Lots of talk on Baz Luhrmann’s romantic outback epic, “Australia,” out there and the fact that no one’s seen it yet (it stars Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman).
Self-important critics start to get cranky if you don’t let them in early and with the film only three weeks away from release, and really self-important ones are starting to take on a negative tone, whispering about the film’s potentially excessive length (rumored to be just shy of 3 hours) and the fact that the film is racing to be completed on time.
Frankly, those latter concerns are valid, but never underestimate the pompous and cantankerous critic who turns on a film because they haven’t been graced with a screening yet.
We digress, Luhrmann insists that “Australia” will be ready for its November 26 release, but just barely, handing in reel by reel when they’re completed. “We’re probably going to hand reels over in a way which probably happens with no other film. We have to be that inventive,” Luhrmann told the Ozzie paper, The Age.
Apparently, the director of “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo + Juliet,” was asking Fox executives to delay the film’s release all year. “I would have begged them to [push] it back probably once a week for a year. “I have ‘please put it back’ tattooed on my arm I think when you do what I do, no matter what show you’re doing, you’ll always want to [push] it back. I’ve never made anything where I’ve gone ‘it’s finished, it’s perfect’.”
He also admitted again that the film’s final delivery will be last minute. “The finishing work – can the visual effects be done, can we mix … We’re playing it very close to the wire.”
Luhrmann knew the sheer scope and mechanics of an epic were difficult from the get-go. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s easy, because it’s not; it’s really hard,” he told the Australian Herald on the set of the film earlier this year, in a piece published this week. “But when you make a big story, there has to be hardship attached to it. I think we all understood that at the beginning and we’re on the journey now.”
The director was also interviewed by the U.K. Guardian that’s worth a read, discussing how he attempted weaving romance, mythology and injustice against the Aboriginal people into his widescreen vision.
Perhaps the most emblematic quote is the one on Luhrmann’s feeling on classic epics.
“The surfaces of these films appear extremely simple, but their undercarriages are incredibly complex. They were made up of comedy, romance, tragedy and drama. These epics were cinematic banquets, whereas most films today are like sushi, focusing on individual flavours. I’ve always loved the old epics that tell a simple emotional story, whether it’s the tumultuous relationship between Rhett and Scarlett or ‘Lawrence of Arabia’s passion to get lost in a faraway place.”
But the director also knows the pressure is on and things could end badly for the $130+ million dollar film, the most expensive ever made down under.
“Will I be accused of reinventing the epic? Only if it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll be accused of wasting a lot of time and money. The cinematic language is not like in the Red Curtain trilogy [‘Strictly Ballroom’, ‘Romeo + Juliet’ and ‘Moulin Rouge!’], but it’s not naturalism. I think you’ll see the influences of those movies I’ve loved, but it will also be something of its own. It’s a very difficult thing to achieve.”
We’ll all see soon enough, November 26 is not that far away.
