“I’m still giving pushing it out.”
That was Baz Luhrmann’s take on my notion that he must still be sore from birthing Australia, finishing his mix on the film just five weeks ago, just before releasing the film.
And he is. He dipped into L.A. for a screening and a few sitdowns between his travels all over the globe to sell his latest film. He is completely conscious of some negativity out there towards his film, but he is also heartened by the box office, which is similar to Moulin Rouge’s at this moment in their runs. And he is anticipating a #1 opening for the film in the UK next week.
Baz remains on of the great enthusiasts of the movie world. During our chat, he expressed his admiration of many filmmakers and films. He recalls singing La Boheme with Francis Coppola and seeing an early cut of Eyes Wide Shut with Nicole and Tom, prefering the first hour to the rest. (He seems truly fascinated by Kubrick and particularly, the information filing system that he kept for Napoleon, his epic that never happened.) While quoting the Rolling Stones, Ron Wood walks by… but he isn’t friends with Wood… just a little with Mick.
He appreciates what he has been allowed to do, but he isn’t living with his head in the clouds. He can tell you how much profit there was in each of the movies he has made and where they drew the biggest, most passionate audiences. He marvels at his Romeo + Juliet becoming curriculum in schools and remembered going to, as it turns out, my high school in Coconut Grove, FL to interview teens about their perspectives as he prepped the film. (He also created some of Miami’s most beautiful architecture in Mexico for the film.) He remembers wandering down the very dangerous Grand Avenue, being warned against it, and suddenly realizing how close danger always is on certain cities, often the most beautiful ones.
Controversy about the end of the film? He shot three versions and wrote a fourth. He tested the various versions. Teen girls liked the idea of a death at the end of the picture. But they were the only group that did. It was out.
Asked directly about the idea that the film really isn’t finished, Luhrmann is not agitated. To the contrary. He could spend months, even years, working on the film. He still looks back at all of his films and sees ways that he could improve them in post. But that is not the reality we live in.
But it is the reality we live in that he seems most concerned about. He believes that the romantic notion of the world which drives all of his work is not only being killed off bit by bit in the modern era, but that it is necessary for us all to function at our best. People want to feel… people want that emotional journey… people love the romance that lives without cynicism.
When we talked about the broadly comedic first act of the film, without making the comparison, he made much the same argument as Spielberg did for the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Smack the audience into some level of excited confusion before rolling out the classic epic to pull them out of their shells of safety and to allow them to engage with the rest of the film.
He points out that while his other films have gotten a range of good reviews, he has never had a film that has gotten as many strong reviews from as many major outlets, from the NY Times to the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Ebert, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and on. He doesn’t linger in the fact that half the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, whether from Top Critics or the entire throng are “rotten.” But that’s the romantic in him, isn’t it.
I had not really spent time with Luhrmann before, in all these years. I liked him more than I expected to. He was much, much saner than I expected him to be. He is an artist. And he expresses himself as one. But that is the idea, no? I wish he had a bit more time with his ambitions on this movie, but he is hopeful that the world market will turn Australia from a film that threatens to lose quite a bit to being one of his movies that makes a small profit.
He, intriguingly, seems to see himself as a Woody Allen with a much bigger, more visual canvas. He wants his movies to do well enough to allow him to keep making movies. He doesn’t expect to make a killing. But he knows he can’t afford to write anything off either. So he is out, crossing the globe, fighting for his baby. It’s lovely to see a man in love.
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2008/12/life_with_baz.html