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'Moulin Rouge!' Is Finally Set To Hit The Stage For Real


Baz Luhrmann

Finally, Baz Luhrmann's vibrant musical romance 'Moulin Rouge!' is set to hit the stage for the first time. It's been a long time coming - the film came out in 2001 - but it's finally getting the theatrical debut it has long-deserved, courtesy of John Logan and Alex Timbers.

Baz LuhrmannBaz Luhrmann's musical film to be adapted to the theatre


The movie, which starred Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Jim Broadbent, is set in Paris at the turn of the 20th century where a dejected writer named Christian struggles to find inspiration for his work. But soon he meets a group of flamboyant Bohemians who introduces him to Paris' underworld and the Moulin Rouge nightclub where courtesans dance in cabaret shows. A hilarious misunderstanding leads Christian, his new friends and the star of the Moulin Rouge Satine to hastily make up a stage show to be performed for the Duke in exchange for funding. Soon though, Christian and Satine begin to fall deeply in love which puts the club at risk when the jealous Duke founds out. Little do they all know that tragedy is soon to befall them.

'Moulin Rouge!' is famous for the medleys of classic hits with adapted lyrics like the 'Lady Marmalade/Smells Like Teen Spirit' performance from Zidler's Diamond Dogs, and the 'Elephant Love Medley' featuring snippets of the Beatles' 'Love Is All You Need', 'I Was Made For Lovin' You' by KISS, The Communards' 'Don't Leave Me This Way', 'Silly Love Songs' by Paul McCartney, David Bowie's 'Heroes' and more.

More: Read our review of Baz Luhrmann's last movie 'The Great Gatsby'

The main songs are 'Spectacular, Spectacular' (to the tune of 'Can Can' by Offenbach) and 'Come What May' which was originally written for Luhrmann's other film 'Romeo + Juliet'. There's also a version of Elton John's 'Your Song', which was later covered by John Barrowman.

The film is being adapted by writer John Logan ('Skyfall', 'Gladiator') and Broadway director Alex Timbers ('Peter and the Starcatcher', 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson'). 'It's immensely gratifying to know that a new wave of artists will be leading Moulin Rouge! into its rightful theatrical realm', Luhrmann told Variety.

A Sneak Peek At Baz Luhrmann's New Netflix Series 'The Get Down'


Baz Luhrmann Netflix

Ahead of the premiere of ‘The Get Down’ exclusively on Netflix on Friday (August 12th), we take a short look at the new mini-series that promises to offer a snapshot into the lives of early hip-hop culture as it was born in New York in the late seventies.

Described as “a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to a new art form”, ‘The Get Down’ is set in 1977 during the dying days of disco but before hip-hop and rap became well-known.

“I'm probably the least obvious person you might think to be curating and trying to get this story told,” Luhrmann himself told The Independent this week, as a director who is known much more for his fantastical movies and re-tellings of the likes of Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet.

Continue reading: A Sneak Peek At Baz Luhrmann's New Netflix Series 'The Get Down'

Screw The Reviews, F Scott Fitzgerald's Granddaughter "Loves" Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby


Baz Luhrmann

Stuff what the critics are saying, if you’re pleasing the granddaughter of the person who wrote the original novel then your film’s a-ok. That’s what Baz Luhrmann will be clinging on to (well, that and a load of moolah at the box office) as The Great Gatsby takes a bit of a critical panning.

Yep, according to the Daily Telegraph, the granddaughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote the original novel in 1922, was loving the film adaptation starring Leonardo Di Caprio. At a press conference, Luhrmann told the assembled throng at the Cannes Film Festival that he’d been accompanied to the US premiere by the Fizgerald family member, where she’d told him she “loved the music” and thought her granddad “would be proud of the movie.” He added "For me, that was about as good as it could possibly get.”

Leonardo DiCaprio had some words about the film too, telling reporters "One of the most powerful things about this novel is that it's still discussed 90 years later.” He added "People are still talking about and trying to dissect each one of Fitzgerald's statements, each one of his lines, every bit of symbolism. And it was kind of an endless journey as we discussed this novel, trying to dissect what he truly meant for each scene, from scene to scene."

