When last we checked in on poor Baz Luhrmann, he was still frantically trying to edit his $130 million WWII epic Australia down into a concise 170 minutes to make the film’s rapidly advancing release date (“It’s a little like landing a jumbo jet on an aircraft carrier in a storm,†he said last week). Now, according to reports, he’s bowed to studio pressure to change the movie’s ending. Warning: Spoilers ahead, obviously!
Hey, at least he made it to the end, right? Apparently Fox executives were worried by test audiences’ “disastrous reviews†of a rough cut of Australia, in which Hugh Jackman’s character — hey, we weren’t kidding about that spoiler alert! — died in the final minutes (were these the same Fox executives who previously tried to convince us that Jackman was “rough-hewn,†like a “young Clint Eastwood�). But after “intense discussions,†Luhrmann’s agreed to a more uplifting finale, probably because he just wants to be done with this thing already (“I wouldn’t say we are within schedule, but it’s possibly within reach,†he told the Telegraph). Now, presumably, instead of being exploded during a Japanese air raid, Jackman’s unnamed ranch-hand character will escape with a few light scratches and be invited to host the Tonys.
Baz bows to Hollywood [Sunday Telegraph via Hollywood Elsewhere]
Earlier: Can ‘Australia’ Finally Convince Moviegoers That Hugh Jackman Isn’t Gay?