'Oz' brings the epic back to film

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman play out their romance against Australia's majestic scenery

By Michael Osborn
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

The ambitious and costly new film Australia is an epic in every sense of the word.

It has two of the world's biggest film stars in its lead roles, uses the vast and stunning backdrop of that country's landscape - and weighs in at an impressive two-and-a-half hours.

Four years in the making, film-maker Baz Luhrmann's "cinematic banquet", starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, combines a sweeping romance, the chaos of war and a social problem which he says still "stains" Australian history.

"The bombing of Darwin was a good action scene, but the stolen generation stopped me in its tracks," says Luhrmann, whose other films include Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom.

Stars including Nicole Kidman talk about Australia at its UK premiere

At the heart of the 1940s-set movie is a mixed race European-Aboriginal child, Nullah.

For decades, the so-called "creamies" were forcibly removed from their families and raised in institutions as part of official government policy.

"It had never been told... and I was in a position to do that," Luhrmann explains.

Jackman - looking more urbane and Hollywood than his rough-hewn character - adds: "There are parts of this movie that play on stereotypes of Australia.

"But the centre of the story is something I never heard about at school - there wasn't one Aboriginal kid there.

'Dying' craft

"This film deepened the whole experience - my son was on set and would do lessons with Aboriginal children."

Luhrmann says this "bitter pill" of an issue is "put inside a great big entertainment" of a film which boldly crosses several cinematic genres.

If there is an incredible thing in this movie, it is that boy Baz Luhrmann on Australia star Brandon Walters (pictured)

The director chose to shoot in the landscape with vast crews, which he regards as a "dying" craft as special effects and sound studios take over.

"For a variety of reasons it will never happen in this manner again," he says.

Fellow Australian Jackman, who was recently announced as the host of next year's Oscars, paid tribute to Luhrmann, despite fainting in the searing heat on location.

"It was an absolute privilege to be in a film set in Australia with Australian everything including the title, it was inconceivable 20 years ago," he says.

Jackman calls the finished product "bold in every way".

Bond moment

"We were called to do in one film what we might do in five… to play on such a big scale an ultra-masculine character who becomes more and more vulnerable was thrilling," adds Jackman.

And for a man who recently picked up the title of "sexiest man alive", Australia hands him a moment akin to Daniel Craig emerging from the sea as James Bond in Casino Royale.

The second part of Australia is effectively a war movie

But according to Luhrmann, the biggest star of the production is 13-year-old Brandon Walters.

He is making his screen debut as Nullah, who is effectively at the centre of the movie and also its narrator.

"If there is an incredible thing in this movie, it is that boy," says the film-maker, who explains that the casting process was a "nightmare" until Walters was spotted.

"That's not acting. He does not blanch in front of the camera, he is so open. No Brandon - no movie," he adds.

Luhrmann, who says he "combined a personal journey and search for home with the sweeping historical epic", has paid a hefty price for Australia.

It is the most expensive film made in the country's cinema history, at an estimated $130 million (£85 million).

The film made $14.8 million (£9.9 million) during its opening weekend in the US but is in many countries, including the UK, set for the lucrative Christmas release slot.

Box office returns and critical reception aside, Luhrmann has already decided his next move.

"Don't be surprised if it's something fun and quick before I get on to do the next major work," he says.

Australia is released in a number of countries around Christmas. It comes out in the UK on 26 December.