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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day - Episode Summary
Episode Title
Baz Luhrmann - ‘I self-medicate with creativity’
Podcast Overview How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is a podcast dedicated to exploring failures and the lessons we can learn from them. Each week, Elizabeth welcomes a guest to discuss three significant failures in their lives and how these experiences contributed to their growth and success.
Episode Description In this episode, acclaimed filmmaker Baz Luhrmann joins Elizabeth Day to discuss his bold and unique cinematic style, notable creative decisions, and his latest project, *EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert*. Luhrmann reflects on his upbringing, creative partnerships, personal setbacks, and the pressures of public scrutiny.
Key Highlights
Creativity as Self-Medication
- Luhrmann describes creativity as a means of self-medication, particularly during challenging times.
- Quote: "I see my job as keeping fear out of the room. I take the fear on in the morning when I get up."
Discussion of Elvis Presley
- The conversation includes Luhrmann's fascination with Elvis and his latest project, *EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert*.
- He shares enthusiasm for uncovering lost footage and presenting Elvis in a more intimate light.
The Iconic Fish Tank Scene from *Romeo + Juliet*
- Luhrmann discusses how the unforgettable fish tank scene originated from a personal experience in a nightclub bathroom.
- Creative Insight: The scene combines romantic visual storytelling with an innovative approach to character introduction.
Personal Failures
- Failure #1: Losing Instincts and Depression
- Luhrmann recounts a period of deep depression after attending the National Institute of Dramatic Arts.
- He learned to reconnect with his creative instincts through a collaborative project that reignited his passion for storytelling.
- Failure #2: Artistic Director Experience
- In 1988, Luhrmann received a significant grant to create a theatre company but faced harsh criticism and failure.
- This experience taught him resilience and the importance of staying true to his creative vision.
- Failure #3: Revisiting *Strictly Ballroom*
- Luhrmann reflects on attempting to recreate the success of *Strictly Ballroom* on stage, realizing the challenge of repeating past successes.
- He emphasizes the importance of moving forward and allowing new interpretations of his work.
Collaboration and Trust
- Luhrmann stresses the significance of collaboration in his filmmaking process, often conducting workshops instead of traditional auditions.
- He finds deep trust and creative synergy with his collaborators, particularly with his wife, Catherine Martin.
Dealing with Criticism
- Luhrmann discusses the impact of public criticism on his mental health and creative process.
- Quote: "You learn, as Elvis says in Epic, you can't please everyone."
Future Projects
- He hints at upcoming projects, including a focus on Jeanne d'Arc and the themes of generational change.
- Luhrmann expresses a desire to create films that maintain a timeless quality and resonate with future audiences.
Quotes to Remember
- "I always made my films for the future, not to be sort of hip in the moment."
- "The opposite of addiction is connection."
- "If something I've made helps one person have some kind of epiphany or uplift, then I feel like I'm kind of useful."
Links and Mentions
- [EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert](https://www.epicelvis.com)
- [Baz Luhrmann's TikTok Moment](https://www.tiktok.com/@god_worthy/video/7374740069866884368?lang=en)
- [Join the How To Fail Community](https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content)
- [Elizabeth’s Substack](https://theelizabethday.substack.com/)
- More episodes like: *Stanley Tucci - On grief, cancer…and failing to swim* and *Phoebe Waller-Bridge - On creative risk-taking, ambition*.
Conclusion This episode of *How To Fail* offers an insightful exploration of Baz Luhrmann's creative journey, revealing how failures have shaped his identity as a filmmaker. His reflections on the importance of connection, collaboration, and the inherent value of creativity inspire listeners to embrace their own setbacks as opportunities for growth.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOBaz Luhrmann's Cinematic Influence
0:45 to 2:57
Exploration of Baz Luhrmann's unique style and cultural impact.
“For over three decades, he has made films that feel less like traditional dramas and more like operatic spectacles detonated from a glitter cannon.”
The Art of Self-Medication Through Creativity
2:57 to 5:35
Discussion on how creativity serves as self-medication for artists.
“That was probably one of the longest intros I've ever written.”
Elvis: A Fascination and Connection
5:35 to 7:17
Baz Luhrmann reflects on his connection to Elvis and his biopic.
“So I'm not doing a lot of growing old disgracefully right now.”
The Creative Spark Behind Iconic Scenes
7:17 to 9:14
Baz shares the inspiration behind the famous fish tank scene in Romeo and Juliet.
“how little I'd seen both in a way because so much of it has become cliche or caricature.”
The Journey of 'Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen'
9:14 to 13:46
The story behind the iconic spoken word piece and its lasting impact.
“can I just ask you about a few key moments that just live in my brain rent-free?”
Failures and Growth in Education
13:46 to 14:00
Baz discusses his experiences at NIDA and how it shaped his creativity.
“it does thank you for that we'll talk more about your films as they pertain to your failures but your first failure and thank you because I can tell you you've really thought about these yeah Yeah, yeah.”
Episode Discussion
14:00 to 28:00
“But you felt that you lost your instincts.”
Creating a Safe Space for Creativity
28:00 to 29:10
Learn how Baz Luhrmann fosters a creative environment for actors.
“Like he was already down the road when he came in and by the time he says, I forgot to tell him he had the job, which I want to do because I just keep doing it.”
The Bicentenary Theatre Company Experience
29:10 to 31:28
Baz discusses his journey as an artistic director during a pivotal grant opportunity.
“I take the fear on in the morning when I get up.”
From Catastrophe to Opportunity
31:28 to 32:56
Baz shares his experience of overcoming a disastrous theatre opening.
“And it sent me into this dark, dark depression for the second time.”
Show all 18 chapters
Finding Collaborators and Meaningful Conversations
32:56 to 34:28
Discover how Baz values collaboration and deep connections in his work.
“We'd like to buy the rights of your play, Strictly Born to Make a Film.”
The Nature of Baz and CM's Relationship
34:28 to 36:36
Explore the dynamic and unique aspects of Baz's marriage to CM.
