Directed by the spectacular spectacular Baz Luhrmann (
Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!)
Starring Nicole Kidman,
Hugh Jackman and David Wenham
Images in this post mostly from
Australia's fansite
Photos in this post from an Australia fansite and from various image searches
Synopsis I'll just quote this one
direct from IMDB "Luhrmann's film is set in northern Australia prior to World War II and centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man (Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.
Brought to you by Bazmark and 20th Century Fox
Expected Release Date November 14th, 2008
Nathaniel: LUHRMANN. KIDMAN. JACKMAN. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE RANCH EPIC PERIOD PIECE EYE CANDY NATHANIEL LOVES THE EYE CANDY... OH GOD DOES NATHANIEL LOVE THE EYE CANDY...AND BAZ. AND KIDMAN. AND JAC...
I can't talk about
Australia lest I stop breathing... so perhaps I should let y'all do the talking.
go
Nicole Kidman as Lady Sarah Ashley. Hugh Jackman as The Drover.
Gabriel: I can't talk either. I'm hyperventilating into a paper bag.
Glenn: I... I... umm... er... I... Nope, sorry. It's impossible to approach the subject of
Australia and
not go a little crazy, isn't it? This
was my #1 anticipated title of 2008, just FYI. Just the mere thought of how incredibly extraordinarily brilliantly fantasmagorically, orgasmically, stunningly amazing Baz's Australian epic could be makes me speechless. To quote the immortal Elaine Benes - "I'm speechless. I am without speech."
Nathaniel: I'm recovering my senses just long enough to throw out this question to all of you but particular the two (Joe & MaryAnn) who are perhaps "with speech" --maybe they wonder what the fuss is about?-- but how do you think Baz Luhrmann's style might differ now that he is done with his Red Curtain trilogy (
Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) ... I know he has said it was concluded but will he
really give up the "L'Amour" sign we've seen in all his movies, the intense theatricality, the eye popping color... or will he just subdue the urge a little?
Glenn: As the only Australian in this motley crue I must say I don't think there were any L'Amour signs in either the Australian outback or Darwin circa WWII. Although I'd love for Baz to prove me wrong! And while I'm sure he's done with the theatricality of the Red Curtain trilogy, I'm also sure he's still going to make movies that are as beautiful as can possibly be. It's not his nature to make anything less than beautiful.
I must say just quickly that I am looking forward to the supporting players almost as much as the combo of Kidman and Jackman. Actors like
David Wenham, Jack Thompson, David and Jamie Gulpilil, Bryan Brown, Ben Mendelsohn, Bruce Spence, John Jarratt, Bill Hunter, Essie Davis, Barry Otto, Kerry Walker, Ray Barrett, Jacek Koman, David Ngoombujarra... they may not all be "names" to you guys, but that is one of the most absurdly overflowing big name casts I've seen in a long time. If you ask me it even bests the cast of #14 on the countdown
The Women. That's a massive slice of Australian film history right there in the cast!
And now I'm back to being speechless.
Joe: Yeah, don't think I'm a detractor -- this ended up somewhere on my list, I know that -- but I have retained my ability to form words in this film's presence. I like Baz Luhrman a lot, I think it's been far too long since he's graced the film landscape with his particular brand of artistic tackiness, but I really have to wonder about how this whole project is going to work out. Either, as Nathaniel suggests, he sets aside the gaudy tendencies of the Red Curtain films that made them at once divisive but distinctive and risks making a film that feels comparatively dull, or else he tries to bend the historical epic genre into the big Baz style, which I think could be a total mess. Or brain-breakingly amazing. It's tough to tell.
Gabriel: While I'm happy to part with the overblown theatricality of Luhrmann's previous work, I hope we don't lose the entire romantic sweep of his style. When I look at the pictures of
Australia, I immediately see the echoes of
Giant. There's a grandeur to the romantic Western, and I'm hoping Baz makes fair and frequent use of it.
Glenn: Let's just hope it's more like the first half of
Giant and less like the second when they start throwing thick aging make-up on the stars and give them really bad wigs. Yikes.
MaryAnn: Oh, I'm perhaps not totally speechless, but I am panting pretty hard over this one. Baz doesn't just make movies, he makes love to them. And the thought of him making love to Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman (and David Wenham, oh my)... well, I trust him to get it exactly right, whether he goes wild and florid or sweeping and romantic.
I think these are original release posters (?) Might be wrong. Tough to find dates to coincide with poster designs. But note that the book was actually the initial selling point of East of Eden and that Dean was only top billed once (for Rebel). 
Reissues and such. Note how Dean takes over. 
And a few foreign versions for fun. I find it quite interesting that Sal Mineo gets to pull focus on the Italian poster (photo src) but then he does have the gun and what is that they say about movies? All you need is a girl and a gun. Speaking of the girl, Natalie Wood rarely gets much focus in Rebel Without a Cause merchandising which is strange since she's such a classic screen icon herself.
...but they don't always get equal billings on the posters. Sometimes Rock & La Liz are the focus (as they were in the 40th anniversary release) sometimes Liz & James are the focus like you see in the 70s rerelease version of the poster from Japan above. And though it's another discussion entirely you know that if the film were released in our current era James Dean would've been nominated (and won) posthumously for supporting actor instead of lead, since they're so scared of 'same sex but both leads' campaigns these days.
