Opera Chic

Baz Luhrmann on La Bohème: "Live the Work"

The Australian filmmaker behind Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby gives insight to the creative process behind his epic 2002 Broadway revival of “La Bohème”.

Before mounting an early production of “La Bohème,” for example, Luhrmann said, “Let’s go live the life of Puccini!” And they flew to Italy and set up in Torre del Lago, where Puccini wrote many of his operas.

They traveled to Milan and went over every inch of La Scala, the opera house. They lived “like total bohos,” Luhrmann said, content in the knowledge that “the work itself was only just as important as the adventure of actually living the work. Living the work has always been the thing that has enriched and sustained.”

Caveat: Don't die of tuberculosis.

Bolle's Hollywood Dream: A Baz Luhrmann Film

Among the things that Opera Chic has in common with Roberto Bolle, there's a deep appreciation for the cinematic and opera work of Baz Luhrmann -- Roberto is a big fan and, as he just explained in an interview to this week's A magazine, he'd love to appear -- even in a bit part -- in one of Luhrmann's films.

In the interview, Bolle also reveals that he's a twin (his twin brother's not a dancer -- he's a businessman): double Bolle vision!

Nobody Likes "Operatic" Films -- They Only Make US $207,000,000 (And Counting)

"Melodrama has been the building block of storytelling in cinema since the form was invented. I've always been interested in that form".

"It's not psychological drama. (The characters) are not meant to be psychologically revealed."

Baz Luhrmann's Australia, supposedly a big bomb, is still making money after breaking through the US $200 million barrier -- an interesting sign that "operatic" can be pretty popular, and that everything opera stands for still strikes a chord with a contemporary audience. The movie is still making money ( US $207 million and counting) and the DVD (UK link here) and Blu-Ray (UK link here) are selling surprisingly well.

Opera Chic almost instinctively endorses everything Baz Luhrmann does on general principle, even when he builds an entire, really long movie around the alarmingly serene visage of Nicole Kidman, because the crazy-haired Aussie director works with the volume control constantly cranked to maximum emotional impact -- his films go against the grain of the current cinematic fashion in a way that makes them very dear to OC's heart (Opera Chic is not crazy about the Bazzster's old Bohème, but whatever -- as soon as Opera Chic runs a major opera house, and it might happen sooner than you think, she's hiring Luhrmann to stage Verdi's forgotten masterpiece, Jérusalem).

The late great Douglas Sirk's modus operandi not being available to modern film makers anymore -- unless they end up frozen in an elegantly taxidermied manner, "Far From Heaven" style -- Luhrmann has forced himself to imagine an alternative path to operatic splendor in cinema -- unlike the cemeterial grandeur of The Godfather, for example. His films are unabashedly devoted to the feverish, relentless nature of romantic love -- the gray mousie realists be damned. As Elvis Mitchell wrote about a Luhrmann film, it "has so much heart that the poor overworked organ explodes in every scene". Luhrmann makes movies that want to call you by name -- in this, he seems to be rather close to the intent of your average opera composer giant of the past.

Now, if only Hugh Jackman could sing unamplified --

Vanity Fair Steps into Baz Luhrmann's Magical World & We Follow

Men's U.S. Vogue November chats with Australian director Baz Luhrmann, and we want in! Working in post-production for his upcoming World War II epic, Australia, Vogue caught up with Luhrmann at his "House of Iona", a gigantic Victorian estate in Sydney's Darlinghurst neighborhood, which he shares with his kids, five-year-old daughter Lillian and three-year-old son William, and his wife, Catherine Martin. btw :::~*OC shoutout to all our gorgeous Australian readers*~:::

Australia, which stars Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, is Luhrmann's first film since 2001's Moulin Rouge, is slated to come out with the Thanksgiving rush.

Dressed in a Lanvin cardigan and Bottega Veneta shirt&pants, with a plastic bust of Beethoven overlooking his work, Lurhmann is totes in the spirit of O.C., and his Broadway La Boheme simply sealed the deal.

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