“People have a weird fascination with your marriage.”
Lessons from Criticism and Public Scrutiny
36:36 to 38:45
Baz reflects on how public criticism shaped his perspective on creativity.
“One of my favourite pieces of Baz Luhrmann footage is actually a TikTok video.”
Revisiting Past Works: Strictly Ballroom and Beyond
38:45 to 42:02
Baz discusses the evolution of his work and the reinterpretation of his classics.
“And you feel really compelled to sort of explain yourself completely like it's your biography in one interview.”
Creativity and Reinterpretation in Film
42:02 to 43:27
Learn how Baz Luhrmann views reinterpretation as a form of creativity.
“I probably wouldn't have done that because I would have gone, oh, the fans.”
The Future of Filmmaking
43:28 to 44:38
Explore Baz Luhrmann's perspective on the timeline and vision for his films.
“Well, I've got sunglasses on, I'm holding my bags.”
Cultural Impact and Personal Reflection
44:39 to 45:58
Discover how Luhrmann reflects on the impact of his work and the importance of creativity.
“what you're doing to this world is not right.”
Therapy and Connection Through Film
45:59 to 47:48
Hear about the therapeutic aspect of filmmaking and its connection to the audience.
“your work and your brilliance how would you like people to think of your work or remember your work if one one person gets affected or look i was growing up in a very tiny country town and i was a fan.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Elizabeth Day:I was embarrassed about being this geek from a small country town and I was ashamed. I love her and if she was gone tomorrow I don't know what I'd do. The relationship works in a way in which it works for us. It's not traditional in so many ways. So I see my job as keeping fear out of the room. I take the fear on in the morning when I get up.
0:26Baz Luhrmann:Welcome to How To Fail, the podcast that believes there is no growth or creativity without failure first. Before we get into this conversation, please do remember to like, follow and subscribe so that you never miss a single episode. Few contemporary directors are as instantly recognisable as Baz Luhrmann. For over three decades, he has made films that feel less like traditional dramas and more like operatic spectacles detonated from a glitter cannon. His work is unapologetically maximalistic, spectacular and romantic. And the chances are your life has been shaped in some way by his vision. Whether it's watching the fish tank scene in his 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet, or gasping when the 19th century characters burst into 20th century song in 2001's Moulin Rouge.
1:21Baz Luhrmann:Whether it's recalibrating how we think about Elvis Presley in Lerman's 2022 biopic or using the Leonardo DiCaprio martini glass gif from his great Gatsby or whether it's owning a sticky fingered copy of his debut film Strictly Boreham on VHS as I did. Lerman's cultural influence extends far beyond the screen. A story maker and world builder who once described himself as the Stanley Kubrick of sequins, Lerman's own story starts in Herons Creek, a small rural town in New South Wales, Australia. His father owned a petrol station and cinema. His mother had a dress shop and was a ballroom dancing teacher.
2:05Baz Luhrmann:Little wonder, perhaps, that Lerman's fascination with spectacle and the nature of performance started so young. At 19, he changed his name from Mark, which he thought was boring, to Baz Mark, after his classmates compared his hair to Basil Brush. Lerman's latest film sees him return to Elvis, this time in documentary form. Epic Elvis Presley in Concert features long lost footage from the singer's Las Vegas residency. Variety has called it one of the most exciting concert films you've ever seen, while Lerman himself describes it as a tone poem on the shadow selves of person and performer. It's something he's thought about a lot, once claiming that for artists or people with big holes in their hearts, the self-medication is the creative process.
2:57Elizabeth Day:Baz Lerman, welcome to How to Fail.
3:00Baz Luhrmann:What a homework there. That was probably one of the longest intros I've ever written. And I was nervous saying it out loud in front of you.
3:08Elizabeth Day:Look, I mean, I can't talk about the stuff in terms of the effect on people individually. But yes, quite often people do that sort of stuff. And I go, really? I don't think I ever said that. But you were dead accurate. I can't. I wouldn't deny anything you said.
3:27Baz Luhrmann:Oh, I'm so happy to hear that.
3:29Elizabeth Day:As far as the story goes.
3:30Baz Luhrmann:I'm so happy to hear that. Well, let me see if I can make you deny anything over the course of the next 60 minutes.
3:37Elizabeth Day:Sure, go for it.
3:38Baz Luhrmann:There were so many quotes I could have chosen from you to end on. I love the way that you talk about creativity. But that idea of creativity as self-medication. Yes. How's your self-medication going, Baz?
3:50Elizabeth Day:Yeah, well, right now I'm medicating heavily. And I mean that in that for someone at my stage in life, I sort of was struggling a bit with, I often say when I make the last movie or something, this is it, I'm going to become a recluse. I've been saying that for so long. I'm just going to read books somewhere. But then you get through them. And right now I'm more creatively busy, if it's possible, than I was when I was 28. Like, I've got, you know, I'm opening Epic. I'm working on Jeanne d 'Arc. I just announced this lovely Belmont dining car because we do other things. I'm very medicated.
4:30Baz Luhrmann:Okay. And is it helping you feel loved? I think there's all sorts of love.
4:38Elizabeth Day:You know, I'm in the love business, if you've seen my films. And there's like champagne love is like a youthful love. It's like the giddy, intoxicated romance love. And there's love for children or your child. And there's a kind of love that is just that which is between friends or that is sort of a bond. There's so many different brands and kinds of love. But it's certainly fulfilling. I mean, what I mean is not that I go, oh, I'm so fulfilled. It's just I'm so consumed with it. a lot of negative vibes won't get in. I'm not spinning out. Look, when I finish a big project, I go on a kind of, I call it the methadone program when I go and do everything the opposite I do when I'm hugely responsible for giant things, which usually entails going on some journey and acting like a fool and getting smashed a lot, you know, and growing old disgracefully.
5:36Baz Luhrmann:Yeah.
5:37Elizabeth Day:So I'm not doing a lot of growing old disgracefully right now.
5:40Baz Luhrmann:Okay.
