big picture in Australian landscape
By Sandy George, The Australian, 23 November 2006
Director Baz Luhrmann's next film is to be called, simply, Australia.
"I couldn't take the title away if I tried because it named itself," said Luhrmann.
The film is a grand romance starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman but, in the tradition of Casablanca and the television series Dallas, the setting is integral.
The backdrop for Luhrmann's film is the cattle industry in the 1930s and Darwin before and after it was attacked by the Japanese in World War II.
"The film is not didactically about this country - the title represents the main character's journey, her state of mind," said Luhrmann from his base in Sydney's inner-city Darlinghurst.
Cameras will roll for five months from March. As was the case with his previous two films - Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge - the key backer is 20thCentury Fox.
Kidman plays Lady Sarah Ashley, a highly strung English aristocrat, who arrives in Australia to find her cad of a husband dead and her only assets a piece of land the size of Belgium and thousands of cattle.
As she drives the cattle overland to sell in Darwin, her disdain for the rough drover at her side (Jackman), and for the country, disappears. "That land which seemed brutal and foreboding is now achingly beautiful, and, through the way she starts to relate to that land, she comes alive and finds her inner strength," said Luhrmann.
Landscape will amplify the drama and emotion of the story in a way not seen in film for some time because of cost, technical challenges and its perceived lack of appeal to 17-year-old boys.
Luhrmann would not comment on the budget but it is understood to be just under $US100million ($130million), making it the most expensive Australian story committed to the big screen.
At least four weeks of the five-month shoot will happen near Kununurra in northern Western Australia, with the state Government contributing $500,000.
Luhrmann emphasised the tourism benefits of two of Australia's biggest stars acting against its landscapes and said he was negotiating with other governments.
He said the films The Overlanders and Giant had inspired Australia and also, in the "magnificent" way it used the landscape, Jedda. But the biggest influence, he said, was Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.
Luhrmann will gather his main cast, including an indigenous boy who will play the third key character, for a workshop in Sydney next month. They will have riding lessons, script discussions and work on costumes.
Luhrmann said he was surprised by what the two years of research unearthed.
"Darwin was attacked 64 times in six months ... The government (disguised) the truth: 2000 whites were killed and non-whites were not counted, so the toll was far greater," he said. "But everything in the film will be in service to a great romance ... Facts will be moved around but not in a way that fundamentally disturbs the truth."
This article is the first to reveal the name of Nicole Kidman's character - Lady Sarah Ashley. The article also states that Luhrmann would not comment on the budget, but it is believed to be US$100 million. Whatever the case, it is going to be a huge blockbuster budget that will surely do Luhrmann's vision justice. As we already know, Luhrmann is extremely passionate about this film, and his comments in these articles regarding the bombing of Darwin show just how devoted he is to telling this story.
- Also, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported the following article. This article begins a lot like
The Age article (it's by the same author), but it's more detailed and
includes information about his extensive research, with further quotes from Luhrmann regarding the
project:
Luhrmann's never, never epic begins to take shape
By Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 November 2006
Baz Luhrmann paused before revealing the title of his epic outback romance for the first time outside his inner circle. "The name is shocking," the director said with a laugh. "It's called Australia."
After a long delay and months of speculation, the first film for the Sydney director since Moulin Rouge has been given the green light by the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox.
Luhrmann has overcome the withdrawal of Russell Crowe and budget concerns by the studio to begin pre-production.
There will be a workshop at Sydney's Fox Studios before Christmas, with the cast working on riding, costumes, the script and test scenes. Then filming will start in the Kimberley region in March and take five months.
The budget is believed to be capped at $US100 million ($130 million), which would make it, along with the new penguin animation Happy Feet, one of the country's most expensive films.
Sitting on the terrace of the stately Darlinghurst mansion Iona, which is both home and production company headquarters, Luhrmann said the film centred on an English aristocrat, played by Nicole Kidman, who comes to northern Australia to sell a cattle property the size of Belgium in the 1930s.
After an epic journey across the country with a rough-hewn drover, Hugh Jackman, they are caught in the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
The surprising title was chosen over Great Southern Land and Faraway Downs, the name of the homestead in the film.
"I'm taking the perspective of the rest of the world to this film - how they might view Australia," Luhrmann said. "When you say Casablanca or Oklahoma! it means big. It means vast ... I'm not saying this film is Australia. It's a metaphor for a state of mind, for the faraway in the '30s."
After Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, Luhrmann tried to make the ancient epic Alexander The Great, even building a studio with the producer Dino de Laurentiis in Morocco. But that film lapsed when Oliver Stone jumped ahead with his own Alexander project.
Life also intervened, with the director and his wife, the production designer Catherine Martin, having two children - Lily, three, and William, one.
"We're a circus family," he said. "We had our children and I fell in love with that. That became the new life."
That life has contributed to Australia.
"This film is about, in a way, the importance of family, whatever the manifestation of that family is ... It's fundamentally about the importance of fighting to keep those that you truly love together despite the difficulties."
Inside Iona, Luhrmann showed books of drawings and reworked historical photographs that place Kidman and Jackman in scenes from the film. Moving to the screening room, he showed footage from scouting visits that includes epic landscapes from the Kimberley and a rodeo.
"As George Lucas said to me, you could shoot it all in Sydney stages," he said. "But I want it to be at least predominantly shot on real locations ... We're definitely shooting no less than a month in Western Australia at [a cattle station]. And to the extent we can, we're trying to shoot as much as possible in other parts."
The film draws on a range of sources including personal research, historical texts, the novels Poor Fellow My Country, Capricornia and We of the Never Never and the 1940s droving film The Overlanders.
Survivors of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese have been interviewed. "What people tend not to know is that more tonnage of bombs were dropped by the same attack force on Darwin as Pearl Harbour," Luhrmann said. "They bombed Darwin 64 times. We were completely lied to in the south about it."
When Crowe withdrew from the film, he blamed budgetary concerns, saying: "I don't do charity work for major studios."
Luhrmann confirmed the dispute was between the studio and Crowe, denied there was any rancour about creative control and said he remained good friends with the Oscar-winning actor.
"There came a point where if Russell and Fox could not resolve it, rather than lose the film ... Hugh was a road forward."
Despite her husband Keith Urban's stint in rehab, Luhrmann said Kidman was definitely ready for Australia. "I'm never going to comment on Nicole's personal life but she's certainly in the picture," he said. "She can't wait to get on a horse."
It is good to hear Luhrmann clarify that what happened between Russell Crowe and Fox was between actor and studio. As Crowe has said before, and as Luhrmann reiterates here, they remain good friends. It is also good to hear from Luhrmann himself that Kidman is still involved with the project. There has been media speculation surrounding her participation in the film after her husband's recent
admission into rehab. But no one involved with the film has ever mentioned the
possibility of Kidman backing out of the project, and it has been confirmed that Luhrmann, Kidman and Jackman are all on board and raring to go! :)
Luhrmann interview on Today Show
- Baz Luhrmann appeared on Australia's Today Show on the morning of 23 November for an exclusive interview about his movie, Australia. His interview went ahead at 8:10am, and the video has been posted online here. I am going to work on transcribing the interview and I will post the transcript right here, hopefully within the next few days. Now that the title has been announced, Luhrmann is obviously going to be busy spreading the word about his exciting new film. I can't wait to hear what more he has to say! :)
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5 November 2006
Australian Epic Cattle Call
- As I reported a few days ago, Baz Luhrmann is still searching for a key cast member for his Australian Epic, an Aboriginal boy aged between 8 and 10. On a slightly different note, Luhrmann has revealed that he is also looking for almost 1000 other cast members - not actors, but short-horn cattle! Luhrmann is currently doing cattle calls and is looking for a particular breed. Let us hope that an Australian farmer has the type of animals he is looking for! :)
Luhrmann issues 'cattle call' for feature film
ABC News Online, 3 November 2006
Film director Baz Luhrmann says he is searching for almost 1,000 cattle for his upcoming period epic to be shot in Western Australia's far north.
It has been confirmed that scenes from the film starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman will be shot on pastoral land near Kununurra, after the Western Australian Government chipped in $500,000 to the project.
The director says the funds were instrumental in his decision to shoot scenes, including a major cattle drive, in the east Kimberley.
Mr Luhrmann says he is not just looking for any cattle.
"Actually we need period cattle so we need short-horns," he said.
"They can be a short-horn cross, red, sometimes a bit pie-bald, basically that look.
"So if you have a sensational, very attractive short-horn, we are doing cattle calls, pardon the rather lame pun."
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2 November 2006
Australian Epic to film near Kununurra
- Yesterday, I posted a transcript of Baz Luhrmann's recent interview with ABC radio, where he spoke from the Western Australian town of Kununurra. Today, the state government has announced that Luhrmann has now decided to film part of his Australian Epic in the area.
