Baz Luhrmann Jokes Faraway Downs Is His ‘Taylor’s Version’ of Australia: Just ‘Don’t Tell’ Her (Exclusive)

Baz Luhrmann, like Taylor Swift, revisits his past work to present a brand new version.

The Elvis The director, 61, expanded the universe of his 2008 film Australia with a new one Far fallsa film told through six chapters.

The process seemed not far from how Swift, 33, re-recorded her past albums for the new one Taylor versions.

“I think Far falls is like a composer doing a variation on a melody he has written before. But it’s a different tune,” Luhrmann tells PEOPLE. “I wouldn’t say, it’s not like with Taylor, Taylor’s version. Well, it could be— don’t tell Taylor. But I think I’d say it’s ‘Baz’s version’. ”

Baz Luhrmann at the Christian Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2023/2024 show. as part of Paris Fashion Week on July 3, 2023.

Marc Piasecki/WireImage

Baz Luhrmann shares a scene from Far falls with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (Exclusive)

Luhrmann adds that Far falls is “the banquet version of a meal that is Australia. So one is a two-hour-and-40-minute sit-down, and the other is a banquet that you eat in different sequences with breaks at your own pace, but it’s nutritious in a different way, I hope.”

He notes that he originally “recorded 2.5 million feet” of material for the Australiawhich he called “a recording record,” and decided to delve into it all when the pandemic shut down filming on Elvis.

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He explains: “I worked Elvis and very famously, Tom Hanks got sick with COVID and we were closed, and during that period it seemed that the film could not possibly come back. And so I thought, ‘Well… what am I going to do?’ ”

The bans due to COVID led Luhrmann to a grander idea for Australia.

“This idea of ​​taking over an old form like melodrama, like Gone with the wind, and by turning it on its head and telling it from the point of view of an aboriginal first nation child, I realized that I could draw on it more,” he says.

Luhrmann says he “just thought, ‘Wow, episodic storytelling, this really lends itself to episodic storytelling,'” before adding, “There’s literally a tragedy at the end of every beat.”

Courtesy of Hulu

“I just called my friend Peter Rice at Hulu and said, ‘Hey, what if you just fund me and I’ll rewatch this and I can do an episodic version?’ ”

One thing the director remains aware of is his critics, especially those who have spoken less than favorably about him Australia after the publication in the US, which he describes as being treated “in such a harsh way”.

“My life is full of critics and I think travel is full of critics and I don’t have a problem with that,” he says, adding: “They’re just a part of you. If you work a little outside the box, you’re going to have critics, right?”

Far falls is on Hulu on November 26.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education