Archive for January, 2007
Today, the 26th of January, is Australia Day. Appropriately it also marks the birthday of Australia crew member Catherine Martin, to whom we send our best wishes!
As our Australia Day gift to you we have finally opened the site gallery! Obviously at this stage the collection of images is not enormous, however we do have a pretty good collection and more on the way!
As an enticement, like you need it, here is a hot off the press image of our two leads in a steamy lip lock, (previously mentioned) as shown by Hugh during the G’Day USA promotional video. View the bigger version and one other from the same evening in the Australia gallery.
Be sure to check it out. You can rate your favourite or worst images, send e-cards and more. Don’t forget to click on the intermediate images to view the bigger image in a pop up window where available!
January 26th, 2007
Plenty of news is flowing from the January 19th event of G’Day USA (see earlier) where Hugh Jackman and Baz Luhrmann presented a preview of Australia to a group of 800 people gathered in America from various industries to celebrate Australia’s international success as a country.
Kidman will play an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley, who inherits the cattle station Faraway Downs and hires Jackman to move the herd across the country.
In a role almost seems penned especially for him, Thompson has been announced to play Kipling Flynn, a drunken accountant and flamboyant bon vivant.
Bryan Brown’s suitably weathered features will perfectly suit the role of cattle baron King Carney, the single greatest landholder in the country’s north.
David Wenham, the third lead, will raise the dramatic stakes of the plot as Neil Fletcher, playing the antagonist in the film, a station manager who is plotting to possess the ranch ‘Faraway Downs’.
As we continue to learn more we will begin to update the cast, crew and character biographies on the site.
source: Sydney Confidential
January 25th, 2007
On the 19th of January Hugh Jackman attended G’day USA (an extension of G’day LA, a promotion of Australian work in America) and treated the lucky 800 attendees to the first sneak peek of the film, Australia.
Two large screens were used to display black and white images of Hugh and Nicole as they are to appear in the film. Presumably these images were taken late December 2006 when the pair attended workshops in Sydney.
“It’s a story set in Australia about Australian characters. It’s about our great land, and it’s about our history. It’s about who we are,” Jackman said. “It’s so good to see Aussies in tuxedos,” he told the assembled Australians. “It’s like the cast of Happy Feet.”
From this event, though still unofficially released, rumours of actors Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson joining the cast appear all the more solidified; now with the exciting addition of David Wenham (Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing, Moulin Rouge!).
sources: Sunday Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald
January 21st, 2007
We have previously reported that Jack Thompson was rumoured to be starring in Australia. The Bowen Independent newspaper has now, unofficially confirmed that he will be playing a cattle baron in the film. However it is likely that his scenes will be shot in Kunumurra, Western Australia, opposed to the town of Bowen, which will double for Darwin on screen. If true, Thompson will join a growing cast of acclaimed and highly regarded Australian actors. Even in these preliminary stages it is easy to see how “Australia will be the biggest casting or grouping of Australian actors in Australian film history”.
Meanwhile, Baz Luhrmann has been spotted (above right) on Bowen’s jetty, which is being used to film the loading of approximatel 500 head of shorthorn cattle on to a ship when the World War 2 bombing of Darwin begins.
Source: Bowen Independent
January 19th, 2007
Though our website gallery is still in the process of being created, we can show you exclusive pictures taken for our website by BowenGirl. These pictures show a variety of locations throughout the small Queensland town of Bowen. The images range from empty lots where set construction will take place, to breathtaking landscape that will likely feature in the film.
Hover over the images for a brief description, click for a closer view.
Also be sure to check the previous updates for some important and interesting information!
source: BowenGirl
January 13th, 2007
We’ve already put several names into the ring of male actors who may be on board for Australia, but here’s another! Bryan Brown, established legendary Australian actor (Gorillas in the Mist, Two Hands) is expected to be in Bowen (one of the shooting locations) at the same time as Kidman, Jackman and Luhrmann. Whether he will be in the cast or not has not yet been confirmed, although Baz has previously mentioned they were negotiating with a well established actor for the third lead, of course Jack Thompson also fits this description.
It is reported that, in addition to Brown, many of the confirmed cast and crew are expected to attend the Nicole Kidman Cup at Bowen’s Ben Bolt Park. It is hoped that either Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman will judge Fashions on the Field and that Kidman will be on hand to present the owner of the winning horse with the cup.
“Obviously we have to work around Baz Luhrmann’s shooting schedule, but Baz has said the stars would undertake some meet and greet activities while they were in Bowen”.
We can now offer further news to all those who have eagerly been inquiring as to how they can
become involved as an extra etc, in
Australia.
