David EdwardsAn Exclusive Interview with Baz Lurhmann!
November 19th 2008 01:23
SportingMind was lucky enough to conduct an exclusive interview with man of the moment Baz Lurhmann, as he promotes his widely talked about epic Australia. In this intimate insight into the working mind of Lurhmann, SportingMind extracts a rarely seen human side out of the cagey Australian director. Because that's what SportingMind does: humanise his subjects, in a way that Andrew Denton or "Parky" could only dream of.
The Interview:
SportingMind: Firstly, Baz, thankyou for joining me today.
Baz Lurhmann: The pleasure is mine, SportingMind.
SportingMind: So firstly, why the name Baz? Wikipedia states that your official name is Mark Anthony Lurhmann.
Baz: Ah yes. Quite simply, the "Baz" name is a reference to former Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league prop Barry Ward. I appreciated his work ethic and tough, uncompromising style of play.
SportingMind: Interesting, Baz. Some would say that is almost the antithesis of how you are perceived by the general public? After all, Barry Ward was a grub: he was no aesthete, in fact he was a burly front rower who allegedly racially abused Anthony Mundine during a late 90s NRL match; a real hard man of league. And you, the creative arts ambassador, unafraid to appropriate and experiment with cinematic techniques and plot chronology. Not to mention the fact that you have just wrapped up filming the sweeping epic Australia, which - among other things - provides an account of the impact of the stolen generation?
Baz: Look, i love footy. I could have said i changed my name in tribute to Barry Manilow and you would have been happy. Barry White, Barry Williams (who played Greg on The Brady Bunch), god, even Barry Hall. Barry Ward is a real forgotten hero of rugby league, in much the same way that we often forget our nation's troubled past. He is actually a metaphor for Australia itself.
SportingMind. Fair enough Baz, and may i commend you for that segue back to your movie. Speaking of which; the anticipation surrounding this movie has been nothing short of remarkable. Will it live up to the hype?
Baz: (Pausing to draw heavily from a paper-thin cigarette) Look, SportingMind, i'm not in this caper for the money. If i was, i would have quit a long time ago, possibly after Moulin Rouge. But the Australian story needs to be told. I thought it best to weave in all the themes that i could think of: Race, class, war, peace, Robert Menzies's batting average, well-manicured facial hair, the inability of red headed actresses to survive in the harsh Australian outback, and so on. All these themes are part of our history, and therefore, a part of us.
SportingMind: So what is the deal with this young Aboriginal sensation, Brandon Walters. Will he be the next David Gulpilil, or even Robert Tudawali?
Baz: He is a stunning breath of fresh air. I plucked him from a group of one thousand aspiring Aboriginal youths. He will go very far.
SportingMind: I couldn't help but notice the delicious irony, in that you and Nicole Kidman have vowed to "protect" him from the possible perils of fame - possibly to avert him from going down a similar path to Jedda actor Tudawali. Could this be seen as a form of "stolen generation" revisited - where the white person "knows what's best" for the child?
Baz: (Slightly flustered) Well that's a bit harsh, SportingMind. I understand that you are here to ask the big questions, but dat's just a whole lot of hogwash, that is. Cor, blimey mate, you and i both know that in the fair dinkum department, the kid will come up aces. She'll be right, buddy. (winking)
SportingMind: I take it from that convoluted mixture of attempted Australian/English/U.S. colloquialisms that he will be fine. Anyway, how was it to work with Hugh Jackman? Isn't he just the most down to earth boy next door? I'm sure the ladies were gushing over that dreamboat..
Baz: Whilst i detect a simmering of sarcasm from you, SportingMind, i will bite my thumb at thou - to steal a line from my own work - the 1996 classic Romeo and Juliet. I...
SportingMind: (Interrupting).. Sorry, Baz, but that wasn't really your "work" now, was it? That was written by Bill Shakespeare himself.
Baz: (exerting a stifled chuckle)..Haha, SportingMind. Yes, of course you are correct. I could never claim the work of Shakespeare as my own. Although, it was left to me to put a modern spin on it, therefore reintroducting the works of Shakespeare into the mainstream consciousness. In fact did you know that my movie has been used as an HSC English text?
SportingMind: Ok, although i'm unsure that Shakespeare ever left the public consciousness. Let me move on from that. I hear you are a self-professed cricket tragic? What is it that draws you to the game of cricket? Is it the classic nature of the sport, or perhaps the intellectual aspect of the game?
Baz: It is both, in fact it is everything about the game. Cricket is a form of protracted war, involving two evenly matched sides with similar artillery - with the exception of Pakistan - who usually include a few .38 calibers in their Test team. It is up to the captain to marshall his troops and to use his experience to outwit and outlast the opposition - much like the reality show "Survivor" - yet different in certain aspects. I've actually got a movie script that i'm working on, called "Bear with Me". I guess you would describe it as a bio-pic, but i'll bill it as the definitive account of Cameron White's tour of India.
SportingMind: That sounds interesting. So what will that entail?
Baz: The highs and lows of his career. "That ball" that got Tendulkar out in the first test will be replayed 47 times though-out the movie, in the form of a flashback. The film is really a "fish out of water" story - how one man somehow made his way into the Test team and stayed there, inexplicably, for a whole tour. Cameron White will be played by Leonardo DeCaprio, who has developed quite an impressive Australian accent for the role.
SportingMind: So what does the future hold for Mark Anthony Lurhmann? Other than your aforementioned bio-pic.
Baz: Nothing, ultimately. But for Baz Lurhmann, the future burns brighter than Ben Cousins's urine sample.
SportingMind: Baz Lurhmann, it's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege.
Baz: I love you, SportingMind. God bless you and your family.
-SportingMind
The Interview:
SportingMind: Firstly, Baz, thankyou for joining me today.
