On this page: THE FARAWAY OF THE FARAWAY: AN EPIC TALE OF TRANSFORMATION

AUSTRALIA, from visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat (Kidman) travels to the faraway continent, where she meets a rough-hewn local (Jackman) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited. Together, they embark upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of the world's most beautiful yet unforgiving terrain, only to still face the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces that attacked Pearl Harbor. With his new film, Luhrmann is painting on a vast canvas, creating a cinematic experience that brings together romance, drama, adventure and spectacle. It's an adventure as epic as the land in which its story unfolds.
Directed by Luhrmann ("William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," "Strictly Ballroom") from his own original story and a script co-written with Stuart Beattie (the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy), Oscar®-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") and acclaimed Australian novelist Richard Flanagan, AUSTRALIA is produced by Luhrmann together with G. Mac Brown ("The Departed," "Unfaithful") and Catherine Knapman ("Moulin Rouge!"). Two-time Academy Award-winning production and costume designer Catherine Martin ("Moulin Rouge!," "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet") returns as Luhrmann's creative partner.

The Faraway of the Faraway
An epic tale of transformation, love and adventure, AUSTRALIA unfolds on the continent that director Baz Luhrmann sees as the world's last great frontier. "To the rest of the world, Australia is the faraway of the faraway," he says. "There's a great line in the beginning of 'Out of Africa,' when Karen Blixen finds out that her husband is having an affair and she says, 'I've got to get away, I'll go anywhere. Africa, Australia…well, maybe not Australia.'"
Luhrmann grew up in a small lumber town in northern New South Wales, where his family ran a farm, the local gas station and, for a short time, the movie theater. "The movie musical was a great childhood love of mine, but I was also a big fan of the historical epic," he says. "Epics were the kind of movies that you would hear about for weeks before the films actually arrived, and every single person in town would go to see them. You can imagine the impression made on a small boy in rural Australia by films like 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben Hur' - big, romantic adventures set in distant, exotic locales where the landscape amplified the inner emotional journeys of the characters."
Particularly appealing to Luhrmann was the idea of creating an epic film set in his homeland that, like the classics that so influenced him in childhood, would have broad appeal across all generations of people around the world. "When watching these kinds of films, from 'Gone with the Wind' and 'Ben-Hur' to 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Titanic,' the audience was communing in one big motion picture experience," he observes. "I wanted to create a cinematic work that would be similarly inclusive because I feel passionately about having more inclusiveness in our lives. Bringing people together brings comfort to the heart and soul in this unpredictable world."
In the tradition of films like "Casablanca," "Titanic" and "Oklahoma," Luhrmann's AUSTRALIA is a metaphor for the feelings of mystery, romance and excitement conjured by a distant, exotic place where people can transform their lives, spirits can be reborn, and love conquers all.
"This is the film I've wanted to make since I was a little girl," says Nicole Kidman. "I grew up watching Australian actresses like Judy Davis in 'My Brilliant Career' and Angela Punch McGregor in 'We of the Never Never' playing wonderful characters in stories set in our country, and I dreamed of making a film here that had the passion and weight of those movies."
"It's the opportunity of a lifetime," Hugh Jackman says. "I hadn't done an Australian movie in eight years, so to come back and make a film of this magnitude, scale and ambition - using my own accent! - was a dream come true. Dream role, dream movie, dream cast, dream director."
Jackman, who has known Kidman for many years (he is married to a good friend of hers), was impressed from the outset by the actress' passion for the project and her trust in Luhrmann. "Nicole was at my house for a Super Bowl party," he remembers. "Baz had just called me about the project, and I asked Nicole if she had read this script. She said no. I said, 'Oh, Baz said you were doing it.' She said, 'I am.' I said, 'But you haven't even read the script!' She said 'You don't need to read the script, just do it. It's going to be amazing. You'll never have a better job in your life.'"
"If Baz asked me to say one line in something, I would say yes," Kidman attests. "I believe in him. I believe in his talent. I believe in his commitment to putting beauty in the world and to his pursuit of excellence. It's a privilege to work with someone you feel completely safe with, someone who is bold and innovative and uncompromising. I won't lie and say it's easy, because it's not. It's really hard. But when you make a big story there's going to be hardship attached to it. We understood that from the beginning, and I'm just glad to be along for the ride."
The story of AUSTRALIA is set in motion by Kidman's Lady Sarah Ashley, a headstrong British socialite lost in a loveless marriage and a staid, superficial life. "At the age of 40, Sarah has poured herself into objects of perfection and control," Luhrmann says. "The only thing that she truly loves are her horses."
Convinced that her husband is cheating on her during his trip to Australia to sell Faraway Downs, their struggling cattle ranch, Sarah travels from London to the rugged wilderness of the Northern Territory to confront him. The truth proves to be as harsh as her new environs, and it propels Sarah on a journey of profound self-discovery.
"When she first arrives in Australia, Sarah is as uptight as Katherine Hepburn's character in 'The African Queen,'" says Luhrmann. "She is closed off to life and to love. But at Faraway Downs and beyond, she is forced to engage with the landscape and with the people, and she experiences a rebirth of spirit. She is completely transformed by the journey."
