Baz Luhrmann looks back on ‘relentless obstacles’ he faced filming ‘Australia’

Director Baz Luhrmann is not afraid of a challenge but his patience was really tested while he was filming his 2008 movie, Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

The movie faced several delays including set-trained horses contracted a rare equine flu and the location receiving its first major rainfall in 150 years.

15 years later, Luhrmann revisited the material to reimagine the movie into a six-part limited series called Faraway Downs, which premiered on Sunday, November 26 on Hulu.

“I don’t know why I’m addicted to making things that seem impossible to make,” Luhrmann told Variety in an interview.

“But of all my films, I have never faced the level of relentless obstacles I did on this one. I often tell people that if you are having trouble with vegetation and need things to grow, just have me come make a movie there. You’re guaranteed rain.”

Australia stars Nicole Kidman as a posh British expat named Lady Sarah Ashley who teams up with Hugh Jackman’s grizzled cattle drover to save her late husband’s struggling cattle farm, Faraway Downs.

When she meets a precocious aboriginal child named Nullah (Brandon Walters), Lady Ashley begins to embrace the wild lifestyle of the outback just as it becomes a target during World War II.

While the film was not a commercial success in the USA, Luhrmann has garnered acclaim for his successful directorial efforts, The Great Gatsby and Elvis.