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Mark Anthony " Baz" Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor whose various projects extend from film and television into opera, theatre, music, and the recording industries. He is regarded by some as a contemporary example of an auteur for his style and deep involvement in the writing, directing, design, and musical components of all his work. He is the most commercially successful Australian director, with four of his films in the top ten highest worldwide grossing Australian films of all time.
On the screen, he is best known for his Red Curtain Trilogy, consisting of his romantic comedy film Strictly Ballroom (1992) and the romantic tragedies William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001). Following the trilogy, projects included Australia (2008), The Great Gatsby (2013), Elvis (2022), and his television period drama The Get Down (2016) for Netflix. Additional projects include stage productions of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème for both Opera Australia and Broadway theatre, and Strictly Ballroom the Musical (2014).
Luhrmann is known for his Grammy Award-nominated soundtracks for Moulin Rouge! and , as well as his record label House of Iona, a co-venture with RCA Records. Serving as producer on all of his musical soundtracks, he also holds writing credits on many of the individual tracks. His album Something for Everybody features music from many of his films and also includes his hit "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)".
Luhrmann received the nickname "Baz" at school, given to him because of his hairstyle, the name coming from the puppet character Basil Brush. While still in high school, Luhrmann changed his name by deed poll to Bazmark, joining his nickname and birth name together. In 1980, Luhrmann graduated from high school, and in the same year was cast opposite Judy Davis in the Australian film Winter of Our Dreams. In 1982, using the money he had earned from film and television work, he funded his own theatre company, The Bond Theatre Company. The company performed at Bondi Pavilion. At the same time, he conceived and appeared in a controversial television documentary, Kids of the Cross, where Luhrmann, embedded as a character, lived with a group of street kids. In 1983, he enrolled in an acting course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He graduated in 1985 alongside Sonia Todd, Catherine McClements and Justin Monjo.
On 26 January 1997, he married Catherine Martin, a production designer, costume designer, and film producer; the couple has two children. When asked in interviews about his sexuality, Luhrmann has said that he sees all sexual possibilities.
Luhrmann supports the Melbourne Demons in the Australian Football League.
Luhrmann's modern film interpretation Romeo + Juliet (1996), based on the William Shakespeare play and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, defeated Titanic at the BAFTAs for best direction, music and screenplay. The film was celebrated at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was recognised with the Golden Bear award for direction and Silver Bear for DiCaprio's performance. Luhrmann also produced both volumes of the soundtrack album, which went triple-platinum.
Luhrmann's Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), set in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris at the dawn of the 20th century, told the story of an English poet/writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor) who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman). The film was praised by its adherents, including musical directors Robert Wise and Stanley Donen, as having re-invented the modern musical, blending decades of popular music in remixes and mash-ups. The movie was named one of the AFI's top ten films of 2001 and in 2010 was chosen as the top film of the 2000s decade in a poll of 150,000 respondents in the United Kingdom. At the 59th Annual Golden Globes, Moulin Rouge! took home the awards for Best Motion Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Score. The film also gave birth to a successful soundtrack album, produced by Luhrmann, which sold more than seven million copies and went double-platinum, led by the Grammy-winning number one hit single "Lady Marmalade".
Luhrmann's 2008 historical epic Australia featured some of the country's most celebrated actors, including Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and David Gulpilil. Situated between the two World Wars, the film blended a nostalgic romance with major events from Australian history, including the Bombing of Darwin, and the true story of the Stolen Generations, wherein thousands of mixed-race Aboriginal children were stolen from their families by the state and forcibly integrated into white society. The movie's racial politics were controversial for their time, and notably, its production coincided with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's 2008 Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples. Marcia Langton, professor of Australian indigenous studies at Melbourne University publicly supported the film, saying "Luhrmann depicts with satirical sharpness the racial caste system of that time... In his imagined cinema of the 1940s, the spatial and social shape of racism is reconstructed with such exact detail, I felt I had been transported back to my own childhood." While achieving modest box office success in the United States, the film was very successful in Europe, maintaining the #1 slot at the box office for many weeks in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Scandinavian countries. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, next to Crocodile Dundee and ahead of Happy Feet.
In 2013, Luhrmann adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, shot in 3D, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker, and legendary Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim. For the film, Luhrmann and costume/production designer Catherine Martin collaborated with Prada, Brooks Brothers, and Tiffany & Co. to create period-inspired dresses, suits, and jewellery based on their own archives and true to the book's own references to luxury brands. The film grossed over $353 million worldwide, making it the director's highest-grossing movie to date. Critic Richard Roeper described the adaptation as "the best attempt yet to capture the essence of the novel" while Fitzgerald's granddaughter praised the movie, saying "Scott would have been proud." The following year, at the 86th Academy Awards, the film won in both of its nominated categories: Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. The soundtrack, produced by Luhrmann, Anton Monsted, and Jay-Z, sought to blend the music of the Jazz Age with contemporary hip hop as two historical analogues. Featured artists included Beyoncé, Jack White, Lana Del Rey, Sia, will.i.am, The xx, and Florence and the Machine; the soundtrack also included score from the film's composer and Luhrmann's repeat collaborator Craig Armstrong. The album's sales exceeded expectations, marking the biggest digital sales week for a soundtrack in Billboard history, and peaking at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Luhrmann's next project was a film about Elvis Presley's relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, simply called Elvis, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022. Tom Hanks played Parker and Austin Butler portrayed Presley, having been cast after a series of screen tests, as well as music and performance workshops. The film opened in June 2022, becoming a box office hit and receiving eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Butler. In January 2023, Luhrmann signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Pictures after working with the studio on Elvis.
