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Saturday October 12, 2024

Baz Luhrmann reveals he’s inspired by Taylor Swift for revamped ‘Faraway Downs’

Baz Luhrmann explains how he got the idea to revisit his 2008 'Australia' movie for new project

By Web Desk
November 21, 2023
Baz Luhrmann shares Faraway Downs is his Taylor version
Baz Luhrmann shares Faraway Downs is his 'Taylor version'

Baz Luhrmann has recently quipped he wants to rework on his 2008 movie Australia with his new version just like Taylor Swift.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the Elvis director explained why he took Taylor’s name for his new project.

The reason is, the songstress had been “re-recording her past albums for the renewed Taylor’s versions”.

Baz's upcoming movie, Faraway Downs will be turned into Hulu series comprising six chapters.

He stated, “I think Faraway Downs is like a composer doing a variation on a tune he wrote before. But it's a different tune.”

Baz jokingly said, “I wouldn't say, it's not like with Taylor, Taylor's Version. Well, it might be— don't tell Taylor. But I think that I would say it's ‘Baz's Version’.”

Elaborating on his new project, Baz mentioned, “Faraway Downs is the banquet version of the meal that is Australia. So, one is a two-hour-and-40-minute sitting, and the other one is a banquet that you eat in different courses with breaks at your rhythm but is nourishing in a different way, I hope.”

He pointed out, “I was doing Elvis and quite famously, Tom Hanks got COVID and we were shut down, and in that period, it looked like the film could not possibly come back. And so, I thought, 'Well... what will I do?’”

“This idea of taking an old form like a melodrama, like Gone with the Wind, and turning it upside down and telling it from a First Nation's indigenous child's point of view, I realised I could lean into that more,” dished the director.

Baz recalled, “I just rang my friend Peter Rice at Hulu and said, ‘Hey, what if you just fund me and I'll relook at this and I can make an episodic version?’”

Meanwhile, Faraway Downs will premiere on Hulu on November 26.