Remember the mini-controversy that swirled around Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia” for a few days when it seemed like 20th Century Fox had forced him to change the ending of his film to a happier one? (it turned out Luhrmann changed it himself)
Well, at one point during the whole brouhaha, Hollywood Elsewhere had a clever suggestion: release both the sad and happy endings in theaters, the former in limited release so nerds like him (and us) could experience both versions.
OK, so that’s not happening, but the “sad” (negative) ending will see the light of day (no one’s counting, but there’s actually three versions of the ending). According to an Anne Thompson interview with Hugh Jackman, “Luhrmann, seeing that the world had changed to a darker place since he made the movie, came up with a third more hopeful ending. He’ll put the sad one on the DVD.”
All’s well that ends well, yeah? Frankly,we thought the “happy” ending of the film worked, but it’s such an epic, we kind of feel either ending would have gone over well. “Australia” hits theaters today, Wednesday, November 26. Here’s our “review.”