Baz Lurhmann: The pleasure is mine, SportingMind.
SportingMind: So firstly, why the name Baz? Wikipedia states that your official name is Mark Anthony Lurhmann.
Baz: Ah yes. Quite simply, the "Baz" name is a reference to former Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league prop Barry Ward. I appreciated his work ethic and tough, uncompromising style of play.
SportingMind: Interesting, Baz. Some would say that is almost the antithesis of how you are perceived by the general public? After all, Barry Ward was a grub: he was no aesthete, in fact he was a burly front rower who allegedly racially abused Anthony Mundine during a late 90s NRL match; a real hard man of league. And you, the creative arts ambassador, unafraid to appropriate and experiment with cinematic techniques and plot chronology. Not to mention the fact that you have just wrapped up filming the sweeping epic Australia, which - among other things - provides an account of the impact of the stolen generation?
Baz: Look, i love footy. I could have said i changed my name in tribute to Barry Manilow and you would have been happy. Barry White, Barry Williams (who played Greg on The Brady Bunch), god, even Barry Hall. Barry Ward is a real forgotten hero of rugby league, in much the same way that we often forget our nation's troubled past. He is actually a metaphor for Australia itself.
SportingMind. Fair enough Baz, and may i commend you for that segue back to your movie. Speaking of which; the anticipation surrounding this movie has been nothing short of remarkable. Will it live up to the hype?
Baz: (Pausing to draw heavily from a paper-thin cigarette) Look, SportingMind, i'm not in this caper for the money. If i was, i would have quit a long time ago, possibly after Moulin Rouge. But the Australian story needs to be told. I thought it best to weave in all the themes that i could think of: Race, class, war, peace, Robert Menzies's batting average, well-manicured facial hair, the inability of red headed actresses to survive in the harsh Australian outback, and so on. All these themes are part of our history, and therefore, a part of us.
SportingMind: So what is the deal with this young Aboriginal sensation, Brandon Walters. Will he be the next David Gulpilil, or even Robert Tudawali?
Baz: He is a stunning breath of fresh air. I plucked him from a group of one thousand aspiring Aboriginal youths. He will go very far.
SportingMind: I couldn't help but notice the delicious irony, in that you and Nicole Kidman have vowed to "protect" him from the possible perils of fame - possibly to avert him from going down a similar path to Jedda actor Tudawali. Could this be seen as a form of "stolen generation" revisited - where the white person "knows what's best" for the child?
Baz: (Slightly flustered) Well that's a bit harsh, SportingMind. I understand that you are here to ask the big questions, but dat's just a whole lot of hogwash, that is. Cor, blimey mate, you and i both know that in the fair dinkum department, the kid will come up aces. She'll be right, buddy. (winking)
SportingMind: I take it from that convoluted mixture of attempted Australian/English/U.S. colloquialisms that he will be fine. Anyway, how was it to work with Hugh Jackman? Isn't he just the most down to earth boy next door? I'm sure the ladies were gushing over that dreamboat..
Baz: Whilst i detect a simmering of sarcasm from you, SportingMind, i will bite my thumb at thou - to steal a line from my own work - the 1996 classic Romeo and Juliet. I...
SportingMind: (Interrupting).. Sorry, Baz, but that wasn't really your "work" now, was it? That was written by Bill Shakespeare himself.
Baz: (exerting a stifled chuckle)..Haha, SportingMind. Yes, of course you are correct. I could never claim the work of Shakespeare as my own. Although, it was left to me to put a modern spin on it, therefore reintroducting the works of Shakespeare into the mainstream consciousness. In fact did you know that my movie has been used as an HSC English text?
SportingMind: Ok, although i'm unsure that Shakespeare ever left the public consciousness. Let me move on from that. I hear you are a self-professed cricket tragic? What is it that draws you to the game of cricket? Is it the classic nature of the sport, or perhaps the intellectual aspect of the game?
Baz: It is both, in fact it is everything about the game. Cricket is a form of protracted war, involving two evenly matched sides with similar artillery - with the exception of Pakistan - who usually include a few .38 calibers in their Test team. It is up to the captain to marshall his troops and to use his experience to outwit and outlast the opposition - much like the reality show "Survivor" - yet different in certain aspects. I've actually got a movie script that i'm working on, called "Bear with Me". I guess you would describe it as a bio-pic, but i'll bill it as the definitive account of Cameron White's tour of India.
SportingMind: That sounds interesting. So what will that entail?
Baz: The highs and lows of his career. "That ball" that got Tendulkar out in the first test will be replayed 47 times though-out the movie, in the form of a flashback. The film is really a "fish out of water" story - how one man somehow made his way into the Test team and stayed there, inexplicably, for a whole tour. Cameron White will be played by Leonardo DeCaprio, who has developed quite an impressive Australian accent for the role.
SportingMind: So what does the future hold for Mark Anthony Lurhmann? Other than your aforementioned bio-pic.
Baz: Nothing, ultimately. But for Baz Lurhmann, the future burns brighter than Ben Cousins's urine sample.
SportingMind: Baz Lurhmann, it's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege.
Baz: I love you, SportingMind. God bless you and your family.
-SportingMind
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Comment by damian
Urban Telegraph
Sports and All
The Squirter McGee Diaries
Comment by damian
Urban Telegraph
Sports and All
The Squirter McGee Diaries
Comment by David Edwards
Sporting Mind
Perhaps we could replace the Ashes Urn with a fight for expat Germaine Greer. Whoever loses the series has to keep her until the next series. She will be held in a glass cabinet at Lords. We would obviously have to murder her first, so as to put her ashes in an urn.
It would be ironic to keep arguably our most famous feminist behind a glass "ceiling" of sorts, from which she could never break through.