The almost infinite space and time provided by streaming TV often feels like a mixed blessing: brevity and concision are underrated virtues. But all the same, some stories demand to be able to sprawl; to spread out and take their time. However, surely not many people who have seen Baz Luhrmann’s nearly three-hour 2008 film Australia would argue that was one of them? The very last thing Australia needed was to be longer.
But some people simply won’t be told. And it seems Luhrmann is one of them. An expanded version of Australia is, bizarrely, an itch he has clearly been longing to scratch. During lockdown, while most of us were pondering sourdough starters and never-finished Proust novels, he finally saw his chance. Could something be done with the alternative endings he had filmed, or the extra footage he had discarded? Could he return to this story and make it fly?