In September 2024, it was reported that Luhrmann's next theatrical release would be an adaption of the life of Joan of Arc, titled Jehanne d’Arc. The project was described as “The ultimate teenage girl coming of age story, set in the Hundred Years’ War.” He is co-writing this adaptation with playwright Ava Pickett.
| 1992 | Strictly Ballroom | Ronin Films | |||
| 1996 | Romeo + Juliet | 20th Century Fox | |||
| 2001 | Moulin Rouge! | ||||
| 2008 | Australia | ||||
| 2013 | The Great Gatsby | Warner Bros. Pictures | |||
| 2022 | Elvis | ||||
| TBA | Jehanne d’Arc |
Television
| 2016–2017 | The Get Down | Directed and co-wrote episode "Where There Is Ruin, There Is Hope for a Treasure" |
| 6 episodes |
| Documentary film |
| Episode: "Cocaine Tuesdays" |
Film
| Uncredited |
| Performed at Nimrod Downstairs, Sydney |
| Performed at NIDA, Sydney |
| Performed at NIDA |
| Dumain Brother |
| Also director, Performed at NIDA in 1984, and in Bratislava in 1986 |
| Performed at NIDA. Directed by Jim Sharman |
| Part of the Hallucinogenics? 3 plays from the 60s event. Performed at NIDA |
| Chamber Music |
| Trilogy: The War, The Murders, The Gods. Performed at NIDA, and St Martin's Youth Arts Centre, Melbourne. |
| Performed at NIDA |
| Directed for the New Moon Theatre Company in Rockhampton. Amateur musical production set in the Queensland goldfields |
| Performed at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney |
In 1997 as a music producer, Luhrmann credited "Everybody's Free", a spoken word song in Europe, Australia and the Americas. Luhrmann directed a 2004 commercial for Chanel N° 5 entitled N° 5 the Film. On Charlie Rose interview, he told Rose that the commercial was based in the 1953 film, Roman Holiday. The next year 2005, Luhrmann was appointed an Ambassador for the Australian Theatre for Young People, and in next three years, he was asked by the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd to make adverts for the promotion of tourism in Australia. In 2009 during the 81st Academy Awards in February, Luhrmann put together a number dedicated to musicals which consisted of Hugh Jackman, Beyoncé, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried. In September of same year, he appeared as a guest judge of the Dancing with the Stars.
He produced Christina Aguilera and Nile Rodgers' 2016 single "Telepathy", along with Elliott Wheeler.
Luhrmann and the painter Vincent Fantauzzo embarked on an art initiative which took them to India, where they created artworks on walls of hotels, in the streets of Rajasthan and on 17th century forts in 2010. He also shot the campaign film The Secret Life of Flowers. Though mostly hands-off with the stage production of Moulin Rouge!, Luhrmann produced its Broadway cast recording in 2019.
Luhrmann led the jury at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In January 2025, Luhrmann collaborated with wife Catherine Martin and Jon Neidich of Golden Age Hospitality on Monsieur, a new bar in New York City's East Village with a gothic medieval aesthetic, inspired by the East Village nightlife in the late 1960s and early 70s.
Luhrmann's influence has extended outside the traditional realm of media and entertainment. Deeply involved in the fashion and art worlds, Luhrmann's No. 5 the Film for Chanel not only holds a Guinness World Record for the highest budget for an advertising commercial ever produced, but pioneered the now commonplace genre of fashion film and branded content. Luhrmann works closely with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Anna Wintour Costume Center, having chaired the annual Met Gala as well as producing a short film for the museum, celebrating Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli. More recently, he and his wife Catherine Martin have adapted their style for projects in events, retail, architecture and design with Barneys New York and developer and hotelier Alan Faena.
In November 2022, Lurhmann featured in Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4; his chosen favourite track, book and luxury item were "Che gelida manina" from Puccini's La bohème (sung by Pavarotti), Tolstoy's War and Peace, and a silk eye mask respectively.
| 1992 | Strictly Ballroom | 8 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 8 | |||
| 1996 | Romeo + Juliet | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 2001 | Moulin Rouge! | 8 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 5 |
| 2008 | Australia | 1 | 8 | 3 | |||||
| 2013 | The Great Gatsby | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 2022 | Elvis | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 12 | |
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