Baz Luhrmann often finds himself at the forefront of cutting-edge invention. His brilliant Moulin Rouge, still one of his best movies, mashed up period romance with contemporary love songs. He continued to experiment with music and time in the illustrious The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, and then took the Elvis mythology for a spin in Elvis, a movie that earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor (for Austin Butler). You would think that a movie that earned a Best Picture nod and critical praise would be ideal in its current format. But that’s not how Luhrmann thinks.
Baz Luhrmann is in the headlines recently for the Hulu series Faraway Downs, which essentially is the director’s 2008 feature Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, only divided into episodes and enhanced with footage that he had to remove from the theatrical cut. This is not just “a longer version of Australia.” This has narrative turns that were removed from the story, and a different ending, restored after test audiences disapproved of what Luhrmann wanted to convey. And now that he has tried this approach to Australia, Luhrmann is planning to do the same to Elvis.
