Posts filed under 'Baz Luhrmann'
Tourism Australia and the internationally renowned film-maker Baz Luhrmann and his team have created a new sophisticated destination campaign to make Australia the ‘must visit’ destination for travellers around the world.
Aussies, tune in to A Current Affair tonight to see Baz discuss his vision for the campaign, or view it at ACA online.
And catch the Today Show tomorrow morning (view here) for your first look at the two cinema and television ads which will be shown around the world over the coming months.
To see the ads, and to download supporting information and background on this fully integrated campaign for Australia, visit tourism.australia.com.
View campaign Ad #1 – Billabong Film
View campaign Ad #2 – Boab Tree Film
October 7th, 2008
BigPond telecommunications company in Australia were the first in the world to release the teaser trailer of Australia. Now they’re back with a whole sub site dedicated to the film and some excellent content!
The sub site features cast and crew information; we’re given the names of characters played by some supporting actors in the film. Visitors can download wallpapers, browse an image gallery or win a trip to Wrotham Park Lodge located in outback Queensland.
However most pleasing to the modern day fan is a series of exclusive videos. Sure some of the content is taken from the pre-existing Apple podcasts, but they have so much more. A five video feature includes interviews with Luhrmann, Kidman, and Jackman. We’re given a multitude of new images, each more exciting than the next. One video in particular is very well put together and details Australia’s history in dealing with some real issues in the film such as World War II and The Stolen Generation.
At this stage it appears access to the videos is limited to those living in Australia. However australiamovie.net has been able to make a substantial amount of screencaps so that our international visitors may share the excitement.
October 5th, 2008
Autumn and the holidays used to promise moviegoers a handful of sweeping, big-canvas movies designed to transport audiences to different times and places as well as woo Oscar voters with their grand scale and ambitions.
Those films have largely disappeared from movie theaters, but one of cinema’s most romantic directors hopes to bring them back in style, at least for one season. With “Australia,” Baz Luhrmann is trying to revive the David Lean-style wide-screen historical drama in much the same way that “Moulin Rouge!” helped bring back big-screen musicals.
Set on the eve of World War II, the film has Nicole Kidman playing an English aristocrat who travels to Australia to sell a family cattle farm and instead winds up falling in love with both the remote terrain and a rugged cowboy (Hugh Jackman). The movie is an expensive, lavish labor of love, a valentine from Luhrmann to his native country and an opportunity to show the rest of the world the hypnotic beauty of Australia’s Outback.
The film opens Nov. 26. LA.com Film Critic, Glenn Whipp, spoke to Luhrmann and Jackman about the film.
Read more…
On making an old-school epic:
Luhrmann: When I was growing up, the genre I loved was the sweeping romantic epic. Four-category movies. And that’s what this is. It has comedy, romance, action and drama. You don’t have movies like that anymore. Maybe you hit two of the categories, but not all four. And that’s what I’m trying to do.
Jackman: They don’t make them nowadays, and for good reason. When they work, they’re fantastic, but they’re incredibly hard to make. You need a brilliant director with just enough craziness to undertake it.
Luhrmann: It’s a movie for the whole family. And that’s death, because you think, “Oh. It’s a children’s movie.” No. But children can see it. It’s the kind of movies families used to see over the holidays. It will make you laugh, make you excited, make you swoon.
Jackman: The movies Baz found inspirational for this were “Gone With the Wind,” “Out of Africa,” “From Here to Eternity” and “The African Queen.” Movies in that true Hollywood style where the landscape is as big a character as the people in it. That’s what gives the story scope and size.
On their collaboration:
Luhrmann: One exciting thing about making movies is working with actors and showing people a side of them that they otherwise did not know. With Nicole (Kidman), people didn’t realize she could be funny. With Hugh, it’s him putting across the iconic cowboy character with wry, offhand humor. It’s the kind of leading man performance we don’t see much anymore.