5:41Elizabeth Day:hard as I try.
5:44Baz Luhrmann:Elvis is clearly someone who fascinates you. And I feel having had the privilege of watching Epic and seeing Elvis when it came out, that I could draw some parallels between the two of you. But what is it that you think draws you in to him?
5:58Elizabeth Day:Well, originally, look, he was very big in my life when I was young, because when we did that cinema, we had the Elvis matinees, you know, that's where it started. And he was there present. But then fairly quickly after the 70s as I was growing up, I went on to Bowie and Elton and, you know, the Michael Jacksons and the Elton's and, you know, other artists musically. But Emma Donna, I should have mentioned Emma. But when I came to doing a biopic, I'd always admired Amadeus. One of my favorite films. One of my favorite films. And you realize that that biopic is not about Mozart. You learn a lot.
6:40Elizabeth Day:jealousy. And I always thought, well, if I do a biopic, I want to use a life that is about something bigger and more universal. And Elvis is the perfect page on which you can explore America in the 50s, 60s and the 70s. And his life is almost perfectly broken into these three acts. So I started just recently to discover notes and things I'd put away on Elvis like literally 30 years ago.
7:06Baz Luhrmann:And Epic does such an amazing job of showing him as this superlative performer and as a person in the moments in between. And I realized watching it how little I'd seen both in a way because so much of it has become cliche or caricature. I'm fascinated with how you did it. And I'm sure you've been asked this a million times before. because it's so hyper real when you're watching it. But you didn't use AI in a single frame.
7:38Elizabeth Day:No, there's not a single frame of AI. There's no visual effects. The only visual effect is the one he has on the audience. What happened was it was an accident. I was making Elvis the movie and Ernst Yorgerson, who's this great professional on Elvis, the expert, said, look, there are these lost reels from the 70s concert in Vegas. I thought, oh, maybe I can find them, use them in the movie. So I had the resources to actually literally send a guy into the salt mines in Kansas City where MGM kept all its footage. And he sort of kicks the door open. I didn't go, but then I get these pictures back of like, it was like Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know, these dusty 67 boxes of footage.
8:19Elizabeth Day:And then this moment happened when we found this 45 minute tape of Elvis in this really unguarded way just talking about himself, which in any Elvis materials he really doesn't do. It's always someone talking about him. Or there's a film in which there's a voice impersonator speaking a script that was written, but not just spontaneously. And so we thought, well, what if we get out of the way and Elvis just comes to you in a kind of dream concert and sings and tells his story to you in a really intimate way. And that's why what you're experiencing, I'm hearing this a lot. People are going, people who don't care about Elvis have been seeing the film going, who is this guy?
9:03Elizabeth Day:He's so funny. He's so vulnerable. He's so good at making everyone feel relaxed. And on stage, you just feel you're the only person in the room.
9:13Baz Luhrmann:Before we get into your failures, can I just ask you about a few key moments that just live in my brain rent-free? the fish tank scene the aquarium in Romeo and Juliet how did you come up with that idea?
9:25Elizabeth Day:Okay, here it goes so I'm working with Craig Pierce my high school friend who I'm writing eventually we're writing the Romeo and Juliet together CM and a few of us are down in Miami and I'm working on that actual sequence and I can't thinking like well how do we we know we're going to meet Juliet but how does Romeo meet Juliet and yet you surprise them and I'm out at this nightclub called The Dome. It was a restaurant nightclub in Miami in Florida. And, you know, I was only about, I think I was 29, 28. And so, well, I'd had a few Sherries, let's be honest. You know, I had a tipling. And I went into a bathroom and came out.
10:06Elizabeth Day:And I grew up doing fish tanks, actually. I had dad made sure we all had little businesses and I sold tropical fish. And there's this beautiful tropical fish tank in front of me. So I'm washing my hands and I look up and I see a girl through the tropical fish tank combing her hair. And this nightclub had worked out this idea of you couldn't see the stalls or anything, but when you were washing and doing your reflection, you could see each other through the fish tank, really to hook up, I think, or to flirt. And in that moment I went, that's it. All I have to do now is work out why is Romeo, you know, going into the bathroom and that had something to do with Queen Mab.
10:45Elizabeth Day:I'm not sure what it was, but whatever he took made him feel queasy. A couple of shirries. Something.
10:51Baz Luhrmann:Something magical. Music is a hugely important part of your work. It's the sort of fabric of your storytelling in so many ways.
10:59Elizabeth Day:One big part of the fabric, yeah.
11:00Baz Luhrmann:That song, Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, which came out in 1999. I remember exactly where I was when I heard it for the first time. I listened to it again on the way into this interview, and it still makes me well up every time I listen to it. How did that come about?
11:15Elizabeth Day:Oh, gosh. I do a lot of music, actually, and I was learning to produce music. And although I work with great producers, I'm literally in there. I'm in on Elvis. I'm in the studio, and I love it. It's one of my great joys. But I was trying to learn. I was making this charity album with a guy called Anton Mondstadt. He was my music supervisor, and he was my assistant, and now he runs music at Amazon. And I love him, and he's a dear, dear friend. There was this thing called the World Wide Web. That's how long ago it was. and there was this speech on it by, and it was apparently ascribed to being by the author of Slaughterhouse-Five and Kurt Vonnegut, who I was maybe going to work with, and found out there was a hoax.
11:56Elizabeth Day:But I went, hang on, but it's really meaningful. Why didn't I record it as a spoken word? So I do it. It's like seven minutes long and I use the choirs from Romeo and Juliet on. It's like 11 minutes long. So I finish the album, go down to the local radio station, they won't play it. They go like, oh, terrible. The whole album, it's too weird. And so I go on the arts program that night and I say, yeah, on one condition you play this seven-minute long spoken word song. So they play it and just like in a movie, there's a guy tapping on the glass while we're in the students playing and he's pointing and all the lights are lighting up on the dashboard.
