Judd Apatow Bringing New Short Film to Oscars
Academy Award producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark have revealed that comedy writer-director-producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) will appear on stage during the Oscar telecast on Feb. 22, and will bring a short film that will serve as a tribute to comedy.
“We’re thrilled to say that our contemporary comedy master Judd Apatow is contributing both a film and live material to that part of the show,” Condon said Wednesday.
“Judd was truly a prince to hop on and truly whip up special shooting for it,” Mark added. “It’s a big deal.”
According to the AP, director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Australia) has also created a production number featuring Oscar host Hugh Jackman, and Capote director Bennett Miller will also be contributing a short film sequence. There is even a hint that other big filmmakers will also be participating in the show, although the producers refuse to divulge any further details.
Nicole Kidman To Quit Acting
Nicole Kidman has revealed that her role in Baz Luhrmann’s new epic movie “Australia” may be her last, for she is not interested in making films any more.
She told the Telegraph:
“I have to say I’m not that interested in making films any more,” she said. “I know I’m not meant to say that, but that’s where it is for me now. I’m 41 years old and very happy being in Tennessee with my baby and with my husband.
I obviously have creative blood in me and it needs to come out in some way but I just don’t have that burning desire any more.”
She added:
“I’m not saying I’m never going to work again, but I’m at peace with whatever happens, which is a nice place to be at this stage of my life.”
The actress had previously hinted that she might quit acting, however, she admitted that she could never completely rule out a return to Hollywood.
It was her role in “Dead Calm” that proved to be her breakthrough role but it was her roles in “Moulin Rouge” and “The Hours” that brought her critical and commerical success, she recievved a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Virginia Wolf in The Hours. Continue Reading…
“Australia” Premieres in New York
Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman hit the red carpet in New York for the premiere of their epic movie “Australia” on Monday, November 24.
Kidman, 41, looked glamourous in a sequinned gold and black dress when she arrived with her husband, country singer Keith Urban, also 41. But she was booed by waiting crowds when she shunned interviews and instead rushed inside the Ziegfeld Theatre.
Joining Jackman and Kidman on the red carpet were director Baz Luhrmann and co-producer Catherine Martin. Aside from them, other celebrity guests, like Kelsey Grammer, Olivia Newton-John, Lauren Bacall, Alicia Witt, Deborra-Lee Furness, Helena Christensen, and many others, have also been spotted attending the special event.
Australia follows the story of Lady Sarah Ashley, played by Nicole Kidman, who inherits a remote cattle station called Faraway Downs in the mid-1930s, before World War II.
When cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn drover, played by Jackman, to drive thousands of cattle across the country, only to face the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces. Continue Reading…
“Australia” Reviews
Some early reviews have criticised the length of the “Australia.” At the media conference, Baz Luhrmann said he didn’t expect everyone to like it but was hoping it would become a classic.
“It is between the film and the audience,” he said of the reviews at the press conference, describing the film as an epic in the style of ‘Out of Africa’ or ‘Gone with the Wind.’ I wanted to make a film that everyone could go and see.”
Nicole Kidman said the film’s release should be reason for the whole country to celebrate: “This is a celebration for me and hopefully for this country, she said, It’s not meant to be the second coming, but it is meant to be let’s have fun and enjoy it.”
“Australia” First Review
Australian site Watoday has the first review of highly awaited Baz Luhrmann’s epic adventure “Australia” which stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
“…The anxiously anticipated Australia is not a bad film. But it’s far from a great one, and certainly not one destined to be a classic.
That’s not to say it won’t be popular, possibly wildly so. The film has broad appeal, particularly to the chick-flick market, with its sweeping, overlong melodramatic saga about cattle drives, the stolen generations, the bombing of Darwin and Hugh Jackman’s abs. The story involves a prissy English woman (Nicole Kidman) who, with the help of a stockman known enigmatically as “The Drover” (Jackman), tries saving her troubled cattle station from a greedy cattleman (Bryan Brown) and his evil relative (David Wenham).
Blended into the tale is the touching story of a little boy of mixed blood, who serves as a symbol for the stolen generations and racism.
The film is fine, and never boring but, boy, is it overlong. At a mammoth 165 minutes it feels too much like a work-in-progress. There is a lot of narrative flab and longueurs in the first two hours and the film often has the pace of a steamroller with engine trouble.
Luhrmann also seems so eager to trowel on the Aussie cliches – obviously to appeal to the tourist markets! – that Australia is often simply irritating. The word “crikey” is spouted so often the film often sounds like a tribute to Steve Irwin.
As for the visuals, the film is pretty – you cannot point a camera at the outback and not get something impressive – but there are only so many wide shots of the Aussie outback that the human mind can stand…”
Read full story at watoday.com.au
“Australia” is scheduled to hit US theaters on November 26, 2008.
“Australia” International Trailer No3 And Poster
The third internationa trailer for “Australia” directed by Baz Luhrmann stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, along with a supporting cast Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Wenham, Barry Otto, Bill Hunter and John Jarrett has been released.
”Baz 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.”
“Australia” New International Trailer
A new international trailer for the upcoming “Australia” directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, has appeared online.
http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/worstpreviews.com/conversion/45.flv“Australia” is scheduled to hit theaters on November 26, 2008.
“Australia” Poster
Check out the poster for Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia“, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman along with a supporting cast Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Wenham, Barry Otto, Bill Hunter and John Jarrett.
“Australia” hits the theaters on November 26, 2008.
First “Australia” Reader Review
First reader review for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘action-adventure epic, “Australia“:
Well that was interesting; I just had a rather unusual and incredibly cool screening experience here in lovely Aliso Viejo getting to see a pre-release cut of Australia by Baz Luhrmann. Unusual in that the guy handing out the invite had no idea what the film was. And cool in that I will go see this AGAIN when it’s playing for real.
This isn’t the movie you might expect from Baz Luhrmann. It isnt Moulin Rouge and certainly isn’t Romeo and Juliet, instead it’s (at least to me) an epic, dramatic story of love set against a visually stunning backdrop with a surprisingly strong performance from Kidman and a refreshing change of pace performance from Jackman. That’s quite a mouthful and fitting because this movie is quite a mouthful, actually a stomach full that I’m sure will take me a couple days to fully digest…and it’s GREAT!!
Read more HERE
“Australia” TV Spot
Take a look at TV Spot for Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia“, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman along with a supporting cast Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Wenham, Barry Otto, Bill Hunter and John Jarrett.
http://content4.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ft/share1/6ba1/0/Msn_Manual_Australia_Defy_TVSpotRev.flv“Australia” hits the theaters on November 26, 2008.