In his ABC interview, Luhrmann said "I've got to say, in the next couple of weeks we're going to make decisions about how much we could shoot here, and how much we shoot in other parts of Australia, and that's all about the sort of help and support we're getting, you know." Well, it seems he quickly received the help and support he was looking for from the Western Australian government! It is great that Luhrmann will now be able to film in the actual location as opposed to a studio, and of course Western Australia will benefit from the immense exposure the film will bring.
It has also been reported that Luhrmann said that although the movie will start shooting in March 2007, filming around Kununurra is planned to begin in July 2007, indicating the shoot will last for several months.
WA Business News reported the following article confirming the news, which includes quotes from the Western Australian Premier, and Baz Luhrmann himself. This is a very exciting development - let's hope there's more location news soon! :)
Nicole Kidman lured to WA by state's $500k sweetener
2 November 2006, WA Business News, by Edited announcement
Film director Baz Luhrmann will bring around $4 million to Western Australia after the director agreed to film part of his next movie, a war-time epic starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, near Kununurra for about one month.
The State Government has committed $500,000 to secure the project for Western Australia.
The full text of an announcement from the Premier's office is pasted below.
The State Government has successfully concluded negotiations to secure the filming of Baz Luhrmann's next feature film in Western Australia.
Premier Alan Carpenter said the State Government had lobbied hard to lure the film to WA, committing $500,000 to the project to secure filming for at least a month in the Kimberley.
The as yet untitled film will star Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman and will be directed by one of Australia's most successful filmmakers, Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet, Strictly Ballroom).
The film is an historic epic set around the bombing of Darwin in the Second World War.
"This is fantastic news for WA," Mr Carpenter said.
"It is a massive boost to our screen industry and will showcase the stunning Kimberley region to the world."
Mr Luhrmann today said the feature film would start shooting in March 2007 and was planned to film around the unique Kununurra region in July 2007.
"We had a choice - to recreate this section of the film in studio or in another State or to capture the real thing on film," he said.
Mr Luhrmann said filming on location was preferable to shooting in a studio but the cost of filming outside a metropolitan area could be prohibitively high.
"The WA Government' s financial contribution was instrumental in my decision to shoot these scenes around Kununurra," he said.
Culture and Arts Minister Sheila McHale said financial returns to the State were estimated at $4 million.
"More than 200 cast and crew will live and work in the area for a month, with accommodation alone expected to total more than $325,000 per week," Ms McHale said.
"Apart from the direct financial gains, there will be many flow-on benefits from such a major film production shooting on location; those benefits will also extend to Aboriginal people.
"This project will provide once-in-a-lifetime employment opportunities for locals and may spur some to start a career in WA's thriving screen industry.
"I am also thrilled the film will bring back to WA two of Australia's finest actors, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, who spent time here during their early careers."
The Minister said the project would showcase WA as a tourism destination.
"WA's unique North will be transformed into a film starring some of Australia's best talent and broadcast internationally," she said.
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1 November 2006
Baz Luhrmann Interview - Australian Epic
- On 31 October 2006, ABC Radio National featured an in-depth audio interview with Baz Luhrmann about the Australian Epic. I do believe this is the most revealing information I've heard about the movie to date. It's certainly the most Luhrmann has spoken about it, and you can hear in his voice (and even simply by reading his words) just how passionate he is about this film.
The podcast can be listened to by clicking here. I have also compiled a transcript of the entire interview, which is featured below. The podcast was originally posted at the Australian Epic Discussion Forum - click here to join in the ongoing discussions!
In the interview, Luhrmann reveals a lot more plot information. While her husband is away, it seems that Nicole Kidman's character, an English aristocrat, believes he is having an affair, so she follows him to Australia and, although Luhrmann says he does not want to ruin the surprise, he does give it away by implying the husband will either die or run away with someone else! It would seem that this is where Hugh Jackman's 'rough drover' character will come into the story and steal her heart... :)
As for the start date, Luhrmann says, "it's a little bit based on the weather, the actual start date, but no later than the beginning of March." This contradicts Hugh Jackman's recent comments that filming would begin on 26 March. However, up until then, it had been widely reported for months that filming would begin in February. And now, according to what Luhrmann has said in the podcast, he would still prefer to begin filming by the beginning of March, which will probably still mean February.
