Baz Luhrmann: All That Baz

Q: You've overseen virtually every element of this movie, from its inception to the advertising. Could someone fairly label you obsessive? A control freak?

A: To me, it's natural to want to control as many things in life as possible. When I'm making something, I do want it to be the way I finally see it after a great journey. I never get there. On Strictly Ballroom, I got 60 percent of what I imagined. I love to argue if I'm passionate about an idea, but it's rare that I say, "I know you all think this but we're doing that." What invariably happens is that a third idea rises up. That's why I love to work with people I consider creatively challenging--difficult, exhausting, but with a point of view.

Q: Does your company have any sort of artistic credo?

A: We have four production rules. Communication. Transportation. Accommodation. And hair. I warned people on this movie, Hair will cost us like you won't believe. And it did. Whether it's your own, the performers' hair, hair in general is one of the things that just grind things to a halt. You have no idea the days we lost over hair. It's funny, but it's true. More broadly, we have policies about the way we do things. They may not be right, but they're the Bazmark way. Some people say that we're about truth, beauty, freedom and love--because, to a certain extent, we are bohemians. We have our rules, our way of living. We protect it because it's our very fragile culture.

Q: Was making this film as difficult for you and your team as one hears?

A: The story of the film and the story of our lives have been incredibly parallel-- "The show must go on." Here's the simple truth: the movie has tested me and everyone in it. While we were shooting, my father died. He was sick, so it wasn't unexpected, but it was so typical of my father, you know? He doesn't do anything without some degree of drama. But that was just part of it. The reality of "the show must go on" is one we've lived daily for four years now.

Q: Having brought out the born-to-sing qualities of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, are you looking to do that with other established people?

A: Robert Downey Jr. is an amazingly beautiful singer who should be in musicals. He'd be brilliant. I would love to have Christopher Walken in a musical--a fantastic dancer. As a kid, I acted in a movie with Judy Davis and lived at her place for a while. She's just done the Judy Garland movie on TV, but she herself is a fabulous singer and musician. Oh, there are so many in which the gift just sits there. I want to give them an environment in which that gift flourishes. Rufus Wainwright sings "Moulin Rouge" in the movie and he's someone I want to work with more. If ever there was a man born to write musical cinema, it's him.

Q: Are you spent, so far as the musical form goes?

A: I am spent. I'm considering redoing La Bohème onstage in New York, which my company has already done in Australia. I'll do more musicals, but for now, I'm about to go on to other cinematic language. The first thing I always do after making a film is to go on a journey around the world on my own to debrief, to think out, What's the point of it all? I just take a credit card, a backpack and go. Last time, I went from Egypt to Paris, to Kuwait and Sri Lanka. Then, I'll come back and bore everyone with a hundred different ideas to see which they react to. As for specifics, there's one project which could be very simple and quick and psychological. I'm also interested in doing an Australian epic in a way you've never seen before. And I'm very interested in reflecting modern societies through great, iconic love stories of the ancient world. Humanity has never changed, just the stories in which you reflect it. Ultimately, I'll always be chasing the same theme--the revelation of human nature.

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Stephen Rebello interviewed Jacqueline Bisset for the May issue of Movieline.

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