12:35Elizabeth Day:And the next day they went, wow, this is an amazing response. they play it the next day and by the afternoon cars are stopping listening and by 48 hours later it's the biggest song in the country I then go to the US same thing happens the the label said no it's too long it's too strange so I went in a college radio played boom next thing it's huge it's gone golden like we bring out the guy that did the voice and he's on all the chat shows and actually it ended the charts in England at number one. And the thing was I recorded it probably in 97 and then I thought, well, what if they needed class of 98, class of 99?
13:14Elizabeth Day:I did to 2000 thinking by 2000 no one would care. So I ran out of beginnings, but it has just endured and I think it's because what is said in it. my whole point was does it matter whether it was Vonnegut or not or this lovely writer from the Herald Tribune what's in it affects people and in this dark time I reckon they should remix it and re-release it because it does seem to cut through ugly noise
13:46Baz Luhrmann:it does thank you for that we'll talk more about your films as they pertain to your failures but your first failure and thank you because I can tell you you've really thought about these yeah Yeah, yeah. Your first failure is that you went to the National Institute of the Dramatic Arts in Australia. But you felt that you lost your instincts.
14:06Elizabeth Day:Yes, so true.
14:07Baz Luhrmann:Tell us about that period of your life.
Read the full transcript
14:09Elizabeth Day:Well, before I went, I mean, I've always done this. And I'd been in movies with Judy Davis and I had my own little theatre company. You've got to remember all of this now. But I kind of had just done this. I mean, even in high school, I was running off. You know, I barely graduated because I was mainly running my little theatre company. and all of that. And even in the tiny country town, I was making films and shows. But I auditioned for NIDA. Actually, I didn't get in. And eventually, I became so successful, I think they were embarrassed. And they just basically said, turn up and we'll let you in.
14:39Elizabeth Day:Because I was very well known by then. So I go to NIDA. And I think, God, now I'm like a serious actor, serious creator. What does a serious person do? Well, they isolate themselves. and I was having actually this relationship with someone, but even that I kept secret. And I guess I was acting out being an actor. You know, you do that. Drama schools are invariably these kind of hothouses where everyone thinks, oh, that one's a star and, you know, you think that's the universe and it's not very real, but, and it's useful. I mean, I loved the history of theatre and you had an opportunity to do a lot of plays and things.
15:18Elizabeth Day:And indeed, I even devised strictly ballroom. but I got so self-conscious that when I came out, I really lost who I was. And I was having a relationship with someone and she came out and I thought, I just pick up where I left off and be even doing more things. Suddenly I had nothing, nothing. And I fell into this, she was actually in a movie with a very famous English actor. And I thought, wow, it's all gone horribly wrong. What have I done? And I fell into one of these rare, deep depressions. I was so dark and so lost. I couldn't get out of bed. And I remember just dragging, eventually, I dragged myself down to this old 1930s swimming place by the ocean.
16:12Elizabeth Day:And I'd just sit there all day staring. And then I added reading the paper to it. I think I used to eat an ice cream. And I wanted to get into the water, but I was so depressed I couldn't even swim. And then one day I did swim and I felt better. I thought, what am I going to do? I've got this idea about, this is a crazy idea, this Russian ballet dancer, because it was during the Soviet Union, washing up and he meets, it was sort of Macbeth set in surf clubs or something. It was nuts. But I thought, I'm going to get all my friends back together and just do a little show. And I did it. I did this little show.
16:50Elizabeth Day:And at the end, there was this kind of tsunami wave. And we did Black Light Theater. And we just did this one workshop of it. And it went crazy. It was so nuts. I remember I got to go out and get fresh fruit because the audience were actually in the foyer. And I still hadn't finished the show. But they came. And it was kind of went really well. And this agent for directors and creators saw it called Hilary Linstead. And she said, this is one of the craziest, coolest things I've seen. And then all of a sudden, I just started to make things again. And then I got an invitation to go to a drama school to take Strictly Ballroom.
17:27Elizabeth Day:We took it. And there were all these great artists from the Soviet Union there. But we won. And from that moment on, I've been doing what I'm doing ever since. But what I learned there was that I was embarrassed about being this geek from a small country town. And I was ashamed that I liked people, that I really liked people and I really liked being with people and connecting with people and that I was kind of quite affable. And that just didn't seem cool enough. And I learned from that. I have a natural affinity with observing people in a room, being in a gas station, people coming by and you're sort of invisible.
18:17Elizabeth Day:And I'm quite good with that. But I learned not to get too focused on myself.
18:25Baz Luhrmann:I remember a writer called Johan Hari saying that the opposite of addiction is connection because when you're experiencing a degree of isolation and alienation which is what fuels addiction actually reaching out and having that moment of connection can save you and I think
18:42Elizabeth Day:that's such I couldn't agree more and I think we're living in a world where and with our kids we'll look back and go hang on we put this thing called you know a smartphone in their hands and look, I'm not going to get into like I'm blanketly against it all, but we just live online and internally so much that loneliness and disconnection is a really big issue. And I think connection, connecting with people. But what we're seeing is that younger people actually want to go out and commune more. That's why touring is so big.
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19:52Baz Luhrmann:A massive help if you panic about something and they're even there in the middle of the night. It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your£1 per month trial today at shopify.co.uk slash fail. That's shopify.co.uk slash fail. Can we go back a bit in your childhood and talk about whether you felt connected as a child? So you were from this little town, but it sounds like this extraordinary Gallimorphia of Technicolor experience.
20:28Elizabeth Day:Yeah. I mean, at the time I didn't see it that way, but now I realize like dad and mom in a different way. But we were in Sydney. We go, they buy this rundown gas station and dad absolutely transforms it. And we have a farm, a pig farm. And then we have, and we all had to have businesses and mom had dress shops and he bought a place nearby. Nearby, then we were running a cinema and then artists come to live with us. And then that was just like nonstop. Literally, we were doing ballroom dancing and commando training and breeding. I was breeding fish and I had coy carp and I had my own business.
