Baz Luhrmann
Discussing his approach to filmmaking.
About Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann (director, writer, and producer) has captured popular and critical imagination internationally with a diverse range of commercially successful projects in film, opera, theatre, music, multimedia, and events.
Luhrmann is credited with having reinvented the modern movie musical with Moulin Rouge!, which he developed, cowrote, produced, and directed. Starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, it opened the Cannes Film Festival in May 2001 and received several prestigious awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy, two Academy Awards, and six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Luhrmann also executive produced the soundtrack albums which sold more than 6 million units worldwide and sparked the #1 hit “Lady Marmalade.”
Luhrmann cowrote, produced, and directed the edgy smash hit William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. The film opened at #1 at the U.S. box office and earned numerous awards including Luhrmann’s British Academy Awards for Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. The soundtrack albums, executive produced by Luhrmann, went triple platinum in the U.S and have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
Luhrmann’s directorial film debut, Strictly Ballroom, also won numerous awards including the prestigious Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to his film accolades, Luhrmann has directed several acclaimed theater productions—most notably in the U.S., La Bohème on Broadway, which received three Tony awards (seven nominations) and played more than 200 performances.
Australia is the first feature film to be produced from Luhrmann’s new focus on a trilogy of epic works and is the most recent project with his creative partner of more than 20 years, his wife Catherine Martin (coproducer, production & costume designer).