Representatives from Baz Luhrmann’s production company will be in Bowen approximately two weeks before filming begins. “They will advertise for extras and that will be the time for people to make contact.” It is advised that you only make contact during this period or your query will likely go unanswered due to the sheer wealth of interest.
sources: Townsville Bulletin
January 13th, 2007
Recently, CNN’s The Scene caught up with Baz Luhrmann in Sydney to talk sun, sea and of course to discuss Australia…the movie that is. You can read excerpts from the interview below, view the video in our multimedia section, and be sure to stop by the CNN The Scene blog to read the full in depth interview.
The Scene: Can you tell us what you’re working on at the moment?
Baz Luhrmann: Right now I’m working on a new film called “Australia.” It’s a sweeping romantic epic, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, that uses the landscape of Australia to express the emotions of the character. It will reinvestigate the idea of the mythical Australia; of the metaphor of Australia to the rest of the world. I’m embarking on this huge Australian piece because it puts me back in the land which is my birth land and my home. I’ve traveled around the world to so many cities and fallen in love with all kinds of places but it’s great to reconnect with your own heart.
The Scene: How would you describe the essence of Sydney?
Baz Luhrmann: Sydney in general is eclectic. You can be on that brilliant blue ocean walk in the morning and then within 20 minutes you can be in a completely vast suburban sprawl or an Italian or Asian suburb, and it’s that mix of people, it’s that melting pot of people that give it its vital personality.
The Scene: Tell us about your relationship with Sydney.
Baz Luhrmann: Like any relationship that is worth it, you have to work at it, and my relationship with Sydney has gone through many different phases. It’s something that recently I’ve decided to work at, in the sense that I wanted to rediscover that this is my home and what that means to me now that I have a family.
The Scene: What is the relationship between Australians and their environment?
Baz Luhrmann: You need to understand that it’s bigger than you, it’ll always be bigger than you and you should never try and subjugate it. You have to learn to live with it. Part of that is the danger of it. No matter what your point of view is you have to accept it and become part of it. And I think that that’s one of the bigger themes of “Australia.”
Children at school wear caps with little curtains at the back to protect the backs of their necks and their ears. That give you an idea of how seriously they take the sun out here in this glorious country. And as for the sea, Australia is a totally coastal life. It’s a world by the ocean and the largest part of the population live by the sea. The water is strong, the water has enormous emotion and personality and like a character it can turn on you when you least expect it. Like everything in this country, particularly on the beaches of Sydney, you have to respect it. It’s not something that you can take for granted.
The Scene: What’s your favorite part of your work?
Baz Luhrmann: I’ve come to realize that the part I love most is working with people. It’s a circus life. I will, after making something for years, have a period when I’m completely on my own and that’s my own anonymous time, but outside of that most of my creative life in Sydney is spent working with creative people, all kinds of people. Life is never really me walking along on my own contemplating creative things on the beach. It’s always with someone.
The Scene: You do a lot of walking in Sydney. How does that relate to your work?
Baz Luhrmann: I do find walking is fundamental to my creative process. Often CM [Catherine Martin], my wife and creative partner, and I would spend long afternoons walking along the coast path. Sydney has a really naturally beautiful coastline but Australia has some of the most dramatic weather in the world, and when you walk along here and the sea bubbles and is green and angry, it reminds you that there’s always something bigger than the troubles which are going on in your life: we’ve often found that an inspiration.
The Scene: What is it about Darlinghurst [where Luhrmann lives] that attracted you to it?
Baz Luhrmann: Darlinghurst is the underbelly of Sydney. It’s bohemian, it’s very creative and above all it’s lively. When I was a very young actor/director, this is the area that I lived in. There was a tiny little theatre company at the end of the road here and I remember I saw Mel Gibson do a series of short plays. There wouldn’t be more than 50 people in the audience, that’s how tiny the theatre was. Anyone who is in the arts in Sydney would probably begin here in Darlinghurst.
The Scene: Where do you see Sydney’s future lying?
Baz Luhrmann: I think part of the future for Sydney is as a really exciting place for filmmaking. Sydney is a wonderful environment for filmmakers because it’s one of the few places, aside from Los Angeles, of course, which is a full-blown city with a set of sound stages right in the middle of it, technologically one of the best sound stages in the world. For the actors, it’s wonderful to wake up in the morning and be just a few minutes away from the studio.
There are a lot of post-production facilities here for doing visual effects, too. The visual effects in Sydney have become really cutting edge — we made all of “Moulin Rouge!” in Sydney and most of the visual effects were done here, too. There’s an incredible new exploding frontier, creatively. So many young people who are truly gifted at it are doing that work around the world, and if you’re talented it’s a good place to do that kind of thing.
source: CNN: The Scene
January 13th, 2007
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