Last week, the lack of pre-release marketing for Milk caused some to wonder if the film might secretly be a stinker (apparently it’s not). But what of the other unadvertised swashbuckling Oscar contender coming out on the very same day (November 26), Baz Luhrmann’s Australia? Hilariously, it’s not even done yet! Over the weekend, Luhrmann told his local paper, The Australian, “We’re going to give it our all and at the moment it’s an absolutely real [release] date. But I would not be truthful if I didn’t say it’s a little like landing a jumbo jet on an aircraft carrier in a storm.â€
Yes, that sounds bad! Budgeted at $130 million and with a reported running time of over 170 minutes, Australia’s been tipped as a likely Oscar contender basically since anyone found out it existed — but what if it misses its release date? Will it still come out in 2008? Or will Academy voters have even fewer Oscar-quality movies to choose from this year? And, given its huge budget and expectations, wouldn’t it be the year’s biggest disaster if it were to turn out bad? Also, please tell us the delay is somehow due to Luhrmann frantically trying to use CGI to make Hugh Jackman look even more macho.
Baz Luhrmann’s epic gamble [The Australian]
Earlier: Can ‘Australia’ Finally Convince Moviegoers That Hugh Jackman Isn’t Gay?