Jackman: Nicole told me that whatever you think the movie will be, it will be slightly different because it’s Baz. Baz is an artist. He’s always creating. All his movies ultimately have a great message about love — love conquers all despite the rules of society. That’s definitely a theme in this.
On the “love” between Jackman and Kidman as seen in a particular “Australia” publicity photo lighting up the Internet:
Jackman: That’s a good shot, that one. Even my wife said, “That’s a hot photo.” It’s weird because my wife and Nicole have been mates for a long time. Neither of them would like for me to mention how long. They used to share an apartment together when Nicole first came to L.A. So I’ve always had a lot of affection for Nicole.
Luhrmann: Again, you look back at those movies I mentioned, and you have Gable and Leigh, Bogart and Hepburn, Streep and Redford. They’re not pairings you might immediately imagine, but there’s a lot of heat when opposites attract.
Jackman: Definitely one of the things you can say about Baz’s movies is that there’s unbridled passion. And these two characters have a sexual attraction, a magnetism, they can’t deny. On shooting in the Outback Jackman: The Outback, there’s something sexy about it. Everything that matters in town — how you dress, the bar you go to, the car you drive — is stripped away to the bare essentials. Just who you are. That’s where things can happen.
Luhrmann: It’s the last remaining true frontier. There’s such an abundance of nothingness. Even with the Sahara, you have people there. Here, there’s an extra and profound beauty.
Jackman: When I was 19, I spent a number of months in the Outback on an African mission. I was with a group building houses. And I stayed on one for about a month. That was a defining time for me. For a second, I didn’t think I was going to come back. There’s something very hypnotic out there.
Luhrmann: Kununurra (the tiny town in northwestern Australia where some of the movie was filmed) is where I reconnected with the movie. I went there before we started shooting and stayed by the river one night. I had a fire. I may have had a tiny splash of wine. OK, maybe two tiny splashes let’s not go there. And I never left for six weeks. The sense of stillness was incredible.
On what the movie means to them as Australians:
Jackman: I’ve never been this invested in a movie, that’s for sure. In every way. The aspirations of this film are to appeal to everybody, yet it is a movie called “Australia.” My home is Australia. The idea of it not working is one I don’t really want to contemplate.
Luhrmann: To take this genre and use my country as a canvas that’s a tall order. We’ll see if I’ve succeeded.
September 13th, 2008
Nicole Kidman’s in London and Hugh Jackman is walking around Sydney clean shaven. Yes folks, the filming of pick-up shots has concluded! However, dont start counting your sleeps until the premiere of Australia just yet, because there’s been a slight change in plans.
The departure of the highly anticipated fifth Harry Potter installment has created quite a shuffling frenzy in the scheduling department of many major film companies. With the wizard vacating the November 21st position, and being held over for release until next year, many major films have quickly jockeyed into prime marketing position to round out the season.
Not surprisingly, one of the first to stealthily move in for the kill was the well known Bond enterprise, further creating a ripple effect. Executives have been left to question which is the right release date for their films. Originally being slated for a November 13/14 release, Australia has skipped in to the (pre-thanksgiving) position left vacant by Potter, November 26th. Variety reports that this date will be used for the American and Australian release.
Other movies set for release on November 26th include, Transporter 3 and Bolt. Obviously utilising this date without the immediate presence of a pre-existing brand debuting simultaneously is an effort to see the Bazmark film maximise its box office presence.
source: Variety
August 28th, 2008
The August 22nd issue of Entertainment Weekly is a special 2008 Fall Preview edition. As one of the major films being released this year, Australia is of course featured as one of the major releases.
The four page spread includes a two page article with behind the scenes info from Luhrmann, Kidman and Jackman (pictured right).
Jackman discusses his national pride and enthusiasm to become a part of this film, regardless of the controversial departure of Russell Crowe who was previously attached as the lead. “I don’t mind if I’m off-the-bench second, third, reserve-doesn’t matter,” said Jackman. “I just didn’t want to miss out on being part of the film.”
