1. Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann was born on 17 September 1962 and is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor.
24 Facts About Baz Luhrmann
1. 2.
Baz Luhrmann is the most commercially successful Australian director, with four of his films in the top ten highest worldwide grossing Australian films of all time.
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Baz Luhrmann's mother, Barbara Carmel, was a ballroom dance teacher and dress shop owner, and his father, Leonard Luhrmann, ran a petrol station and a movie theatre.
4.
Baz Luhrmann was raised in Herons Creek, a tiny rural settlement in mid-northern New South Wales.
5.
In 1980, Baz Luhrmann graduated from high school, and in the same year was cast opposite Judy Davis in the Australian film Winter of Our Dreams.
6.
Baz Luhrmann performed at the pavilion at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
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Baz Luhrmann graduated in 1985 alongside Sonia Todd, Catherine McClements and Justin Monjo.
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Baz Luhrmann made his directorial debut with the 1992 film version of Strictly Ballroom.
9.
Baz Luhrmann produced both volumes of the soundtrack album, which went triple-platinum.
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The film gave birth to a successful soundtrack album, produced by Baz Luhrmann, which sold more than seven million copies and went double-platinum, led by the Grammy-winning number one hit single "Lady Marmalade".
11.
In 2013, Luhrmann adapted F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, shot in 3D, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker, and legendary Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim.
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Baz Luhrmann's next project was a film about Elvis Presley's relationship with Colonel Tom Parker, simply called Elvis, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022.
13.
In January 2023, Baz Luhrmann signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros.
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In 2016, Baz Luhrmann collaborated with award-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis on the Netflix series The Get Down about the birth of hip hop in the 1970s.
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Baz Luhrmann, who started appearing on TV screen in 1981, appeared in Winter of Our Dreams, directed by John Duigan.
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The next year, Baz Luhrmann staged his interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten.
17.
In 1997 as a music producer, Baz Luhrmann credited "Everybody's Free", a spoken word song in Europe, Australia and the Americas.
18.
The next year 2005, Baz Luhrmann was appointed an Ambassador for the Australian Theatre for Young People, and in next three years, he was asked by the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd to make adverts for the promotion of tourism in Australia.
19.
In 2009 during the 81st Academy Awards in February, Baz Luhrmann put together a number dedicated to musicals which consisted of Hugh Jackman, Beyonce, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried.
20.
Baz Luhrmann shot the campaign film The Secret Life of Flowers.
21.
Baz Luhrmann led the jury at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
22.
Baz Luhrmann has cited Italian grand opera as a major influence on his work and has given a nod to other theatrical styles, such as Bollywood films, as having influenced his style.
23.
Baz Luhrmann was a ballroom dancer as a child and his mother taught ballroom dancing which was an inspiration for Strictly Ballroom.
24.
Baz Luhrmann's influence has extended outside the traditional realm of media and entertainment.