21:04Elizabeth Day:And it was nonstop. And I think that doing magic and, you know, putting on shows. I had a radio station that I used to run at the gas station with this one record called One is the Loneliest Number by John Farnham. And then I got my brother to read the sports page. He went on a bit. Yeah, we were so connected. And I was also invisible because I was like the 10-year-old that was pumping gas. And so people would do stuff in front of you. And they were always this panoply of fascinating human beings. But then dad being the kind of, you know, he just made worlds, this world building. And so we had a restaurant where we had sizzle plates.
21:43Elizabeth Day:I used to wear a white shirt and a bow tie and serve people food. and then there was Lens International Snack Bar. So looking back, we were kind of the Renaissance players of this Heron's Creek. We were learning lots of skills, photography. I was filming things. He never said no. He was always an enthusiast. And he drove us for kind of two hours every night to learn ballroom dancing.
22:07Baz Luhrmann:I'm fascinated by your dad because he was a Vietnam veteran. Yep. And I wonder if this world building was an attempt to escape that or move on from what he'd witnessed? Yeah, I think he absolutely,
22:26Elizabeth Day:like he built a house when we were in Sydney, when we were very young, before he left the Navy after Vietnam. And it's a beautiful mid-modern house. And when I look back, I was born on the sand in front of that house. And when I look back, he learned how to build it with his own hands out of a book. I mean, how do you do that? And mum was pregnant with us and she used to put bricks on a conveyor belt. And he was always sort of hustling too, you know, like cut to me and my brothers. You know, if there was free blue metal or something up the road, we'd get up and shovel it in and he'd invent a pathway.
23:04Elizabeth Day:It was quite inventive. He'd invent machines and things. And he transformed this gas station into this kind of caravansia of fascination. And it became really famous. People would stop, not just for the snacks or the way it looked or to see the plants, but there was always, we'd have copper corn night and events. So it was a kind of, it was a world in itself for sure. And he built that with us.
23:31Baz Luhrmann:It's beautiful. Your parents got divorced when you were 12. And I imagine that was shattering.
23:38Elizabeth Day:It was enormously tumultuous because, well, of course, any 12 year old, any kid, your parents at the center of your life and dad and mom mom in her own way too she was off going doing theater and stuff and she went through quite a transformation too like she's still incredibly vital i mean she's 90 and lift the truck she's really strong but um she split herons creek was too small for her she took my little sister in a lamp there was it was really tumultuous. And then dad remarried this woman who had kids. And this woman actually was a really lovely, kind woman. But for us, our world had been shattered.
24:21And so eventually, I ran away too,
24:28Elizabeth Day:reconnected with mom, had my own apartment out the back, so I love that. But I went for this really forward-thinking school in Port Macquarie that was experimental, and it was co-ed, boys and girls, to this really oppressed Christian Brothers school, which actually is the location in the Great Gatsby for Gatsby's Mansion. We use it with visual extensions. So that was a shock. That's where I got the job, because Dad kept our hair very short. We were sort of beaten up for that. Now I've been beaten up for having crazy curly hair. and they used to call me Basil Brush which became Baz and in an act of defiance I put the two names together I thought you know I'm going to be someone so I need a brand name Baz Mark which is on my passport and I've had it ever since
25:16Baz Luhrmann:This idea of connection and those early experiences of the most important relationship in your life really being ruptured do you think that informed how romantic your style is albeit it focuses quite a lot on doomed romance. But in the Red Curtain trilogy particularly, I'm just interested in how much you think that romanticism and that lens was informed by what your parents went through and what you went through.
25:43Elizabeth Day:Well, I think both things. I think Dad put us in a world and encouraged us to invent, create. There was no cap on what you could do with your imagination. And then the rupture, I'm sure, left a kind of feeling of trying to put the world back together again. I think if you, without getting too serious about my own pain, because there are people that lose parents forever and go through much greater pain than I did, but I think if you have pain in your life, you tend not to want to make films about pain. You want to make films that either have happy endings or a heightened or escape. You want things to be, I mean, romanticism, which I used to rail against being called a romantic, but now I accept that I am a hopeless romantic.
26:39Elizabeth Day:Romanticism just means things are more than they possibly can be. They're heightened. And I am drawn to that. And I even create a romantic world around the act of making the films. It's not just that the films have a romanticism. Anyone who comes into my world, they come into a complete, that's why they take so long to make, a world in which the outside world doesn't count that much. Only what we're making together does.
27:06Baz Luhrmann:Talking about collaboration, it remains incredibly important to you.
27:09Elizabeth Day:Yes, it's everything.
27:10Baz Luhrmann:And you don't do a normal audition process. You do these collaborative workshops with actors. Can you tell us a little bit about that process? How it works?
27:18Elizabeth Day:I learned this. I mean, I've acted myself when I was young and I was with Judy Davis and things like that. And what I don't do is let someone come into my space and everyone else might roll their eyeballs. No, definitely not. And I just go, my job is to get you the job, one. And two, I don't do it that often. So if we spend a half day on it, I want to learn something about this scene through you. It's a privilege that I've got you in front of me. Let's work on the scene. And don't you be thinking about, are you ripe for the role? I won't be thinking that. I'll be thinking, what can we learn out of the scene?
27:50Elizabeth Day:and then I'll go away and I'll go and we'll do more and what it usually reveals itself. I mean, with Austin. Butler. Butler, it just revealed itself. Like he was already down the road when he came in and by the time he says, I forgot to tell him he had the job, which I want to do because I just keep doing it. But it was more, we would just eventually start doing it, you know. And same thing just recently with Jeanne d 'Arc. I saw some wonderfully talented young actors who I didn't know. And by doing the workshops, which I actually did, I think I can say it, in the Chilton, after it was burnt out, Andre learned it to me because it was a secret nice environment to do it in.
28:33Elizabeth Day:A place where I'd had so much fun, but there we were doing scenes out of Jeanne d 'Arc. But Ila Johnson, who's playing that role, it came out of that process where we were just focusing on what can we learn about this character in the story? And I feel so precious and privileged. And it's so my, look, children play, act really brilliantly. It's called a screen play. You know, we are but players. But if you scare a child, they can't play. So I see my job as keeping fear out of the room. I take the fear on in the morning when I get up. and I really allow everyone to play and fail, as they like to say.
