Congratulations to
Catherine Martin on receiving an
Academy Award nomination for her outstanding work in the field of Costume Design for
Australia. In a successful career with many accolades, this marks CM’s fourth Oscar nomination, having previously been nominated for Art Direction with her work on
Romeo + Juliet, and following through to win in the categories of Art Direction and Costume Design for the 2001
Luhrmann film
Moulin Rouge!
Though the film itself is not nominated, with Hugh Jackman as the evening’s dashing host and CM amongst the glamorous nominees, you can be sure Australia will be on the minds of many.
If you too are a fan of Catherine’s work, be sure to take a look at her original costume design sketches as featured in our gallery, or even visit her website to purchase a CM original of your own!
January 22nd, 2009
Official news that Australia will be arriving on DVD in the not too distant future! 20th Century Fox have announced that on March 3rd we (possibly USA only, thus far) will receive the film on Blu-ray Disc. For now the DVD extras are limited but, perhaps pending viability, director Baz Luhrmann has mentioned that he hopes to release a supersized version of the film on DVD by December 2009.
Features for the iminent release include:
Deleted Scenes:
- What about the drove?
- Angry staff serve dinner
- Australia: The people, the history,
the location featurette [Blu-ray only]
Behind-the-Scenes: [Blu-ray only]
- Photography
- Production Design
- Costume Design
- Locations
- Cinematography
- Sound
- Editing
- Music
- Visual Effects
source: high def disc news
January 14th, 2009
Keen to find out what makes director Baz Luhrmann tick? Click on to your iTunes online store and you’ll be able to download a very special – and FREE – Q&A with the man himself.
Direct from New York City, Apple presents “Meet The Filmmaker” a 56 minute special in which Luhrmann goes in depth to discuss the making of his latest epic, Australia.
Also in a follow up to our article last week, ‘Australia Adds Up‘, detailing the success of Australia at the box office we’d like to draw your attention to this latest press release which includes some very exciting information, including the fact that at home Australia has now outgrossed Luhrmann’s last film Moulin Rouge! and other blockbusters such as Sex In The City, Mamma Mia, Indiana Jones and Qantum of Solice. By the end of it’s run in Oz Australia is set to be one of the highest grossing films in the last 12 months, second only to The Dark Knight.
January 7th, 2009
“Where’s the Australia Soundtrack?”, “Who composed the score?”, “Where can I purchase David Hirschfelder’s music from the film?” and again “Where is the Australia Soundtrack?” are just a mere few examples of many many e-mail enquiries, forum posts, and guestbook entries wanting to know what on earth Bazmark and 20th Century Fox are doing. Even a large amount of our site traffic is coming from other forums and serach results looking for the same thing.
At first it appeared there was simply a delay, but as time goes on it’s fast becoming a disappointing reality that the score for this film, by musician David Hirschfelder, may not be made available to the public. We’ve been told that the rights obviously lay with Bazmark and Fox, and beyond that it is unknown what the decision for release will be but, “at this point it doesn’t look likely”.
It’s a befuddling world we are living in when random films such as Just Like Heaven, Serendipity and The Wedding Planner have soundtracks made available but an epic film such as Australia cannot release a hardcopy CD containing the works of an award winning composer. Where’s the logic?
With the recent boost in interest generated by international filmgoers, there may still be a chance for the soundtrack to reveal itself yet. However in the meantime davidhirschfelder.com has generously put five full songs from the Australia score in high quality streaming format on the composer’s official website.
The website reads, “David spent 7 months on the project from temp to trailers to finished score. His imposing score at times combines frenetic percussion of pounding cattle hooves melding on the barren red desert and river beds to the majesty of a herd of wild brumbies galloping across the dusty plains. With over 2 hours of underscore it is hard to pick highlights…”
Tracks made available are Bombing of Darwin, Nullah Enchants Sarah, England to Oz, Stampede and Nullah is Safe. The website is best viewed using Internet Explorer.
January 5th, 2009
A round up of video interviews and appearances, compiled over the last few weeks with the help of our wonderful forum members. Hope you’re all having a lovely holiday break and spending time with loved ones.
AMC Shootout: Baz Luhrmann and Hugh Jackman
Rome Press Conference: Nicole Kidman
Paris Red Carpet: Nicole and Hugh – Gala tv
Glamour Magazine: London Premiere / Hugh Interview
Vogue Magazine: Catherine Martin
MovieWeb: Great Set of Cast Interviews
CondeNastTraveller: Hugh Jackman
Movies.ie: Hugh Jackman
Empire Magazine: Baz Luhrmann
The Fabulous Picture Show: Jackman & Luhrmann
Film24: Jackman & Luhrmann
Croatian TV: Hugh Jackman
Be sure to visit our own multimedia section as we’ll be adding a few gems. Please join our forum for detailed reviews, videos, images and if you’ve gained some money over the holidays why not spread the wealth and donate to australiamovie.net?
