Posts filed under 'Baz Luhrmann'
Popular entertainment news show Entertainment Tonight has yet again shown its interest and support behind Australia. In its latest of many stories, ET went behind the scenes of Australia and spoke to Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrmann on location.
Get some sneak peeks at new footage from the film, in addition to brief interview tidbits with Nicole, Hugh and of course, Baz himself.
View 43 screencaps from the appearance in our gallery and the video is available for download in our media section!
Also, while you’re wandering the site perhaps check out our latest desktop wallpaper creations!?
June 6th, 2008
The stage is set for Western Australia’s Kimberley region to be showcased as a key international tourism destination, when Baz Luhrmann’s film epic ‘Australia’ is released this November.
Culture and Arts and Tourism Minister Sheila McHale visited the set to experience the enormous scope of the film being shot at Carlton Hill, 100km west of Kununurra. .
Ms McHale met filmmaking legend Baz Luhrmann to discuss possibilities for ongoing tourism benefits for WA when ‘Australia’ was released internationally. You can view the interview video streaming via the Western Australia ‘Australia‘ page, or download it to your hard drive from our media page
“This is a significant cultural tourism initiative and we are very excited that Baz Luhrmann agreed to film part of his feature in WA,” she said. “‘Australia’ is one of the most anticipated movies in our recent cinema history and when it is released, the eyes of the world will be on us as a top tourism destination.” “The benefits to the region are enormous, apart from the excitement that comes with having Hollywood stars here, there are huge financial benefits to local business generated by a 400-strong cast and crew in town for several weeks,” she said.
Ms McHale said the release of ‘Australia’ provided enormous potential to trigger other international film productions to shoot in Western Australia, which was great news for the local screen industry.
SOURCE: westernaustralia.tv
June 2nd, 2008
Just as things were quiet an overwhelming wave of promotional footage, images and competitions are sprung upon us. Read the details below to discover a fantastic series of podcast videos for students and film buffs alike. Unrolled with this series of podcasts came the official Australia website, australiamovie.COM, and a whole bundle of new press shots. Our gallery has been updated to include not only press stills, but almost 100 quality screen caps from the first two Set To Screen Videos!
The current competition for photography is due May 5th, so get cracking!
Learn moviemaking from a master. Great movies are full of adventure, and Australia, the next film from Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann is no exception. But making a movie is an even bigger adventure - an adventure in creativity - and with the Apple Set to Screen Series, you can be a part of it.
Every few weeks through to October, a new podcast episode from Baz and his production team will introduce you to another aspect of moviemaking, starting with on-set still photography, then moving on to costume design, cinematography, scoring, and more. You’ll get insights from the artists at work on Australia, watch them in action, view footage the rest of the world hasn’t seen yet, and follow along as the movie comes together.
Here’s where you come in. Five of the episodes arrive with something extra: a creative challenge for you. Each time one of these episodes is released, you’ll have three weeks to complete the challenge and post it to the Apple Student Gallery. If your project is one of the best (10 from high schoolers and 10 from college students), you’ll win an iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, or a MacBook Pro. And if your work is chosen as the most creative of all, you’ll be going on yet another kind of adventure—a trip for two to Australia. Five challenges mean you’ve got five chances to win.
Oh, and one more thing. Submit the top project for the final challenge, and Baz himself will plan your trip to Oz, meet you there, and take you along on the promotional tour for the film in the U.S. Your project will even be included on the DVD release of Australia.
Start your journey now. Subscribe to the Set to Screen Series, and iTunes will automatically download each new episode that’s posted. Once you’ve watched an episode, come back here to check out the notes about the featured member of the production team, and - if there’s a challenge for that episode - get all the details you’ll need to participate. So start exploring your creativity. You could wind up anywhere, even Down Under.
April 17th, 2008
Dear Students,
As a young aspiring filmmaker, I had many opportunities and a great deal of support from established filmmakers. There was a genuine reaching out to the up-and-coming, where we were allowed not just to observe, but to participate in the creative process.
It is with this in mind that I would like to open the door to all students who are interested in the art of filmmaking. Bazmark and Fox have partnered up with the good people at Apple to allow you to participate in the creative journey and realization of our new motion picture, Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The film will be in the theaters November 14.
For those who do participate, there is also the very real possibility of winning prizes including digital filmmaking equipment, a trip to Australia, and ultimately the opportunity for a talented student to join us in the marketing and release phase of Australia. During this process, the work you create will find an audience of millions by being included in the DVD release of Australia.