29:20Elizabeth Day:Sometimes I say, oh, it's a safe environment you can fail, but you really can't. But with me, I want you to go so far that it does go too far, it does do wrong, because then we're going to find a third idea, not yours, not mine, a third idea. I never say no, really. Oh, I never say no. Your second failure takes us forward a few years
29:42Baz Luhrmann:and there's the Australian bicentenary in 1988. And there's a huge grant offered for a young artistic director to create a theatre company. And you get it, Baz. Yes, I get it.
29:55Elizabeth Day:Why is this a failure? Well, it was 1988. By then, I think, I was quite well known. I'd been in films. I had my own Bond theatre company. I'd been in NIDA. I think I was known-ish, but everybody wanted this gig. I mean, it was a lot of money being thrown around because of Bocentenary. And the most important theater company in Sydney, the Sydney Theater Company, was run by this artistic director called Richard Werrett. And he was a great guy and he was a great director. But this giant grant came where some young person could have their own theater company. And out of everybody in the whole country, I got the gig.
30:36Elizabeth Day:I was the artistic director. But what happened, and again, it was me kind of stepping on my own instincts, but the technical things I tried to do, like originally I was just going to do an open space with flowers and mirrors, but the technical things I tried to do was so high end, you know, with amplified voice, I got lost again. And the opening night was so catastrophic. Very well-known people came and sort of left. And the reviews were beyond, I mean, there was a lot of jealousy about, I mean, I had long curly hair and was probably, I don't know, 22 or something. So there was a bit of like how he only got it because he had long curly black hair.
31:18Elizabeth Day:But, you know, I was really, it was the first time I felt I was actually super attacked in the press. Like, and I felt it. And the reviews were absolutely scathing. And it sent me into this dark, dark depression for the second time. And we did that show, which was Valia. And then the second show was this other person who was a dramaturg who wanted to do their show and this other writer. And it was kind of a mess. And the third show, the final show, I went, well, I'm going to bring back that piece I did called Strictly Ballroom, because that is actually me. So I did it, extended it, added in the sort of Spanish, you know, the sort of immigrant plot line.
32:06Elizabeth Day:And we went to this Festival 88. And at the end of it, I also went, look, this, I actually just put on this joyous kind of event at the Sydney Theatre Company, which was called Coca-Cola Bottlers Dance Hall, whereby everyone had to go and learn to dance if you've got a ticket. And we recreated 1945 Victory Night. and I did all these cabaret numbers and it was just for fun and it blew up and then the next day the guys from the Australian Opera saw my Strictly Ballroom and offered me my own opera company to do an experimental opera like my life went from being completely dead creatively and then this guy this lovely guy and his wife called Ted Albert said look I saw your Strictly Ballroom I want to start a film company.
32:56Elizabeth Day:I have this band, ACDC, rather famous. We'd like to buy the rights of your play, Strictly Born to Make a Film. I said, well, no, I'm going to make a movie of it. And they went away and he came and said, hmm, okay, you can do it. And I never stopped.
33:12Baz Luhrmann:Wow. And I learned from that, again, my instincts has always been,
33:17Elizabeth Day:it's not, are they my friends? It's that am I having a conversation with someone and there's more to have. And I don't really read CVs a bit, but I really go, is there more to a conversation? And that means I can really work with someone. And with CM, for example, or Craig, or anyone I've worked with a long time. That's your wife. Yeah, my wife, Catherine Marna, I call her CM. She came in, I was looking for someone to work as a designer in that company. She had this other partner she worked with, I went back to my drama school. And she came to this place I lived above the brothel, King's cross and I had like two sticks of furniture and I had to offer a croissant.
33:59Elizabeth Day:And we started talking about Bertolt Brecht and Madonna and it was supposed to be an hour and the conversation went on for three hours or something. And we're still having a conversation today. So that's how I realized that this whole idea that you are, I just, it's not me. I have to have some connective tissue, some connectivity with primary collaborators. And that's how I decide, is the conversation going on? Is the music going on?
34:29Baz Luhrmann:People have a weird fascination with your marriage.
34:32Elizabeth Day:Yes.
34:33Baz Luhrmann:Does it annoy you? The fascination, I mean.
34:35Elizabeth Day:Well, I can understand it. I mean, my stuff is really camp and our relationship is, well, camp in one regard. Like, I use that theatricality and there's a sort of underlying seriousness to it. And Sim and I, people say, well, when did you get married? I say, I don't remember. I just know we've always been together. And it's a truly real relationship. I love her. And if she was gone tomorrow, I don't know what I'd do. But we also are very distinctly different individuals. We understand each other. The relationship works in a way in which it works for us. It's not traditional in so many ways. My kids make lots of jokes about me.
35:20Elizabeth Day:What kind of jokes? Oh, you know. I mean, they just kind of mock me a lot and gets me very grounded. Sometimes they call me RuPaul. I mean, I don't know, like in a fun way. But we have this absolutely real relationship. But we also have our commitment to each other, which is, I think, what real marriages are, which is their contracts with each other that you know are good for each other. And there are things you can change and things you can't. But weddings are actually advertisements to everybody else that you're together, you know. and you know CM does her stuff sometimes and like Epic I did that that's my gig she's got her homewares but then on the visual language stuff we on the films we work very very closely together but you know there's I think really deep love and love transforms over the years is the person that you can have the most trust with so there's a profound trust she's the person I would turn to and I'm the person she would turn to when you've really got things you can't say to anyone else.
36:36Baz Luhrmann:One of my favourite pieces of Baz Luhrmann footage is actually a TikTok video. You know where I'm going with this.
36:44Elizabeth Day:I do.
36:44Baz Luhrmann:It was just casually iconic. It was so funny. Yeah, did you, have you, what happened?
