Baz Luhrmann

Synopsis

Born on September 17, 1962, in Sydney, Australia, Baz Luhrmann directed theatrical productions before going on to create the internationally heralded film Strictly Ballroom. He has since directed the Shakespeare update Romeo + Juliet, the Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge and the epic Australia. He co-founded Bazmark Films with his wife, Catherine Martin, in 1997.

Early Career.• Mark Anthony Luhrmann was born on September 17, 1962, in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and

received his nickname “Baz” from his father, Leonard. The elder Luhrmann operated a gas station and later a movie theater in the country town of Herons Creek, where Baz grew up. As a result of his father’s work, the young Luhrmann viewed grown-up cinema at an early age.

• After his parents’ divorce, Luhrmann moved back to Sydney with his mother and siblings. He attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art and was featured in the film Winter of Our Dreams (1982), yet ultimately decided that he preferred a career behind the camera.

• Luhrmann went on to direct live theatrical work and helmed different versions of the production Strictly Ballroom, which took audiences into the world of competitive ballroom dancing. He created the Six Years Old Company, a theatrical group, and also directed major operatic works, including La Bohème and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Romeo + Juliet

• Luhrmann directed and co-wrote the screenplay for a film version of Strictly Ballroom, which had its international premiere in 1992 and received much fanfare at the Cannes Film festival, winning its Prix de la Jeunesse award. Ballroom went on to win eight Australian Film Institute awards and opened in the United States in 1993.

• Luhrmann then directed and co-wrote the screenplay for 1996’s Romeo + Juliet, featuring young stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in a gang update of the Shakespeare classic. The film performed well at the box office and started to establish Luhrmann’s reputation for idiosyncratic, anachronistic adventures. The following year Luhrmann would wed Catherine Martin, his creative collaborator; they would go on to have two children. The same year, the couple founded Bazmark, a film production company with the motto, “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.”

• In 1998, Luhrmann released the album Something for Everybody, which contained mixes of songs from his film soundtracks and featured the hit “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).”

The Great GatsbyBaz Lurhmann (Director/Producer/Screenwriter)has captured popular and critical imagination world wide with a diverse range of commercially successful projects in film, opera, theatre, music, multi-media and events. As the founder and director of Bazmark. Inq. and subsidiaries Bazmark Live and Bazmark Music, the huge commercial success of Luhrmann’s projects reveals an instinctual ability to anticipate audience tastes, and to tap into the spirit of the times.