Surprisingly, Baz Luhrmann is also still searching for a key cast member - an Aboriginal boy aged between 8 and 10. I recall that Luhrmann was searching for an actor to fulfil this part over a year ago. However, it would appear that Luhrmann has still not found the right candidate. It would seem he is very close to making a decision, but casting is still open for the role. There is a contact telephone number at the very end of the podcast transcript below. Please note this is an Australian telephone number, and the appropriate country pre-fix would need to be added to the number provided. Best of luck to any suitable candidates!
But perhaps most excitingly of all, Baz Luhrmann has revealed that he will announce the title of the Australian Epic very soon! As he said himself - "I'm going to have a title in exactly two weeks otherwise people are going to kill me." Well, it has been a while, Baz! But seriously, it's actually quite interesting to read that Luhrmann is still pondering over the title. All this time I thought he was keeping it a secret, but it seems he simply hasn't quite made up his mind! Luhrmann does actually say he will reveal the title in exactly two weeks, so if this interview took place on 30th October, he should reveal the title on 13th November. *fingers crossed*
I have a feeling this is going to be a very exciting month for Australian Epic news! :)
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PODCAST - ABC RADIO NATIONAL - 31st October 2006
Audio Interview with Fran Kelly and Baz Luhrmann - Duration: Approx 9 minutes
Fran - "Baz Luhrmann is one of Australia's most distinct and best known filmmakers. His credits include Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet and of course Strictly Ballroom. He's now in pre-production for his next film. It's a sweeping romance set in northern Australia prior to World War 2 and it will star Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. I spoke with Baz Luhrmann from Kununurra yesterday."
Baz - "It's a sweeping romance that is set in a far away time - it's far away now - which was just before the war. It's from '38 right through to the bombing of Darwin. But the sweep and the breadth of the story means the sweep and breadth of the emotions. It's not naturalism, you know, it's not a documentary, and in fact the world in which we've set the story is factual, but I've taken those facts and I've made a world that is full of emotion. So it's about, I guess, the size and scale of the story telling."
Fran - "Does this untitled Australian Epic have a title yet?"
Baz - "You know, Fran, I'm going to have a title in exactly two weeks otherwise people are going to kill me."
Fran - "So, you can't give us a clue here on what it is?"
Baz - "No, actually, it's about the progress of it. I've been working on the script for many years now and to me, the naming of something, it names itself, and I'm very close to that moment. But in the next couple of weeks I'm going to commit."
Fran - "What about - you've given us the broad sweep, as you say - what about the storyline, can you fill it in a bit more for us?"
Baz - "Yeah, it's very simple really. It's a classical story and you will recognise a lot of classic story telling in it. But simply, it's an English, aristocratic woman (I wonder who might play that character?) and she's in England, you know, and she's - they land a gentry - her and her husband - but no cash. So her husband is out in Australia selling - he went out there to sell his cattle property the size of Belgium. She thinks he's out there having an affair so she goes out to sort of bust him. And when she gets out there, the property's in the north of Australia, so she's got to journey out there with a sort of rough,
hewn drover (I wonder who that character might be - who might play that role?) And they sort of go on and 'African Queen' journey out to the station. They get out there and I won't tell you the surprise of it. But ultimately, she finds herself inheriting that cattle station and to save it, she and the Hugh Jackman character have got to undertake an epic cattle drive to Darwin to save it, and of course on that journey she falls in love with the landscape and the primary character. Now what brings them together though is this child. And there's an Aboriginal boy between the ages of, say, 8 and 10, and he's a very very primary character. And in fact, right at the moment, that's my biggest focus. We are looking all over Australia for this young
indigenous actor. And we've seen some great boys so far, so we've got great possibilities, and in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be doing some special workshops with groups of boys to try and find this young actor."
Fran - "You've mentioned that you've been up in the northern part of Australia, spent some time up there. Have you spent a lot of time there, and how important has that been to you developing the story?"
Baz - "Well, Fran, that's a really good question, because, you see, George Lucas, who I know well, and who made, of course, Star Wars, said to me 'Gee, you're doing a big outdoor epic. You don't have to leave the studios in Sydney', because of course he shoots Star Wars and he never leaves the sound stages. And that's the way most films are made these days. But I really want this to have that feel - like a Laurence of Arabia. I want the audience to really feel that they are in this magnificent landscape that we have. So to do that I've been quietly coming and going all over Australia, but particularly up here in the north where it's set, particularly in the
Kimberley. And living here, with my team, feeling what it's like, getting to know the people, finding the story, the best way to tell it. And of course the big challenge is how to actually be here. I've got to say, in the next couple of weeks we're going to make decisions about how much we could shoot here, and how much we shoot in other parts of Australia, and that's all about the sort of help and support we're getting, you know."