Faraway Downs is an immense property the size of Maryland, situated in the unforgiving Outback and populated by an eclectic mix of cattlemen, servants and indigenous tribesmen. "It's the antithesis to anything Sarah has ever experienced," Kidman says. "But during the course of the story, she sheds a lot of the barriers that she's built up to protect herself. She becomes the woman she truly wants to be, and she finds love - for a child, for a man and for the land."
Sarah surprises herself and others around her when as she rises to the challenges of her new life and responsibilities, but nothing and no one challenges her more than the Drover. As rugged as Sarah is refined, the Drover is the best of a breed of man who drive herds of cattle across hundreds of miles of brutal, unforgiving terrain. As Jackman explains, "A good drover will get your cattle to market in better condition than when they left. When you consider the size of the herds and the vast landscape they travel through, that is no small feat."
The Drover is a superb horseman who prefers to live under the sun and stars, a nomad and a solitary man. "He's more comfortable out there with his horse and the cattle than he is with people," says Jackman. "He's his own man. He doesn't want to be beholden to anybody, which is why someone like Lady Ashley presents quite a few problems for him."
Sparks fly - in all the wrong directions - from the moment these two extremely contrary characters cross paths. Sarah is haughty and dismissive of the Drover, and he is equally irritated by Sarah and all that she represents. "The Drover hates the wealthy, land-owning Establishment, and Sarah is the poster girl for the aristocracy," Jackman says. "He takes delight in shocking and teasing her, because everything about her annoys him. She's arrogant, pretentious, frustrating and impossible."
Despite their differences, Sarah and the Drover need each other - and the money they'll earn if they can pull off a near-impossible drove of 1,500 cattle across the Kuraman Desert to market in Darwin. As the combative pair ready their misfit team of ranch hands and homesteaders to embark on the daunting expedition, tragedy strikes. A young Aboriginal boy called Nullah is left orphaned, and Sarah is thrust into a role that she had long ago given up hope of ever experiencing. "Caring for the boy awakens something in Sarah, and she finds unexpected strength and confidence as a mother," Kidman says.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Nullah is a "half-caste," or a half-Aboriginal, half-Caucasian child. In the segregated society of Australia in the 1930s and 40s, interracial marriage was illegal, and the children of illicit bi-racial relationships were forbidden from living among whites or with their Indigenous families. In a misguided attempt to lift these children out of poverty and offer them the possibility of a more rewarding future by distancing them from their Indigenous communities, the Australian government launched a nationwide program in which the children were taken from their families and placed in church missions or state institutions. Part-Aboriginal children in particular were deemed as "salvageable" and removed from their traditional culture in an attempt to re-educate them. These children have come to be known as the "Stolen Generations" and, while statistics are murky, it is believed that between one-tenth and one-third of all Indigenous boys and girls were taken from their parents and relocated.
"This is the world into which Nullah is born," Luhrmann notes. "He is both black and white in a world that cannot tolerate having such individuals integrated into their society. Ultimately, Sarah defies the social order and gives him a home. In turn, Nullah is the catalyst that opens Sarah's heart and brings her and the Drover together."
Sarah's newfound warmth and openness transcend the barriers she has put up between herself and the world around her, allowing the Drover to see another side of this complex woman. "In crisis, she's truly amazing," Jackman says. "The Drover comes to really respect and admire her."
Like Nullah, the Drover is an outcast - ostracized by white society for living among Indigenous people and marrying an Aboriginal woman. According to Jackman, "He lives somewhere between the two cultures, but he is not really a part of either."
The Drover has spent years trying to bury his anger over the loss of his wife, who died from tuberculosis because Aboriginal people were not allowed in hospitals. "He's built a wall around his heart with his anger," says Jackman, "but those walls start to break apart as he comes to know Sarah better and becomes a kind of father figure to Nullah."
Under the awesome power of the landscape, transformed by the love of a child, Sarah and the Drover fall in love. "When everything else falls away, they find each other," as Jackman puts it.
"THere is something really beautiful about how Sarah and the Drover change together," Kidman says. "This amazing boy brings them together and causes them to really look at why they are here in the world. I think that's the magic of children. They look right into your soul and teach you about yourself. That's what Nullah does for Sarah and the Drover on a deeply emotional and spiritual level."
Nullah is portrayed by 13 year-old newcomer Brandon Walters, who was discovered at a public pool in his hometown of Broome during an intensive nationwide casting search for an Indigenous boy to play the pivotal role. Casting director Nikki Barrett spent months traveling to remote parts of the continent and auditioning nearly 1,000 young Aboriginal boys, most of whom, like Walters, had no acting experience or training.
Luhrmann narrowed the field of potential Nullahs from hundreds to ten finalists, prompting Walters to leave Western Australia for the first time in his life and travel to Sydney, where the director conducted workshop sessions with the prospective young actors. "I was immediately struck by Brandon's natural talent and charisma," Luhrmann recalls. "He and Nullah share a similar spirit."
"Everyone in my family was so happy when I got the part," says Walters, a cancer survivor who battled leukemia when he was just six years old. "I told my Mum when I grow up, I want to be an actor. Then I got this role, and I hope to act in more movies."