36:51Elizabeth Day:What happened? I was taking the kids, it was Mardi Gras and we always go, I always take the kids and we were buying ice cream actually in Newtown. And I turned around and this kid, she was sort of being kind of cheeky asking me questions and I was like, I wasn't going to go. And it became pretty clear that she had no idea who it was. So she was asking pretty straight up questions and I just gave my honest answers. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what happens is she goes home and someone says, you know, that's Baz Luhrmann and she didn't know. So I don't know. I thought it was kind of fun and charming.
37:30Baz Luhrmann:Well, I loved your response because it just shows how open-hearted you are to the world. And actually, it's a lesson to every interviewer to just ask the direct questions. It was brilliant. Final question on this failure. Did it teach you how to deal with criticism?
37:45Elizabeth Day:Yes. I mean, well, when you first get really, yes, it did. I mean, when you first get really criticized publicly, you actually think that everybody in the street is pointing out and going, there he is, that terrible, he's the one. And you're so embarrassed and ashamed. But then as things go on, you learn, as Elvis says in Epic, he says, well, you know, you can't please everyone. And you learn, it doesn't, it still hurts if someone viciously attacks something that you and a bunch of people have really given your heart and soul to. And you think like, well, couldn't you just say why it's not working as opposed to somehow we're bad people or whatever that is.
38:25Elizabeth Day:But what you learn to do is understand that they've got a job and they're criticizing. And some criticism is really, really good. And some are going, yeah, I kind of get that. But you curate that. I mean, early on with the press, I'd read everything. I'd write, I'd do a thing. Oh, did I get it right? And you feel really compelled to sort of explain yourself completely like it's your biography in one interview. Then as you go through this, I never look back at this stuff. I just sort of tell it from the heart. And, you know, in print sometimes people are really lovely to be with and then they've got editors.
39:06Elizabeth Day:And editors know that, you know, a headline is going to get clickbait or whatever. But I just don't take it. I've got this little mantra, which is, you know, focused, simple, simple, focused, humble and it's not that deep
39:20Baz Luhrmann:Your final failure I'm so happy we're going to talk about one of my favourite films of all time Strictly Borum but as you say to me it wasn't a failure it was a success but you never realised its full potential
39:32Elizabeth Day:Well, I'm actually talking about the stage version Oh, okay Can we talk about the movie afterwards?
39:38Baz Luhrmann:No, no
39:39Elizabeth Day:Well, the movie was a whole journey and actually great dramas because we finally No one wants it. We finally get the money. That lovely man, Ted Albert, suddenly dies on the eve of us about to make the film. His incredible wife steps in and says, my husband knew talent. And even though the family's saying we're in the music business, no, she funds it. When we screen Strictly Boring, the one cinema we have cancelled, say it's the worst film I've ever seen. I go up the coast, think, well, this film thing's not going to work out because they say it's too theatrical. and they also say the woman playing the mother in it is the worst performance she's ever given.
40:22Elizabeth Day:You've ruined her career. I get a phone call and this guy's got a French accent. He says, my name is Pierre Roussillon from the Ken Film Festival. I just saw your film, Stricted Boredom. I'm going to offer you a 12 o 'clock screening. We go. Rest is history. It still has the record for the most around 1 ,000, 24 hours and off we go. And I remember a security guy grabs me because the crowd gets around and says, Monsieur, from this moment on, your life will never be the same again. He was kind of right. But years later, years and years later, I do this relationship with Carmen Pavlovich, who's a great theatre person to do, and we're going to do Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge.
41:01Elizabeth Day:So I think I'll do the Strictly Ballroom because, you know, it's a way of being back in Australia. And I was very distracted and I couldn't get there. And it's not like the play was a complete failure. I just know that I was, it's the first show I'd done in years where I was kind of off keel on it. And when I did it, I realized I should never go back and try and repeat the past, to quote a line from Gatsby. I just couldn't be me when I was 28. And I realized that's not the right thing. So the next time with Moulin Rouge, I was sitting at a dinner party a friend of mine's in New York, and Alex Timbers, whose work I really loved and seemed to be like a nephew of mine in kind of his style, I just said to him, hey, would you like to do Moulin Rouge?
41:50Elizabeth Day:And he went, are you kidding? Now, I'm so glad he did it, the theatre show, because I would turn up and see runs and give some notes, but I was more like Uncle Baz. And he did things in all the new music. I probably wouldn't have done that because I would have gone, oh, the fans. And you see, I love that. I don't want to go back to my old works and captain them. I'm happy to support someone else reinterpreting them. And I'm not precious about them. As long as the essence is there, I love the way that someone will take something I did and reinterpret it. Because that's like Shakespeare. You take Shakespeare and you recode it and rediscover it for a certain time and a certain place.
42:33Baz Luhrmann:There's this forward momentum, but also this sort of presenteeism in you. Yeah, I agree with that.
42:38Elizabeth Day:You're fully present. Yeah, I'm fully present, but I'm always moving forward. I made all my films for the future not to be hip in the moment.
42:46Baz Luhrmann:Say that again.
42:47Elizabeth Day:I always made my films for the future not to be sort of hip in the moment or right in the moment or get the ticks and crosses. I know there would have been a way of doing certain things where the critics all go like, yeah, this is really on point. But like, for example, in Romeo and Juliet, you can't date it because, you know, early on I realized there must be nothing you could date in it. Or even Strictly Boreham, it's kind of vaguely 90s, but there's nothing in it that really perfectly dates them because I want them to have a universality and I wanted them to move through time and space and grow as their time and long.
43:25Baz Luhrmann:Although you don't look it, you're in your 60s now, I think. Well, I've got sunglasses on, I'm holding my bags. No, you've got excellent skin. Oh, well, thanks. You don't make films quickly because they are these beautiful collaborative processes.
43:40Elizabeth Day:Well, I really live them. Once I go inside the world, I live them.
43:44Baz Luhrmann:Have you thought about how many films you have left to make?