Fran - "To date, your films, in collaboration with Catherine Martin, have set trends, I think it's fair to say, particularly with your production values. The music, the costumes, the editing. Can we expect that rich, unique texture that I think people have come to expect from your films in a movie shot in the Australian outback?"
Baz - "Actually, what I will say is this. Those three films we made were specifically evolved along a philosophy. And that philosophy was about reinventing the musical formula, if you like, theatrical cinema. This kind of cinematic story we're telling also has a pedigree, it has a sort of DNA, if you like, it comes from somewhere, it comes from - and I've got to be careful, because I'm not pretending for a second that this is going to be Gone With the Wind or going to be Laurence of Arabia - but those films that were made from the 30's through to the 50's that told big emotional stories - big emotions, not
naturalism, operatic emotions, but use landscape to tell them - they belong to that period. So, that's the starting point, but of course it's not good enough just to copy that style. And so, I am taking that as a starting point and finding our own very particular way of using camera, of interpreting landscape, of telling story, so that it has some of those classic values, but it also has some newly invented values about it."
Fran - "These are big names, big themes, big moments in history that you're drawing on here. Are you nervous about trying to wrestle them all into one movie and do them justice?"
Baz - "Yes."
I mean, to me, that would be a terrifying...
Fran - "Yes, that's terrifying. But I mean, in a way, I guess it is Fran. I mean, there are films that are about D-Day, or they're about Pearl Harbour. And in a film like Gone With the Wind, which is really about Rhett and
Scarlet, it is set in the world of the fading south. It makes use of and it very much relates to the world where slavery has been abolished and you have got the civil war. So what I'm saying is that yes - I don't know about being terrifying, but the challenge of it is enormous. But the particular kind of film we're making is about utilising that world and those facts so that it amplifies the human condition. Ultimately, this isn't a documentary about exactly what happened on a certain date. What this is about, if it documents anything, it's documenting the human condition."
Fran - "And what about music? Your films so far have all had big soundtracks and they've been big sellers in themselves. Is there a blockbuster soundtrack for this one?"
Baz - "No, I never... I was just doing the DVD for Romeo + Juliet, in fact it's a music edition, coming soon, and it had one of the biggest albums of all time, like 8 million copies or something. But I never really set out to make a hit album. I simply set out to tell the story through music. And in fact, when I presented this ecliptic grab bag of music, record companies did not want it. They said this is not a soundtrack album, it's too European, it's not American enough. It went on to have it's own life. But the film didn't use the music on top. Music was used to tell story. Music will be used to tell story with this epic. It's interesting at the moment, we're doing huge research on it. In fact, there's an actual unique sound that was happening at the time of this film here, which is, as I'm getting into it, which is fresh and alive and unique and belongs to Australia. And it's just going to be in the film because it tells a good story. Whether it sells records or not, that's another issue."
Fran - "So, it's music from the time?"
Baz - "Yes, it's music from the time. I mean, it's really exciting because you had all of the pearlers up here at the time, I mean you had the Japanese pearlers, and there's kind of a mixture between folk and country and sort of Hawaiian, actually. And they were watching movies all the time. They were in the outdoor cinemas in the film. They're obsessed with watching westerns and musicals and there's a big influence coming from Hollywood at the time and you can't ignore those things."
Fran - "I feel another soundtrack coming on."
Baz - "Fingers crossed!"
Fran - "Baz Luhrmann, just finally, when will you start shooting?"
Baz - "Actually, as I speak to you now, I'm in Kununurra, the whole team is at Fox Studios in Sydney, we're in pre production. And it's a little bit based on the weather, the actual start date, but no later than the beginning of March."
Fran - "It's all about the landscape. Baz Luhrmann, thank you very much for joining us on Breakfast and good luck with it."
Baz - "Great to talk, Fran. Bye."
Fran - "Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. I can't wait for that soundtrack. Hawaiian meets country meets 50's rock and roll. Fantastic! And, for any young budding Aboriginal actors out there, if you're interested in trying out for Baz's film, and you'll be starring alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, you can call the casting agency on 02 9699 1377."
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