Following the Australia Day celebrations, local magazine Zoo Weekly has named Baz Luhrmann "UnAustralian of the Year" for his film Australia. The magazine have called the film an "embarrassment". Baz came top of their list following worldwide criticism of the film.
"Australia was supposed to be something to make all Aussies proud and sell the Lucky Country to the world," said Zoo editor Paul Merrill.
"Instead it was an embarrassment. Turning our proud history into a dismal love story full of cliches is not something we will forgive easily."
Top spot should have been a tie between Baz and Nicole!
6 comments:
I thought the film was reasonable. Baz did the best he could with the pressure he was under. I don't think he deserves this title. But what would I know? Maybe thaey should call him Australia's New Queen instead.
Anonymous said...
"I thought the film was reasonable. Baz did the best he could with the pressure he was under."
Yeah, this is the excuse used alot by fans of the bazz...he "did the best he could with the pressure he was under", and considering it all, "the film was reasonable". But as I've been trying to highlight about exactly this point is...DO NOT forget...fail to acknowledge or try to simply ignore... all the "pressure" brought onto this film was not from the industry pundits and critics, but by an aussie Fox executive who claimed this film would topple Titanic as the highest OZ moneymaker...or the bazz himself proclaiming this film would be an "epic" Aussie "Gone with the Wind" or even just trying to evoke true "classic" Wizard of Oz. And recall... and try not to forget, according to the official Australia movie website, filming of this film was announced to be concluded in Dec. of 2007...
http://www.australiamovie.net/2007/12/thats-a-wrap-people/
...and do not allow yourself to be duped into the "cover story" that "reshoots" were already scheduled for august of 08 because of kidman's pregnancy...
http://www.australiamovie.net/2008/07/australia-re-shoots-in-august/
...this should have been an obvious sign that this film was in serious trouble and it's ultimate fate was more than clearly visible to anyone seriously and soberly looking at the whole situation... and that was that the film was a mess. It's pretty obvious that the bazz has absolutely no idea what a coherant...cohesive or simply passable film is. The baz had 11 months to create a "classic" and he failed... end of story.
Hi Maclen.
People are also still getting confused over a film making its money back. They see an amount and don't take into account all the other costs (that we've discussed before).
Marketing it as GONE WITH THE KIND was to try and sell the turkey the knew they had. They had to do something. You're right, the reshoots were a dead give-away that problems were there.
I can imagine that the people who saw it(including myself) but didn't like it would be about 75%.
Well, choice, just as they did with compass... the kidman fansies are now simply concentrating on Australia's internationl gross...since the film is finished in the US. But just as is the case with compass...no matter how they tout the WW sales, Australia will not be viewed, as is the case with compass, as a hit.
I thought it was pretty good too.
You can never please aussies.
It was just a movie, not a representation of the whole bloody country. People need to chill out and not take it so seriously.
Bit harsh really.
J
www.jonnyboredom.com
I didn't hate the movie. It was not a great movie ... it was a mediocre movie. There were parts I actually cringed at ... other parts that were inspiring, partiularly the beautiful cinematography.
Unfortunately, it was hyped to be an epic of epic proportions. The buzz generated about this movie set expectations high. This project was too much for Baz, IMO. His niche is the little art films that may take off, like Moulin Rouge did. He is not capable of a project of this magnitude. It's too big for his picky neurotic movie making style.
I agree about the re-shoots...NK was 4 wk post partum and flew with a newborn to the other side of the world to make them. At that, I knew the movie was in trouble. Baz was fiddling with it til the last minute. Reviews of the movie prior to release were not strong. All these things did not bode well for Australia.
I'm not sure he deserves the UnAustralian award, but he should have known better. He miscast the main female lead and he made a mess of the editing etc, so that the final project was a bit of a mess. Not a complete shambles by any stretch of the imagination, but messy and non-cohesive.
But I don't think it was an unpatriotic act. I think it was a self indulgent error in judgement for Baz. He wanted to create something for his country, that would promote him as a creative genius. Well, he isn't a creative genius. He was over confident and it back fired.
Post a Comment