43:48Elizabeth Day:There's been a bit of talk about that. Sam's been saying, look, he's only got like, she said 10. And I think Skyler said, kidding, three at the most. I keep thinking I've got one couturier. Like it's like a fashion house in a way. The big films are like couture. then we do all these other creative adventures. But I think I will do, I have this one large piece and there's many, many, many, many. I never have to think of a new idea. I've always got them. They're there sitting there, but I just think this is the right time. And I was always going to do Alexander the Great. I worked on that for a long time.
44:20Elizabeth Day:And then for various reasons, I didn't do it. But I just feel the story of this 17 year old, you know, dark world where she says we've got to peel this world away from the knobbly old hands of these old men. I mean, could there be need for a clearer hero than a generationally changing young person who says, what you're doing to this world is not right. And I've got a vision and I'm here to lead us, our generation, into a new time and a new place.
44:57Baz Luhrmann:Jeanne d 'Arc, that's your next film. I can't wait. A very superficial question, but one that I've always wondered about. You know that our version of Dancing with the Stars is called Strictly Come Dancing. Did they ever give you royalties for the title?
45:10Elizabeth Day:No, I was actually, I found out the woman who did it, she was a bit worried about it, we weren't, but she wanted to do Strictly Ballroom. And she didn't, so she came up with this idea, Dancing with the Stars, Strictly Come Dancing. And it's a great success, and it only kind of helps. So once, actually, when I was doing the Blu-ray of Strictly Ballroom. You know the older, who's the judge? Yes, Len Goodman. There's an American version called Dancing with the Stars. Yes. And I went on that to promote the Blu-ray, took his gig for a nap. I was terrible. I'm terrible on those shows because I've spent my whole life lifting people up.
45:48Elizabeth Day:I'm not very good at saying, you know, listen, Mr. UFC cage fighter, your cha-cha sucks, you know. It's not me. So that's terrible.
45:57Baz Luhrmann:um baz this has been such a joy and i know lots of other people including myself have opinions of your work and your brilliance how would you like people to think of your work or remember your work if one one person gets affected or look i was growing up in a very tiny country town and i
46:21Elizabeth Day:was a fan. Whether it was a Bowie or an Elvis or a movie or an apocalypse now as I got older or whatever it was, discovering Bergman and constantly opening my mind to all sorts of creativity or whatever, I was a fan. And those things that touched and affected me sometimes didn't just thrill me for a weekend or stayed with me. Sometimes they were my guide. So if something I've made helps one person have some kind of epiphany or uplift, or even if it's just escaping from a difficult time for a couple of hours into the cinema and come out and feel renewed, which I actually think Epic is doing to a lot of non-Elvis fans.
47:07Elizabeth Day:They just sort of go in, and in this very dark world we're in, if there's one thing about Elvis, he's a uniter, and he's also really empathetic and funny and his music and the way he performs lifts you up so getting out of the way in this case and providing that i just hope if one person has that then i feel like
47:30Baz Luhrmann:i'm kind of useful bas lerman thank you so much for coming on how to fail it's really i didn't
47:36Elizabeth Day:know how i'd go on this you know talking about failure but i really enjoyed the therapy session doctor.
47:41Baz Luhrmann:Thank you so much. That's the ultimate compliment. Do I have to pay you for my therapy? No, you've paid me already in the culture you've produced. Thank you so much.
47:49Elizabeth Day:No, it was beautiful.
47:52Baz Luhrmann:Please do follow How to Fail to get new episodes as they land on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Please tell all your friends. This is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment original podcast. Thank you so much for listening. moving
From the publisher
Few filmmakers have a style as bold, romantic and unmistakable as Baz Luhrmann. From his breakout debut Strictly Ballroom to the glittering spectacle of The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and the fever-dream energy of Elvis, Luhrmann has built a career on transforming familiar stories into cinematic events.
In this episode, he takes us inside one of his most iconic creative decisions: the unforgettable fish tank scene in his 1996 adaptation of Romeo + Juliet - and reveals how that moment came to life.
We also explore his latest project, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, a return to Elvis Presley through newly uncovered footage from the legendary Las Vegas residency.
Beyond the films, Luhrmann reflects on the journey that shaped him. Raised in Herons Creek, a tiny rural town in New South Wales, Australia, he grew up surrounded by performance and storytelling: his father ran a quirky petrol station and cinema, while his mother owned a dress shop and taught ballroom dancing. We discuss the setbacks that tested him, his unconventional audition process, his enduring creative partnership with his wife and the viral TikTok moment that sent the internet into a frenzy.
I hope you enjoy this candid, wide-ranging conversation with one of modern cinema’s great showmen.
✨ IN THIS EPISODE:
02:28 Creativity as Self‑Medication
05:52 Why Elvis?
09:22 The Romeo + Juliet Fish Tank Origin Story
11:01 Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen: The Accidental Hit
13:56 Failure #1: Losing Instincts, Depression and Finding the Way Back
26:16 Casting Without Auditions: Baz’s Workshop Method
27:58 Creating a Fear-Free Room
28:47 The Big Break That Became a Public Flop
30:56 Rebounding with Strictly Ballroom
32:19 Choosing Collaborators
33:36 Marriage and Deep Trust
35:42 Criticism and Staying Humble (Plus the Viral TikTok Moment)
40:38 Future-Focused Filmmaking & Final Reflections
💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:
I see my job as keeping fear out of the room. I take the fear on in the morning when I get up.
I was embarrassed about being this geek from a small country town... I was ashamed that I liked people - and that just didn't seem cool enough.
I always made my films for the future, not to be sort of hip in the moment... I want them to have a universality and I want them to move through time and space.
🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is in cinemas now
THAT TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@god_worthy/video/7374740069866884368?lang=en
Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content
Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/
📚 WANT MORE?
Stanley Tucci - On grief, cancer…and failing to swim swap.fm/l/WCW054IGNZnSnTzEXPTN
Phoebe Waller-Bridge - On creative risk-taking, ambition and what happens after a cultural phenomenon like Fleabag swap.fm/l/gTCOCJUmXX9t22mTABSa
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Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson
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Executive Producer: Alex Lawless
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