For both Martin and Luhrmann, the film is a venture into the unknown, a
departure from the “red curtain trilogy” (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet,
Moulin Rouge!), films that, like their exceedingly amiable author, are as
camp as the village of tents within which 200 of his crew have been
billeted. Australia would have been the second instalment in a trio of
historical epics. Yet after two years of prepping a version of Alexander the
Great, with Leonardo DiCaprio, it was shelved once Oliver Stone’s version
began. “It was devastating,” Luhrmann admits, “but the only way we could
have done it was to race to beat Oliver, and that seemed destructive,
pointless.”
The pair may revisit it “when we’re both in wheelchairs”, jokes Martin.
Indeed, Luhrmann’s film output can hardly be described as prolific, this
being only his fourth in 16 years, which can be put down, he says, to his
pursuit of other life interests and the fact that he and Catherine are
“research junkies” whose meticulous groundwork takes for ever. “The list is
very long where people have knocked on the door and said, ‘I’ll give you the
income of a small country, would you do this?’ Sometimes I think, ‘That
would be fantastic... James Bond, that could be fun.’ We’d be a whole lot
wealthier, that’s for sure. But when we make something, I say, ‘What can we
do that is truly reflective of an interest we have?’ ”
Here, it’s about Australian self-confidence, the right of a nation to
pursue its own destiny “instead of being caught in a sort of cross- fire of
other people’s stories”, as Luhrmann puts it. “I guess what I’ve received in
bucketloads, no matter what the outcome, is a much more direct understanding
of my country, particularly its relationship to England and the sense of the
republic, as well as the whole indigenous question.”
At the very least, he can throw a spotlight on the bombing of Darwin, the
“Australian Pearl Harbor”. The strategically important city suffered more
than 60 raids during 1942-43, as the last line of defence against an
intended full-scale Japanese land invasion. “Nobody knew about it,” he says.
“Even Australians didn’t know about it.” Back then, it was
an “end of the world” place, a cut-throat mishmash of Anglos,
Greek pearl-divers, Chinese gold-panners and, of course, Aboriginals.
Darwin’s centre now looks too modern to be a location; Bowen, on the
Queensland coast, is its proxy.
With the likes of the veteran Australian actors Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown
cropping up, and Stuart Beattie doing the screenplay, native sons are out in
force. Luhrmann has emphasised the melting pot, with Aboriginal actors such
as David Gulpilil and Crusoe Kurddal. The real winner would seem to be Walters,
an 11-year-old mixed-race boy, plucked from obscurity, who had never been to
a cinema, yet finds himself as third lead to two of the biggest stars in the
world.
There is also the fact that those very stars have returned home. The Hollywood
A list seems positively cluttered with their compatriots, who have enjoyed
most of their successes abroad. “In acting, we’re over-represented,” Jackman
says. “Of course there’s a desire to want to give back to or support the industry
that gave you a start.”
Backwoods Australia is certainly staging an almighty homecoming for them. In
Bowen, the whole town turned out as extras. With an eye to what The Lord of
the Rings did for tourism in New Zealand, local governments had been
outbidding rivals for the right to host the film. In a dream piece of
synchronicity, Luhrmann has just been signed up by Tourism Australia to do a series
of commercials promoting the country. Despite the wonderful independent
films made in Australia over the years, and the huge Hollywood imports (such
as Superman Returns) that have been made in Sydney’s impressive studios,
this is the biggest film, by a considerable distance, to be made about the
host nation, everyone points out. “It would be so fantastic,” Jackman says,
“if we could all look back and this was the dawning of a new era.”
Back on set, the tropical sun descends quickly. Luhrmann has made heavy use of
the “magic hour”, the twilight period beloved of cinematographers. “Every
sunset there’ll be a majestic transformation and you forgive it all,” he
sighs. “It’s like flicking a switch between brutal and beauty.”
“Have you seen the sunset? It’s of the gods, put it that way,” Kidman vouches.
“People go to Africa, and they never come back. I think this country has a
similar ambience. It casts a spell. For the first week I was here, I
thought, ‘I’m not gonna survive’ — then I just felt it turn. I
know it’s an extreme way to put it, but it’s a ferocious land.”
As the rocks are kissed to a peachy hue, Luhrmann shoots a campfire scene —
Jackman and the Aboriginal stockmen (Aussie for cowboy) lounging around
after a hard day’s cowpoking. Given both Luhrmann and Jackman’s musicals
credentials, it wouldn’t seem amiss if the actors suddenly ripped off the
buckskin and burst into a disco version of The Surrey with the Fringe on
Top. Amusingly, for all the millions of boab trees in the area, the one
Jackman lolls against is made of fibreglass, there not being a natural one
in the right place. But do not underestimate the zeal of the thespian gone
native. “I would encourage you to take your shoes off, even if just for a
second,” he intones. “That doesn’t anger the spirits as much.”
Sydney, September 2008: a whole year later, and Luhrmann still hasn’t finished
his movie, juggling the editing while the score is being recorded. He’s
sailing mighty close to the wind, given the November opening date in
Australia. In the end, they had to tweak a few scenes in the studio, “doing
it Lean and Lucas”, he quips. When the actors came back in to “loop” some of
their dialogue (“Baz has a penchant for talking over the top of it,” Jackman
says), Kidman wasn’t the only one to have given birth in the interim: no
fewer than 15 babies were born to cast and crew during the course of the
film, underlining both what a protracted affair it has become and that being
stuck in the middle of nowhere leads you to make your own entertainment.
(Jackman has even shot another film, Wolverine.)
“There’s a crushing ambition behind the film,” Luhrmann says. “We don’t make
things very often, and when we do, we try to make something that isn’t
always out there, a meal that maybe isn’t being served every day. Some of my
favourite films are sushi, rarefied treats, but this sort of event cinema is
like a Sunday meal — it’s got a starter and a main course and a
dessert. It’s high comedy, high tragedy, tears, laughter, costumes.
Everything big. Big actors. Big landscape.” Jackman chuckles: “Mate, if
I told you the film was coming out this time next year, Baz would still be
working 24/7 on it. The print will be wet as he gives it over. But, fingers
crossed, I think we have something special.”
Australia opens in the UK on Dec 26
