SEPTEMBER 2004
________________________________
17th September 2004
Happy Birthday Baz!
Today marks Baz Luhrmann's 42nd birthday - happy birthday, Baz! :-)
La Bohème - L.A. Ovation Awards
- Yesterday, Playbill.com announced that Luhrmann's La Bohème has been nominated for an impressive seven L.A. Ovation Awards. After a successful Broadway run, La Bohème was performed in L.A. from 9th January 2004 until 7th March 2004 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 North Grand Ave. The nominations relate to these performances. Playbill.com reported, "The ceremony this year will again be held at the Orpheum Theatre on Broadway in the downtown Los Angeles historic theatre district, Nov. 14. The peer-judged Ovation Awards, established in 1989, honour 'artistic excellence of L.A.'s theatres and theatre artists, and their continuing contribution to the vibrant cultural scene.'" La Bohème's nominations are as follows:
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE -
Baz Luhrmann's production of La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL - Baz Luhrmann, La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
MUSICAL (LARGER THEATRE) - Baz Luhrmann's production of La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
SET DESIGN (LARGER THEATRE) - Catherine Martin, La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
LIGHTING DESIGN (LARGER THEATRE) - Nigel Levings, La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
SOUND DESIGN (LARGER THEATRE) - Acme Sound Partners, La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
COSTUME DESIGN (LARGER THEATRE) - Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie, La Bohème - CTG: Ahmanson Theatre
I will report back around 14th November with the results. Best of luck to Luhrmann, Martin, Levings, Acme, Strathie, and everyone else who was involved with the production!
Strathie on ATG
- Angus Strathie, who has been co-nominated for a L.A. Ovation Award for costume design for La Bohème (above), was recently interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald. Below is a transcript of the brief article, with Strathie commenting on ATG. The article implies that Strathie would work again with Martin on the costumes of ATG, were it to go ahead. But like most of us at the moment, Strathie too is unsure about the future of ATG.
Golden boy
"It's easy to treat your Oscar statue like a pet (or a child), just ask Australian Oscar winner Angus Strathie - who picked up a golden statue for his costume design work on Moulin Rouge! with Catherine Martin. Strathie is back in Sydney after a long working stint in Vancouver, and said his Oscar was away from home right now. "He's having a bit of time out at my mum's house," said Strathie, with a laugh. "Otherwise most of the time he gets covered in dust and dropped. So he's out at mum's having a holiday."
Strathie is not involved (yet) with Martin and her husband Baz Luhrmann's film version of Alexander the Great, and the designer admitted he wasn't quite sure where the project was up to.
"It's been on and off the boil," he said. "Last I heard, Catherine was on holiday with her new daughter in France."
Luhrmann is reportedly still writing scripts for the project overseas, but it remains to be seen whether the film will go ahead - or whether the dynamic duo will embark on something else."
________________________________
6th September 2004
ATG Update
Poster art for Stone's
Alexander
- In my last update, I announced that Luhrmann plans to make a decision about whether or not Alexander the Great will go ahead around the end of the year and that his decision is very likely to depend on what reaction Oliver Stone's Alexander film receives. While it would be fantastic if Luhrmann's production does end up going ahead, I can't help but feel that this may be rather unlikely - for the immediate future at least. I think it is somewhat of a catch-22 situation. If Stone's film does well, then people probably would not want to see another film about ATG. If Stone's film does badly, the same thing could be said, with the added factor that people would probably not have any faith in another ATG project. Either way, I think it would be a big gamble for Luhrmann to go ahead with his version of Alexander the Great, no matter what reaction Stone's film receives.
According to the Internet Movie Database, Stone's Alexander is currently scheduled to be released on 5th November 2004 in the US. Poster art is out now (see above) and I also read here that a tie-in game is set to be released. It will be released in the UK on 24th December 2004, with Australia apparently not until 20th February 2004. Other dates are varied and all are obviously subject to change. However if the November release date in the US goes ahead as planned, this will hopefully enable Luhrmann to reach a decision by the end of the year.