Continue reading: Screw The Reviews, F Scott Fitzgerald's Granddaughter "Loves" Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

A Week In Movies: Fast And Furious 6 Fires Off In London, Jackman Talks Wolverine And Baz Luhrmann's Spectacular Great Gatsby Hits Screens


Vin Diesel Michelle Rodriguez Hugh Jackman Benedict Cumberbatch Zachary Quinto Leonardo Dicaprio Baz Luhrmann Matthew Mcconaughey Simon Pegg

Fast and Furious 6

The big cinematic event this week was the world premiere in London of Fast & Furious 6, which brought the film's stars out on the red carpet. With the city in the background, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster talked to the cameras about the action series and its surprisingly sustained popularity. Set in Europe and billed as the biggest yet in the franchise, the sixth film opens next week in the UK and the following week in the US. And production on part 7 is already underway.

Also this week, Hugh Jackman participated in a global interview via Twitter to talk about his upcoming action movie The Wolverine, which comes out in July. As fans sent in questions, he replied with details about the film, his gruelling preparation to play the muscle-bound X-man and how much he enjoys playing the "toughest guy in the yard". His answers were caught on video.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: Fast And Furious 6 Fires Off In London, Jackman Talks Wolverine And Baz Luhrmann's Spectacular Great Gatsby Hits Screens

Is 'The Great Gatsby' A Triumph Or The Biggest Disappointment Of The Year So Far?


Baz Luhrmann The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is often lauded as being one of the greatest stories told in modern times and one that has been incorporated by Hollywood studios to ensure bums on seats time after time, but as the latest effort continues to underwhelm critics and audiences alike is it time to leave this age old story of the Roaring Twenties to rest?

Baz Luhrmann is known for his grandiose direction style, and in the past his movies have often been criticised for providing style over substance. The Great Gatsby is a story that relies on the extravagance and demands that those on screen ooze an enviable cool - something that Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and co all bring to the table - but Luhrmann may very well have placed all his confidence in his actors and his special effects to deliver this much needed dose of style to the latest screen adaptation. But by concentrating on 50% of the contents of the story, the director has almost rendered the tale obsolete and unable to move amongst the clutter of stylistic treatments used in the film.

Continue reading: Is 'The Great Gatsby' A Triumph Or The Biggest Disappointment Of The Year So Far?

Video - Baz Luhrmann, Tobey Maguire And Leonardo DiCaprio Comment On The New Movie 'The Great Gatsby' At The New York Premiere


The cast of 'The Great Gatsby' discussed their thoughts on the book-to-film adaptation of 'The Great Gatsby'. Among them were director Baz Luhrmann and stars Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Leonardo Dicaprio.

Continue: Video - Baz Luhrmann, Tobey Maguire And Leonardo DiCaprio Comment On The New Movie 'The Great Gatsby' At The New York Premiere

Gatsby, Iron Man 3 Or World War Z? Your Summer Movie Guide 2013


Robert Downey Jr Baz Luhrmann Will Smith Emma Watson Brad Pitt

Summer's here! But forget about getting your beach towel ready or planning your trip around Europe, because you've got one hell of a movie season to negotiate. Movie fans around the United States lined up for midnight showings of Marvel's Iron Man 3 on Thursday (May 2, 2013) the big-budget movie that the studio hopes will knockout the summer competition as The Avengers did so gloriously last year. Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Star while a rejuvenated Gwyneth Paltrow (she's the most beautiful woman in the world, don't you know) once again plays Pepper Potts.

Iron Man 3Robert Downey Jr As Tony Stark In Iron Man 3

Though The Avengers was the tearaway hit of 2012 - despite competition from the likes of Prometheus and The Dark Knight Rises - Iron Man 3 may not have everything its own way. Baz Luhrmann's aepic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby hits US theaters next weekend. Aesthetically it's looking certain to trump anything released in 2013 though plotlines, individual performance and the suitability of a varied looking score could decide whether it ultimately competes for Oscars gold come February 2014. After Gatsby, it's J.J Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17, 2013) which has been creating buzz for months largely on the back of a shadowy performance from British star Benedict Cumberbatch. Abrams will turn his attention to Star Wars Episode 7 after the summer though the latest reviews suggest he's left the rival franchise in a healthy state. 

Continue reading: Gatsby, Iron Man 3 Or World War Z? Your Summer Movie Guide 2013

Cannes Jury Boasts Stellar Line-Up Featuring Nicole Kidman And Ang Lee


Nicole Kidman Ang Lee Christoph Waltz Baz Luhrmann Steven Spielberg

This year’s Cannes jury boasts some high profile talent, spanning eight different nationalities. The Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman is perhaps the best known of the line-up and she will be joined by the Austrian actor Christoph Waltz (star of Django Unchained) and the Taiwanese director Ang Lee (Life Of Pi). The jury will be led by Steven Spielberg (E.T.) and will be fleshed out with film veterans from another five countries.

