Baz Luhrmann

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• Baz Luhrmann

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Full Bio Though he began his career as an actor, director/writer/producer Baz Luhrmann found his flamboyant talent was better served behind the scenes. Born BazMark Luhrmann in a Sydney, Australia, suburb, Luhrmann returned to Sydney after a rural childhood to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. Though he appeared with Judy Davis in the film Winter of Our Dreams (1982), Luhrmann redirected his artistic pursuits, creating the original version of what would become his future film debut, Strictly Ballroom (1992), for the stage in 1986. He continued to mount musical theater and opera productions throughout the 1980s and early '90s, including a 1950s-set version of Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème in 1990. Working with longtime collaborators Craig Pearce and Catherine Martin, Luhrmann brought his vibrant sensibility to film with the cinematic version of Strictly Ballroom. Full of garish colors, exuberant dancing, and ironic yet sincere sentiment, the romantic fable made a splash at ~the Cannes Film Festival and became an international, prize-winning hit. Luhrmann next worked his postmodern magic on an adaptation of #William Shakespeare's Romeo Juliet (1996). As with La Bohème, he re-conceived the story for the 20th century, setting the famed tale of teen love in the candy-colored, Versace-clad milieu of "Verona Beach." With stars Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes delivering Shakespeare's prose as if it were vernacular, an eclectic soundtrack, and editing as kinetic as the Oscar-nominated production design, #Romeo Juliet became a box-office hit. Before he began production on the Nicole Kidman-Ewan McGregor musical Moulin Rouge (2001), Luhrmann put together music from his film and stage work for the CD ^Something for Everybody (1998). He notched a surprise hit single with &"Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," setting the text of a famous commencement speech to music from #Romeo Juliet. Merging personal and professional lives, Luhrmann and Martin married in 1997.