Baz Luhrmann talks about filming Alexnader in Australia (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...801396126.html

Luhrmann, who took Moulin Rouge to a best picture Oscar nomination last year, said the scale of the film was daunting.

"The reason that Alexander the Great really has not been done successfully before is the sheer scale of it - it's the world's biggest road movie.

"He goes from Greece to Turkey to Egypt to Jordan to the Hindu Kush to India, then all the way back again.

"And all the way, you're dealing with drama and spectacle. At one stage there were half a million people in one battle."

sounds like a great movie to be



let's not forget there is also Oliver Stone and his version

 

[Steve_Tk]

I heard somewhere that Colin Farrel was going to be Alexander.

Please tell me this isn't going to be some colorfull musical.

 

[Randall Dorr]

Farrell will be in the Stone version coming in 2004.

Luhrmann's film will be out in 2005.

Please tell me this isn't going to be some colorfull musical.

I don't mean to sound snippy, but Moulin Rouge is one film and does not equal the sum total of the director's talents and/or ambitions. Not everything Luhrmann does will be exactly like that.

 

[Ricardo C]

Not everything Luhrmann does will be exactly like that.

What about Strictly Ballroom and Romeo+Juliet? It's not as though Moulin Rouge is some sort of oddity in the Luhrmann canon.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Ricardo, that's the Red Curtain Trology, which is now complete.

 

[Max Leung]

So are we gonna have rock music in this version? Will everyone have guns and drive hummers? I can see it now...Alexander calling an orbital strike from an orbiting nuclear weapons platform.

 

[Ricardo C]

Dan, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "The Red Curtain Trilogy" a moniker that was stuck on the films AFTER the fact, in an attempt to tie them together because of their stylistic similarities? I'm not a big Luhrmann fan (only truly like MR, the rest I can do without), so I may be wrong about this, but I thought he didn't intend the films to form a trilogy at first. In which case, there's certainly every reason to think Alexander will feature at least some of Luhrmann's trademark touches.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I'm glad the Oliver version will be out first. Because I just have this feeling that Luhrmann will do something to try and be "different", like R+J, and I'll hate it.

I enjoyed the stylistic qualities of MR, but I'll never like the movie.

 

[oscar_merkx]

here is more about Stone's version

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm with a link to Variety
reports that shooting begins tomorrow on Oliver Stone's ancient epic, starting with a re-enactment of the Battle of Guagamela in 331 BC which marked Alexander's troops ending the rule of Persia. The fate of Intermedia now rests on this film, the production company spending between $150-200 million on the project making it the largest independent European production ever attempted. Shooting will continue in Morocco through til early November, then will move to London's Pinewood Studios for two months, followed by a short stint in Thailand in January where it will wrap. Of the competing Luhrmann project, which won't turn a first draft in for a few weeks yet, Intermedia man Moritz Borman says "I'm long past caring about them. If Leo wants to play Alexander the Second Great, that's fine, and if somebody figures it is wise to spend $170 million or so to do another picture on Alexander before seeing ours, they should. I've seen stupider decisions". In regards to the bisexual aspect Stone says "We won't overplay his sexuality or underplay it. But it is an important part of Alexander, a part of his life" whilst Borman hints at nothing controversial - "It is a minor aspect. I told Warner Bros., 'There's nothing you wouldn't see on 'Will & Grace'". The two are also happy that "Troy" next Summer will serve as a precursor of sorts to their film when it opens on Thanksgiving