The Indian actress Vidya Balan will not only appear on the jury but will also be at the festival marking 100 years of the Bollywood genre at a gala screening, Entertainment Weekly reports. The Japanese director Naomi Kawase has won the Camera D’Or prize in the past (1997) and the Grand Prize (2007) and will now be taking a place on the judging panel. Similarly, Lynne Ramsey, whose movie We Ned To Talk About Kevin was highly praised at 2011’s Cannes festival. They will be joined by the French actor Daniel Auteil, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes in ’96 and three-times Cannes winner Cristian Mungiu.

This year’s festival will be opened by the highly anticipated Baz Luhrmann movie The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, on May 15. The festival runs until May 26, when it will close with Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom’s Zulu, a political thriller. 

Continue reading: Cannes Jury Boasts Stellar Line-Up Featuring Nicole Kidman And Ang Lee

Video - Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Walken And Baz Luhrmann Among Vanity Fair Party Arrivals At The Tribeca Film Festival


The Vanity Fair Party at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City saw numerous famous faces including 'Sister Act' star Whoopi Goldberg, 'The Deer Hunter' actor Christopher Walken and 'Romeo + Juliet' director Baz Luhrmann. One paparazzo proposes marriage to Whoopi, who declares that they're 'too late' before adding: 'Y'know, it's always too late, I don't wanna marry you'.

Continue: Video - Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Walken And Baz Luhrmann Among Vanity Fair Party Arrivals At The Tribeca Film Festival

Carey Mulligan On Her Great Gatsby Character, "She's Like A Kardashian"


Carey Mulligan Leonardo Dicaprio Baz Luhrmann Kim Kardashian

Carey Mulligan beat out a slew of Hollywood's finest actresses to land the coveted role of Daisy Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann's hugely anticipated Great Gatsby movie. Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Michelle Williams had to sit and watch as the British actress snagged the lead role, though the recent trailer appears to suggest Warner Bros made the correct decision.

The 27-year-old appears in an elegant Gatsby inspired shoot for the May issue of Vogue magazine. "It's that kind of feeling: I'm-so-little-and-there's-nothing-to-me, watch-me-have-nothing-to-me," she said of her character in the accompanying interview, "She feels like she's living in a movie of her own life. She's constantly on show, performing all the time. Nothing bad can happen in a dream. You can't die in a dream. She's in her own TV show. She's like a Kardashian." The search for an actress to play Daisy was well-documented at the time, with Keira Knightley and Blake Lively also thought to have been in with a chance. However, after her audition, even co-star Leonardo Dicaprio was smitten. "Leonardo turned to me and he goes, 'Well . . . I guess that's the Next Big Thing in acting," recalls director Luhrmann, "It was a very quick decision after that."

Mulligan, who is married to Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, is best known for her work in Drive, An Education and Never Let Me Go. The Great Gatsby hits theaters in the U.S. On May 10, 2012. Watch the trailer below:

Continue reading: Carey Mulligan On Her Great Gatsby Character, "She's Like A Kardashian"

The Great Gatsby Soundtrack Features Jazz And Hip-Hop Hybrid Courtesy Of Jay Z


Jay Z Baz Luhrmann Leonardo Dicaprio

Does Jay Z ever find time to sleep? As if collaborating with Justin Timberlake, preparing for a joint tour (also with JT) and being daddy to Blue Ivy Carter wasn’t enough, it’s now been announced, via a press release (reported by Reuters) that Jay Z has been collaborating for two years with Baz Luhrmann, on the soundtrack to

Luhrmann’s adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann’s ambitious project aims to combine the feel of the Jazz Age with the edge of contemporary culture and Jay Z was brought in to add that clarity of vision to the soundtrack, along with the composer Craig Armstrong. Having been introduced to Luhrmann by Leonardo Dicaprio, who stars in the movie, Jay Z commented “As soon as I spoke with Baz and Leonardo, I knew this was the right project. The Great Gatsby is that classic American story of one`s introduction to extravagance, decadence and illusion. It`s ripe for experimentation and ready to be interpreted with a modern twist.” Luhrmann aso commented on the collaboration, describing it as a “credible and natural fit.” He added “the question for me in approaching Gatsby was how to elicit from our audience the same level of excitement and pop-cultural immediacy toward the world that Fitzgerald did for his audience? And in our age, the energy of jazz is caught in the energy of hip-hop. Not only is JAY Z a great artist, full stop, but I had heard that he was a great collaborator.”

