Released in the fall of 2008, just a few months after this very site was born, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, ended up doing decently with a worldwide gross of $211 million on its $130 million budget, though it’s safe to say with its disappointing reception both in the U.S. and with critics at large, it hasn’t been fondly revisited. However, the director wasn’t done telling the full story of the mid-20th century tale as he’s expanded it into a six-part Hulu series arriving this November. Ahead of the release, the first trailer has now arrived.
“It was when Elvis shut down due to COVID,” the director tells The Wrap when it comes to the formation of the project. “I got the idea and started to relook at the footage and realized I’ve shot enough to do it as episodic storytelling through a revisiting of the piece, not necessarily as a better film than “Australia,” but a different variation on the themes. I was able to use the strengths of episodic storytelling to breathe those things out and explore them in a stronger way. Particularly this idea of it being Nullah’s narrative. It’s this First Nations child telling the story from his point of view about the land, this strange woman and being taken away from his family. It’s kind of like what Drover says in the film, it’s truly about how you can’t own the land, you can’t own a child, all you really own in the end is your story, so you better just try and live a good one.”
Here’s the synopsis: “The story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset: a million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called ‘Faraway Downs’. Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney (Bryan Brown), plots to take her land and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah (Brandon Walters), a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the “Stolen Generations.” Together the trio experiences four life-altering years, a love affair between Lady Ashley and the Drover, and the unavoidable impact of World War II on Northern Australia.”
See the trailer below.
Faraway Downs arrives on Hulu on November 26.