“Baz makes very few films, but when he does, he puts his heart and soul into it,” says Kidman, who earned her first Oscar nomination for Moulin Rouge! “He’s not churning anything out. It’s vert much coming from within his blood.”
You can read Baz and the rest of his devoted cast talk about their unique movie making experience in our transcript archive. Additionally, the article, along with new images, has been scanned and uploaded to our gallery.
August 16th, 2008
Plenty of multimedia bouncing about in this our first week of August! Only four months until release!
Entertainment Weekly have set the internet on fire with two new promotional stills taken by photographer James Fisher for Australia. One in particular causing a lot of overheating is a glimpse at the steamy onscreen chemistry shared between Jackman and Kidman (as seen right). If there was any doubt that they could pull it off, let it be cast aside. The new images can be found in our gallery.
Also in our gallery are 64 new fantastic screencaps from the 7th installation of the Set to Screen podcast series. This time director of photography Mandy Walker takes us behind the scenes of her job, and we get to see a cheeky scene shared between The Drover and Lady Sarah Ashley. Be sure to check it out!
In terms of site updates we have two more videos in our multimedia section, Hugh at Comic-Con and Baz at the Tourism Australia press conference. We also have added more shiny new desktop wallpapers to decorate your computers!
For the latest breaking news, join us at the Australia Discussion Forum!
source: EW, James Fisher
August 1st, 2008
Brandon Walters, the 11-year-old Aboriginal boy from Broome who was plucked from obscurity to act in Luhrmann’s latest feature film, will now also star in the tourism campaign, which follows a New York couple escaping to the Australian wilderness.
The one-off campaign, which will cost Tourism Australia $50 million over 12 months, does not mention the movie directly, but will reflect its emotion, Baz Luhrmann told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
“What we hope to do is convey an emotional experience that is possible from going the extra distance and coming to this unique special place on the edge of the world,” he said. “When Tourism Australia came to us, we were reticent at first because we did not want to confuse the promotion of the film with a tourism campaign. …The more we talked, the more I realised that we both had the same aims — to celebrate the truly unique and transformative power of this ancient and extraordinary continent. With this in mind, we agreed to put our team into the conception and realisation of a contemporary campaign which, while not aping the film, reflects this singular and attractive truth.”
This isn’t Luhrmann’s first foray into blending one of his films with an advertising opportunity. He directed a “Moulin Rouge!”-inspired Chanel commercial starring Kidman that looked a lot like the movie.
The “Australia” campaign has been conceived to celebrate the continent and will feature themes of romance, adventure, transformation and Aboriginal music
It’s also a Hollywood studio’s dream of free movie publicity. The 30- and 45-second TV and movie spots, which will begin airing in October, will feature “an urban couple transformed by an adventure,” Gysberts said.
Executive General Manager of Marketing, Nick Baker, said, “We remain one of the world’s most desired tourist destinations, but converting that desire into reality is becoming harder than ever for many travellers. …The need to create urgency and fashionability around a country’s ‘brand’ is stronger than ever and even Australia, which has long enjoyed an exceptionally high brand reputation, needs to keep its marketing fresh and compelling.” He added, “There is no better way to do that than to secure the help of one of the most creative and innovative talents, Baz Luhrmann, his creative partner Catherine Martin and the entire Bazmark team. …The themes of romance and adventure, coupled with the power of the Australian land and people to transform, will resonate in the tourism campaign, as it does in the film.”
The campaign will run in cinemas, on television and online and in print. It will run from October 2008 in 22 of Tourism Australia’s international markets with two advertisements – one for eastern markets and one for western markets.
ABC radio program PM have reported on the release at length, listen to the opinion of experts, industry insiders and the man, Baz Luhrmann himself. Download the report in our Media section.
Additionally view a video report from Nine MSN Australia
sources: Tourism Australia, LA Times, utalkmarketing
July 29th, 2008
Next News Updates
Previous News Updates
