2008 Fall/Holiday Preview: #5. Australia

Date:

Australia Kidman Jackman

#5. Australia

Director:
Baz Lurhmann
Writers: Ronald Harwood, Stuart Beattie, Richard Flanagan and Lurhmann

Producers: G. Mac Brown (Unfaithful), Catherine Knapman and Luhrmann
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

The Gist: This romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (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.

Fact: Lurhmann, Kidman, Jackman and the film all come from the country mentioned in the movie’s title.

See It: Every now and then, a sweeping studio epic with summer blockbuster production budget (this had a 130 million dollar price tag) is nice to have among the mix.  

Release Date/Status?: Wide release on November 26th.

 
Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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