The Scene in Australia, Through the Eyes of Baz
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
Entry Filed under: Baz Luhrmann, Media, Press