Personally, I am now eagerly awaiting the release of Stone's film and the reviews that will follow. As I am based in the UK, the release date here is apparently not until Christmas Eve, so I will only have reviews to go on until then. However, I find myself very interested to hear what others will have to say. I must admit, my number one concern regarding the film is the fact that Angelina Jolie plays the part of Olympias, Alexander's mother. Alexander is played by Colin Farrell, who is about the same age as Jolie, and so I have wondered ever since the casting was announced how this would work. It is apparent from movie stills that have been released showing Jolie and Farrell side by side that Jolie has not been superficially aged to look older for the part. Luhrmann had said that if Nicole Kidman were to play Olympias and Leonardo DiCaprio were to play Alexander in his version of ATG, Kidman would undergo an artificial transformation to make her appear the correct age. How Stone appears not to have done this with Jolie is something I am eager to discover more about. Obviously, I am also eager to find out more about the sets and story and, indeed, the look and feel of the movie in general. I am sure that once I finally get to see the movie, I will feel compelled to write a thorough review and post it here on this site. :-)
Chanel No. 5 Update
- While the future of ATG hangs in the balance, we can all look forward to Luhrmann's latest venture - the soon-to-be released advertisement for the Chanel No. 5 fragrance. The commercial stars Nicole Kidman, runs for around two minutes, and reportedly cost AUS$10 million to make. The Daily Telegraph recently reported the following article, featuring the above image of Nicole in the beautiful pink gown she wears in the advertisement.
The article states the ad will debut in October in Australia, and hopefully we will see the commercial screened across the world by the end of the year. I have heard elsewhere the ad won't begin screening in the US until 11 November 2004. In the meantime, I am in the process of developing a Chanel No. 5 section with transcripts of articles and various images relating to the commercial. This section will launched soon and expanded upon in the weeks to come. If you have any further information about this advertisement, please feel free to e-mail me.
Baz and Nic reunite
"It's the reunion cinema lovers have been longing for - Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann and his favourite star Nicole Kidman back together on celluloid in a $10 million lavish production.
But their latest collaboration, filmed in Sydney in December, is just two minutes long.
These pictures from American Vogue give the first glimpse at the new ad for Chanel's No5 fragrance.
Luhrmann calls the ad "a two-minute trailer of an epic motion picture that has never been made".
The Vogue pictures only tell half the story of a shoot that involved 250 extras, stunts and $42 million worth of jewels.
Luhrmann initially rejected Chanel's proposal to conceive, direct and produce the ad campaign for the fragrance, while Kidman wouldn't commit to Chanel without Luhrmann involved.
Chanel persisted and the A-list duo relented.
Luhrmann's "director's diary", printed in the magazine, shows a creative talent pushed to the edge, personally and professionally.
Luhrmann admitted his wife, dual Oscar-winner Catherine Martin, had endured two miscarriages - "both on opening nights".
"The one thing we want more than anything we can't make happen," he wrote.
Luhrmann was al most unable to share the joy of his daughter's birth in October last year "due to a strange eye infection".
The doctors advised him against being present at the birth.
The ad campaign will debut on TV and in cinemas in October."
________________________________
24th August 2004
Baz the Great is back! :-)
- Yes, it has been nearly six months since my last update and I would like to apologise for going offline without warning! I suddenly lost my internet access and it has not been until today that I have been able to finally set up my own internet account and once again begin to update this site. Be assured I am now back and ready to catch up on all the latest news.
I am in the process of making some updates around the site, mainly regarding the progress of Alexander the Great. I have obtained several news articles from previous months outlining what's been happening since the beginning of the year and these will be added to the site during the weeks to come in my Movie News Articles section.
However, the latest news is that Luhrmann has announced that production of ATG is 'on hold' and he plans to make a decision about whether or not the movie will go ahead around the end of the year. Oliver Stone's own film, Alexander, is due to be released very soon, and Luhrmann is probably waiting to see what reaction this movie gets before thinking about embarking on his own. If Luhrmann does not decide to go ahead with ATG, he will probably move on to another project. He once said he would like to make an historical epic trilogy - one movie being about ATG, as well as a Russian story and an Australian story. This year Luhrmann has spent much of his time with his family, but he may well have also been doing further research regarding his next possible project. We will have to wait and see!
Meanwhile, Luhrmann's Chanel No. 5 commercial starring Nicole Kidman has begun showing in the US this month, and it is reportedly set to be broadcast to other countries by the end of the year. The ad has been shot in both television and cinema form, so be sure to keep an eye out for this stunning commercial! Hopefully, I will have more updates on this soon.
________________________________
________________________________