The soundtrack album, which stemmed from Luhrmann and DiCaprio witnessing a recording session for ‘No Church in the Wild,’ will be released by Interscope Records. 

Continue reading: The Great Gatsby Soundtrack Features Jazz And Hip-Hop Hybrid Courtesy Of Jay Z

The Great Gatsby Scheduled To Open Cannes Film Festival


The Great Gatsby Baz Luhrmann Leonardo Dicaprio

Baz Luhrmann's Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan-staring re-boot of The Great Gatsby will open this year's Cannes Film Festival, the festival's organisers revealed yesterday (March 11), giving the movie a premiere fitting of the affluent themes exhibited throughout the F. Scott Fitzgerald penned story. The always glamorous festival will begin on May 15, with Luhrmann's adaptation of the exposé of the Roaring Twenties, becoming the third Hollywood blockbuster (after Up and Robin Hood) in the space of five years to open up the prestigious event on France's south coast.

Following yet another year of Oscar failure, Leonardo DiCaprio has finall taken to the drink

Has Leonardo DiCaprio hit the bottle following another year of Oscar failure (or is he just the new spokesperson for Jim Beam?)

Continue reading: The Great Gatsby Scheduled To Open Cannes Film Festival

Is Jay Z Writing 'The Great Gatsby' Score?


Jay Z Baz Luhrmann The Bullitts

Baz Luhrmann’s take on English literary classic The Great Gatsby is already spinning into the tens and tens of millions of dollars thanks to an ambitious aesthetic direction, a stellar cast of star names and filming out in Australia that went long over schedule. So you might as well spend a bit more on one of the biggest stars in music to work on the film score eh?

If the words on Twitter of The Bullitts Jeymes Samuel are to be believed, then the songwriter has teamed up with none other than Jay Z to write the score for the much anticipated adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, which recounts the story of a millionaire through America’s prosperous ‘Roaring Twenties’ era. Writing on the micro blogging site, Samuel wrote “Jay-Z and myself have been working tirelessly on the score for the upcoming #CLASSIC The Great Gatsby! It is too DOPE for words!”

It should be noted that neither Luhrmann or Jay Z himself have confirmed this, but there is evidence-of-sorts in that the director used one of Hova’s tracks for one of the film’s trailers, whilst he’s also reportedly been playing the rapper’s tracks to pump himself up on the set of the film. If Samuel was involved it would certainly be a big coup for the multi-talented artist, who can count actors Idris Elba and Lucy Liu among his friends and collaborators.

‘Les Miserables’ To Battle Tarantino’s Django Unchained On Christmas Day


Tom Hooper Russell Crowe Ang Lee Baz Luhrmann Quentin Tarantino Jamie Foxx Leonardo Dicaprio Kathryn Bigelow Tom Cruise

Looks like Universal Pictures mean business. The studio has pushed the release of ‘Les Miserables’ from December 14, to December 25. Interestingly, the decision was made after Universal got the final cut from director Tom Hooper and felt it was more appropriate for a Christmas Day release.


Ang Lee’s hugely anticipated ‘Life of Pi’ – an adaptation of Yann Martel’s classic novel – and Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ recently moved off the Christmas Day release date, though ‘Les Mis’ still has high profile challengers. The Russell Crowe starring movie, based on the long-running musical which itself is based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, will go up against Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’. The drama-western follows a slave-turned-bounty hunter played by Jamie Foxx who sets out to rescue his wife from Leonardo Dicaprio’s brutal Mississippi plantation owner Calvin Candie. It will certainly be interesting to discover who comes out on top on Christmas Day, with both movies expected to be in the running for the major prizes at the Golden Globes and Oscars.


Continue reading: ‘Les Miserables’ To Battle Tarantino’s Django Unchained On Christmas Day

Baz Luhrmann

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Baz Luhrmann Movies

The Great Gatsby Movie Review

The Great Gatsby Movie Review

Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) is the perfect director to take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's iconic...

The Great Gatsby Trailer

The Great Gatsby Trailer

When Nick Carraway moved from the Midwest to New York in 1922 to kick start...

The Great Gatsby Trailer

The Great Gatsby Trailer

It is 1922 and Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moved to New York to kick...

Moulin Rouge Movie Review

Moulin Rouge Movie Review

When a red curtain opens and an orchestra conductor emerges to "direct" the unmistakable 20th...

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