\u201cI really had conflict with the way the film was marketed and sold,\u201d the celebrated Australian director says from New York City. \u201cThey hid in the US all of the cattle stuff and just sold it as Australia\u2019s Pearl Harbour. It was all about the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI realised I had 2.1 million feet of footage\u201d: Baz Luhrmann.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Brendon Thorne<\/cite><\/p>\n It took watching streaming services when COVID-19 shut down the production of Elvis<\/em> on the Gold Coast for Luhrmann to see a way of giving his most polarising film a new life \u2013 using footage that did not make the final cut, along with a new soundtrack, to turn Australia<\/em> into a six-chapter miniseries called Faraway Downs<\/em> that is streaming on Disney+.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised I had 2.1 million feet of footage,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the back of my mind, I probably thought that one day I might make an epic two-film version.<\/p>\n \u201cBut streaming had come along, and I just realised how, a bit like a Charles Dickens\u2019 novel that was written it chapters, it really suited episodic storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n After Moulin Rouge!<\/em> became a hit and a planned Alexander the Great film did not get off the ground, Luhrmann set out to tell a Stolen Generations story about an Indigenous boy (Brandon Walters) who was caught between cultures amid a sweeping romance between an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) and a rough drover (Hugh Jackman) as World War II came to the Top End.<\/p>\n It is still his most successful film in Europe and Australia, even bigger than The Great Gatsby<\/em> and Elvis<\/em> that he has made since, though less than a quarter of its worldwide box office of $US212 million came from the US.<\/p>\n Luhrmann calls Faraway Downs<\/em> an experiment about the different way of telling a story for cinemas and streaming.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I liken it to is when a musician makes a song, and you go to a concert and they do a different treatment,\u201d he says. \u201cThey do the rock \u2019n roll version of, say, a dance track.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a different tune or a different song. It\u2019s just a different way of telling it.\u201d<\/p>\n While Luhrmann will decide on a next project in the new year \u2013 the options include a theatre show in London and a documentary using never-previously-seen footage of Elvis Presley performing \u2013 he might make a different version of the film Elvis<\/em> for streaming in future.<\/p>\n Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin at the opening of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia on November 30.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do it to Moulin Rouge<\/em> or Romeo + Juliet<\/em> but I\u2019ve been thinking that Elvis<\/em> would really suit this,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I looked at it as a long-play episodic, I\u2019d even radically look at the way I tell the story.\u201d<\/p>\n While Faraway Downs<\/em> did not involve any new filming, Kidman and Jackman revoiced poor quality dialogue from the Australia<\/em> set, with the odd word changed. Luhrmann describes it as a joy working with Indigenous musicians Budjerah and Electric Fields on the new soundtrack.<\/p>\n Luhrmann decided on a different \u2013 and darker \u2013 ending for the miniseries.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt that in the length of the movie, maybe it was just one tragic turn too many,\u201d he says of the ending of Australia<\/em>. \u201cI feel this ending speaks to the larger theme.\u201d<\/p>\n Having dramatised a Stolen Generations story, Luhrmann is clearly disappointed by the no vote in the Voice to parliament referendum.<\/p>\n \u201cMy position was to support what the majority of First Nations people wanted,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think it was pretty clear that that majority of First Nations people wanted a voice.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally feel it was a missed opportunity for progress. [And] I don\u2019t think we understand the level to which, even if you\u2019re aware that you\u2019re subjected to misinformation and manipulation by the net, just what can be pushed out there. It\u2019s really just inaccurate information.\u201d<\/p>\n After launching Faraway Downs<\/em> in Sydney, London, Tokyo and New York, Luhrmann headed to Saudi Arabia to be jury president at the Red Sea International Film Festival this week.<\/p>\n He consulted with other filmmakers before deciding it was more important to attend, given that it focussed on films rather than glamorous celebrations, than have the festival cancelled.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think that in a world where politics and certain military solutions are failing us, more than ever, the voices of storytellers need to be heard,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd a lot of the storytelling is coming not just from the Arab world but from Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just thought this is not really the right moment to run for the hills.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n