Walters' preparation for the film included training in horseback riding and cattle driving techniques (he especially enjoyed learning to crack a whip), singing lessons and dialect coaching. "The demands of filming over six months are incredibly challenging, especially for a young boy with no acting experience," says Luhrmann of Walters, who was only eleven during production. "Brandon impressed everyone on the cast and crew with his stamina and enthusiasm."
"I fell head over heels in love with Brandon," Kidman says. "He's very special. He taught me a lot about his culture, and it was magical to see the world through his eyes. He still has so much wonderment."
Sarah's new family is torn apart when government authorities capture Nullah and spirit him away to Mission Island to live with other banished half-caste children. Her decision to wage a one-woman culture war to bring Nullah home - as an even greater threat from Japan looms on the horizon - is the culmination of Sarah's transformation.
"In this world, it's the people you're connected to, the people you love and are loved by, who help determine who you are and what you become," Kidman muses. "When you realize that, I think you find peace, and that's what happens with Sarah. Even though she's feels like she's fighting against the world, she is at her most authentic and true because she realizes that she has something to fight for."
Kidman kept a diary during filming, infusing her performance with her own personal experience of getting to know Australia on a deeper level. "I now have really seen the magic of what we have here," she says. "And I do mean magic. The intoxication of it is powerful. There's something in the air, the earth and the nature of the people that just captures you, and before you know it you're a part of the land."
Kidman and her costars also relished the opportunity to work with an ensemble cast comprised of many of the country's great acting legends, including Australian film icons Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson; David Gulpilil, the country's most renowned Aboriginal dancer and musician; and veteran film and television stars David Wenham and Ben Mendelsohn. "It was a great honor to turn up on set every day of a film called 'Australia' and work with some of the greatest actors that this country has ever produced," Jackman says. "It's a real testament, not only to what this film means to our country, but also to what Baz means to all these actors. People jumped at the chance to be a part of it."
David Wenham, known internationally for his roles in "300" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, plays Faraway Downs' scheming station manager Neil Fletcher. A ruthless saboteur, Fletcher is secretly plotting with cattle baron King Carney to take over Sarah's property.
Faraway Downs is the only major cattle farm in the country that King Carney doesn't own, and he's determined to ruin Sarah, if that's what it takes to expand his empire. "King Carney is a businessman driven by huge ambition," says Bryan Brown, star of such hit films as "Breaker Morant," "Gorillas in the Mist" and "FX," as well as the seminal 1980s miniseries "The Thorn Birds." "He can be very generous and benevolent when he's winning, but when he's losing, don't get in his way because he will walk all over you. It was good fun to play a character as colorful as Carney. He's part bully, part charmer. He chops and changes as the mood befits him."
A testament to Brown's renown is Luhrmann's enthusiasm over his participation in the project. "I was in a movie with Bryan Brown when I was a young boy. Bryan Brown! And now he's in a movie I'm making," the filmmaker marvels.
He was equally thrilled to cast Jack Thompson as Kipling Flynn, Faraway Downs' alcoholic but benevolent accountant. "Jack Thompson is the Orson Welles of Australia," Luhrmann believes. "He is the grand statesman of Australian actors."
Thompson actually worked on a cattle station when he was fourteen. "In those days in the bush, nobody knew you, your name or what your real story was. It was considered rude to ask," he recalls. "Kipling Flynn is representative of the kind of characters you would find in the Outback at that time, people who were unable to function in normal society. Flynn is running from the shame that he has brought on his family, and Faraway Downs is about as far away as you can get. He's made his little office under Sarah's house into his hideaway."
The stellar ensemble also features David Gulpilil as King George, a mysterious Aboriginal shaman who teaches Nullah the ways of Indigenous magic; David Ngoombujarra as Magarri and Angus Pilakui as Goolaj, the Drover's trusted stockmen; Lillian Crombie as Faraway Downs' spirited housemaid Bandy Legs; Yuen Wah as the laconic cook Sing Song; and Ben Mendelsohn as Army Captain Emmett Dutton.
"These are all people that I'm really glad to be able to say that we've made a film together, to have shared this gorgeous experience," Kidman says. "I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this project, especially at this stage of my life, when I'm now married to an Australian-New Zealander. It's a wonderful way to give back to my country, which has given me so much in support of a career that has me working internationally."
For Luhrmann, Lady Sarah Ashley and the characters that populate AUSTRALIA exemplify his personal and professional motto: "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." "The job I do is about getting up every day and facing fear," he says. "Every day on set I would look at the monitor and see Nicole Kidman in clothes that should never be worn in a desert, clumping through 100 degree heat being glamorous and funny. Or Hugh Jackman galloping into frame on a horse, nearly keeling over from dehydration. Sometimes I asked myself if we set the bar too high.
"But I am addicted to the pursuit of extraordinary living, and that means you have to set the bar high, and setting the bar high means you're going to be confronting fear all the time. In the end, all you own is your story. So making it a good story, wanting to live a full life, a full adventure, to not live in fear and turn away from the possibilities that life presents, that is something I genuinely believe in and tried to bring to this film."

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