December 24th, 2008
In one of the first in depth interviews since the reaction to Australia began rippling around the world, director Baz Luhrmann candidly speaks to Steven Zeitchik at The Hollywood Reporter about the intense reaction from some members of the press, the passionate reaction from the audience and what the future may hold.
Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia” may be doing some middling U.S. boxoffice, earning about $38 million since it opened Thanksgiving weekend, but the director is unrepentant as the movie nears its first month of release stateside.
In one of his first interviews since the movie opened, he sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and spoke out against “Australia’s” critics and those he feels call him the “black hole of cinema.” He also said he will move quickly on his next project, “The Great Gatsby,” which he said will be a perfect parable for economic disaster.
“A lot of reviewers like ‘Australia.’ And we’re making people cry; I know because they write to us,” he said. “But there are those that don’t get it. A lot of the film scientists don’t get it. And it’s not just that that they don’t get it, but they hate it and they hate me, and they think I’m the black hole of cinema. They say, ‘He shouldn’t have made it, and he should die.’ “
Asked why he thought the reactions were so passionate, he replied: “I know what it’s about.” The movie’s detractors were used to movies that were neatly defined, he said. “This is not (simply) a romantic comedy for 40-year-old women or action movies for 17-year-old boys, and that’s not OK with some people. It’s not OK for people to come eat at the same table of cinema. But you look at movies like ‘Gone With the Wind’ and Old Hollywood classics, and they don’t fit in any box.
“Corny Hollywood movies from the ’40s freak out (the film scientists),” he added.
Speaking with THR at the Four Seasons, he struck a tone that was as unyielding as many of the creative choices in his movies but was also occasionally conciliatory. “I’m not whining, because when you do what I do, you expect to be covered in mud. But there seems to be a lot of misinformation.”
Among those pieces of misinformation is boxoffice, he said; Luhrmann noted that “Moulin Rouge!” has been on a similar pace as his latest epic, and that sticking it out for the long haul was not an uncommon experience for him. “I’m used to the waves crashing around me. And what I do is stick to a craggy rock as they keep coming. And if you stick to it long enough someone else will stick to it, too, and then someone else and then someone else.”
(Indeed, “Rouge” was at $36 million through three weeks of release and finished with $57 million, though some might say the production budget of “Australia” necessitated a higher return.)
The director, as Risky Biz first reported last month, also said that he has officially acquired rights to “Gatsby.” Luhrmann sees the pre-Depression story as a wake-up call as the economy comes crashing down and another gilded age, as he sees it, comes to an end.
“If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, ‘You’ve been drunk on money,’ they’re not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they’d be willing to.”
He added, “People will need an explanation of where we are and where we’ve been, and ‘The Great Gatsby’ can provide that explanation.”
Luhrmann appeared as particularly interested in worsening economic times and attitudes — noting a kind of glib wealth that came with “the Wall Street trader who has a house in the Hamptons as big as an airport” — and he went on to say that the people needed to take the message of hope from “Australia.”
He said that he wants to move quickly on the “Gatsby” project because of that timeliness. “I’m going to move faster than I have before. I’d be surprised if it’s another seven years,” he said, referring to the period between “Rouge” and “Australia.”
The project also might not be with Fox. The director said he’s “talking to everyone, and they’re all interested” — and paused a full 10 seconds when asked if his experience with Fox was a satisfactory one, before offering a noncommittal answer.
Luhrmann acknowledged his vision’s sprawling ambition but said he was not being given enough slack. “There’s this whole thing about he’s all over the map and he’s bonkers. And that may be true. But they’re unwilling to see there might be a plan there.”
He acknowledged that there are flaws in his picture but noted that when “you make a small-scale picture it’s going to be easier. No large-scale movie doesn’t have warts, just by its nature.”
Ultimately, Luhrmann said, the movie’s verdict will be written by many of those he feels have not yet begun to speak. ” ‘Moulin Rouge!’ was supposed to go away,” Luhrmann said. “Not only has it not gone away, but you can’t read about modern musicals without reading about it. ‘Australia’ will not go away.”
December 20th, 2008
Australia may have been snubbed by the Golden Globes, but regardless the awards and nominations continue to steadily roll in and deservedly so!
SATELLITE AWARDS (WINNERS):
- Cinematography: Mandy Walker
- Visual Effects: Chris Godfrey, James E. Price and Diana Giorgiutti
- Art Direction and Production Design: Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, Karen Murphy and Beverly Dunn
With Special achievement awards given to Baz Luhrmann as Best Auteur and Brandon Walters as Outstanding New Talent!
ST LOUIS FILM CRITIC AWARDS (WINNERS):
- Best Cinematography – Mandy Walker
CHICAGO FILM CRITIC (NOMINATIONS):
- Best Cinematography – Mandy Walker
- Most Promising Performer – Brandon Walters
sources: Satellite Awards, awardsdaily, Chicago Film Critics
December 16th, 2008