What do you need to do? Be fearless, follow the links on the right, get your video camera, and get on with it.
All the best,
Baz Luhrmann
Visit Apple’s Set To Screen page to find out more!
April 13th, 2008
January 26th is a day when everyone from the land down under can celebrate their country and nationality. No doubt this time next year will hold some interesting promotional events in store for us all. Already there is talk about how to best optimise the marketing possibilities using ‘Australia’ as a vehicle to reach untold masses of people.
“As its name suggests, the 20th Century Fox film is set against the vast sweep of the Outback, which - along with the country’s coastlines and cities - has been the focus for selling Australian locations to foreign film-makers for the better part of a decade. The marketing possibilities for the film have not been lost on iconic Australian companies such as Qantas and Telstra, as well as Tourism Australia, which is holding discussions with Luhrmann on the tourism opportunities stemming from the film.”
“We are seizing the day and saying it’s possible that a large-scale picture could be made here,” Luhrmann told The Australian newspaper, adding that no other market at the moment could assemble a local story, director, crew, stars and budgets on the scale of Australia - apart from the US.
source: abc.net.au
January 26th, 2008
Previously we mentioned that David Wenham was distributing ‘How To Vote’ flyers for the labor party on election day. David stated that in addition to social policy the local labor candidate had, “won his support because ‘the current government’ had done nothing for the arts.”
With the Rudd government now at the helm of Australia, stars such as Cate Blanchett, Baz Luhrmann and Hugh Jackman have become unofficial policy advisers to the new Arts Minister. Peter Garrett, ex-front man of Australian rock band Midnight Oil and newly assigned Arts Minister, recently dropped by the set of Australia to seek advice from some of the biggest players in the business on how to bring blockbuster films back to the country.
“I was able to spend some time talking to Baz and the crew and to Hugh as well on set,” Mr Garrett said. “We talked about the project and I said that I really did want to have a fresh view and really energetic approach to seeing the film industry reach its full potential. …I’ve been speaking before and after the election with directors, writers and film-makers and I see a real possibility of a resurgence in film coming.”
Mr Garret recognises that Australia has some of the finest talents in terms of directors, actors and writers, however their skills are all too often being exported to make big budget projects overseas, instead of at home in Australia. It is the new Art Minister’s aim to provide the right framework to make it possible for more home-grown projects in the future.
Visit the production gallery to view the full sized image of Mr Garret on set with Baz and Hugh.
sources: The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph
December 23rd, 2007
With the final shots of Australia in the can, Bazmark Films II have now released several new still shots from the feature film. To view them (as seen left) in full simply visit our ever-growing gallery.
The stench of cow manure lingering in the air, their faces smeared with dirt and bodies drenched in sweat, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman finally dimmed the lights on outback Australia yesterday, after a gruelling nine-month shoot; wrote The Courrier Mail.
For the better part of ten years Kidman and Luhrmann have brainstormed and dreamed of making such an epic. For this reason it’s understandable that seeing a large phase of it come to completion would create mixed feelings. Nicole Kidman said while she was looking forward to a break over Christmas, the anxiety of the curtain finally falling on the film hit her during a dream on the eve of her final scene. “Last night I was crying in a dream and I think it was a bit of anxiety about finishing,” she admitted. “I am very ingratiated having done this film. I have wanted to do it since I was 14 and I didn’t know what it was, but I knew there was something.”
Meanwhile, on set, looking buff for his Wolverine role beginning in three weeks, leading man Hugh Jackman will film his final scene today. “If you could tick any box off a job, this has got every box ticked,” he said, adding it felt “surreal” to finish. “Part of me doesn’t want to let this go. It’s probably the best movie I’ve ever worked on. It’s hard to let go of.”
When asked about the length of the shoot Baz Luhrmann denied breaking the blockbuster budget, but joked; “It’s a secret - I don’t want you to tell anyone - but I’m not on schedule.” “[However] someone said the other day, as far as epics go, not anything particularly out of the ordinary. Not fast. Not slow.”
And what of the pressure to deliver a hit movie? “The expectations are enormous, the pressure of that (is) not comfortable,” he said. “Will this film be a success? I do not know. Could it be that almighty mistake that one is bound to do at some time? Possibly but … we’ll do everything we can to make it as good as we possibly can.”
sources: Sydney Morning Herald, Herald Sun, Courier Mail
images: Bazmark Films II - James Fisher
December 20th, 2007
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