Thursday
21Aug2008
Even More Ridiculously Good Imagery from 'Australia'
Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 10:03AM
It was kind of a hush-hush thing, but I was privileged to see a two-and-a-half-minute
Australia featurette last night. It was kind of
an alternate trailer, really, but Fox hasn't released it publicly yet.
Hopefully, we'll get that for you pretty soon. I also saw close to 150
production photos for
Baz Luhrmann's upcoming epic, and it just looks
more and more magnificent with each new picture. Even without the proper
context, the photos are staggering, colorful, and full of life. Couple their
impact with the short compilation I saw, and its position as a prohibitive Oscar
hopeful is pretty much secured, at least in my eyes.
There was one other fascinating nugget I learned last
night: Every stitch of Australia has to earn Luhrmann's approval. That
means every shot in every trailer, every publicity photo, and every poster gets
his seal of approval before it's released to the public. Simply put: This movie
is all about Baz Luhrmann's vision, and since he's one of the most visionary
directors in the world at the moment, that's probably a good thing.
I wish I could share with you everything I saw last
night, but I do have a few a trio of new pictures as well as mammoth high
quality versions of the first three teaser posters (they're much better than the
versions we had a few days ago).
(Download the enormo-sized version of this poster)
(Download the enormo-sized version of this poster)
(Download the enormo-sized version of this poster)
Reader Comments (13)
I think you give too much credit to a man who's only authored three barely watchable movies, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge.
The fact that he and his fellow australians are now making a huge epic about Australia is a sign that the australian invasion has gone one step too far.
I'd rather watch "Austria" by Arnold Schwarzenegger, "England" by Ridley Scott or "France" by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Well, to call either Romeo + Juliet or Moulin Rouge! barely watchable is a bit dismissive, in my opinion. Also, if you've ever seen video of his Broadway staging of La Boheme, you can't help but admire his use of color, light, and sound.
You don't want to see this and that's fine. I know plenty of people who didn't want to see Atonement, either. Their loss.
Moulin Rouge might be the closest Hollywood has come to recreating the magic that is Broadway for the masses.
There is no other filmed modern musical that comes close to what Luhrman accomplished with that film. Not Chicago. Not Evita. Not Team America.
Anyone with an interest in sociology might notice that Australia is making a quiet impact on the world right now from their wines, to their artists, to their athletes.
If it's done right, this film might just be the coming out party for the island continent that Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin couldn't...the kind of movie John Ford or George Stevens might have made 50 years ago.
Oh, this thing reminds me so much of Giant, it's unbelievable.
Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing France by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amelie probably could have been named France and we would be none the wiser. I am always perplexed when someone tells me they hated Moulin Rouge!
Can I first say how completely envious I am that you are privy to all this stuff. Oh how I'd love to even see a portion of such things! I wonder if this full trailer will be the one, or similar to the one they were showing AU audiences before Indy4 with the Drover saying "welcome to australia" :)
Thanks so much for the hi res, lovin it.
australiamovie.net
Oh, I watched Atonement and I bloody well cried when Vanessa Redgrave came on.
But that was the work of Joe Wright and Christopher Hampton and I have tremendous respect for them both, especially Hampton.
The Australians are everywhere, not least in London. I think it's mainly due to the advantage of (1) being English speaking, sort of, and having absolutely no concept of their own limitations.
I thought Joe Wright took a huge leap as a filmmaker from Pride and Prejudice to Atonement. There's simply nothing wrong with that movie visually. My only complaint about Atonment whatsoever is the POV device he used in the first 20 minutes. That was a little hinky in spots.
Even still, how can you not at least appreciate how much Moulin Rouge! encompassed? I can see you thinking it's too showy but from beginning to end it was identifiably Luhrmann's achievement, and I doubt anyone else could have done it.
Yeh, I nearly turned Atonement off in first 10 but when Keira jumped in the fountain I decided to give it a second chance. From then on the film just grew and grew.
Moulin Rouge is a very, very camp (gay) and kitschy movie. I can just about bear Ewan McGregor's grinning that he does instead of acting, but when he starts singing, I'm outta there.
Can you share what was in that trailer? Was it just an extension of what we've already seen from the first trailer, or something completely different?
Some of it is the same, Danielle, maybe 35 - 40%, could be as much as half. I only saw it once, so I can't tell you specifically what was in there. I do know there was a lot more of the Outback than I've seen in other trailers. It seemed to be more centered on Hugh than Nicole. I have a feeling we'll see some version of that in the next month or so. I'll try to snag it from my Fox contact pretty early if that happens.
Thanks so much for answering! Looking forward to seeing it.
My reservation about this film is that while he is a great visual director he simply cannot get a realistic performance out of an actor. The melodramatic tone of the trailer made me cringe. It will be hard in this day and age to pull that off. Let's hope Mandy Walker is recognised though.