Spoilers about Australia follow. Additionally, there are vague references to an alternate ending for Faraway Downs.
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Faraway Downs is a six-episode miniseries based on Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 film Australia that delves deeper into the film’s plot and themes. The miniseries includes an hour of never-before-seen footage from Australia and adds valuable moments missing from the original film. It features an alternate ending that differs from the original cut, with the biggest difference between the miniseries and the movie being the deaths of major characters.
Fans of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 film Australia may be wondering what Hulu’s Faraway Downs is, especially since the new series uses footage from the movie. do not have. Directed and co-written by Luhrmann, Australia is an epic adventure drama set against the backdrop of World War II and centered around three main characters. First, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), a British aristocrat, appears. She heads to Australia to force her husband to sell his failing cattle farm, Faraway Downs. After her husband is murdered, Lady Ashley finds herself torn between keeping the station or selling it to the insidious meat industry.
Lady Ashley visits Faraway Downs and meets Drover (Hugh Jackman), an Australian rancher who transports cattle in the outback, and Nula (Brandon Walters), a mixed-race Aboriginal boy who shows up at the cattle station. ). Forced together by circumstances, the trio fall in love with each other and live happily ever after at Faraway Downs. But during the chaos of the Japanese attack on Darwin in 1942, Lady Ashley had to learn how to keep Nula with her grandfather. With a running time of just over two hours, Australia has a lot of ground to cover. That’s one reason why Hulu’s new miniseries Faraway Downs doesn’t feel like a huge leap forward.
Faraway Downs is a six-episode miniseries version of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 film Australia
Although it debuts 15 years after its 2008 Australian release, the Faraway Downs miniseries is a logical way to more thoroughly explore the epic film’s many plot points and themes . The character stories, set between 1939 and 1942, feature extensive coverage of Australia. In truly epic fashion, the film’s 165-minute running time feels both too long and too short. Despite the film’s beautiful Australian setting and meticulous production design, Australia was a critical misfire upon theatrical release. Although the film ultimately recouped its huge production costs, it was also Luhrmann’s highest-grossing film.
In June 2022, it was announced that Australia would be re-released as a miniseries on Hulu (and Disney+ internationally). The television series, called “Faraway Downs” after Lady Ashley’s ranch, is essentially an extended cut of the theatrical version. The recut and reimagined version of the 2008 film came about when director Luhrmann had to pause production on Elvis in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. . With time on his hands, the filmmaker ended up delving into the 2.5 million feet of film that was reportedly shot for Australia. In an interview with Variety, Luhrmann said Faraway Downs is an “experiment” with “far-reaching” implications if successful.
Luhrmann mined ample unreleased content (both deleted and trimmed scenes) and added 40 minutes of new unreleased footage to Faraway Downs. As the director pointed out, the transition from film to miniseries works very well because of the episodic nature of melodramas. Australia is essentially divided into several parts. Each part often ends with a tragedy or cliffhanger. Naturally, this makes for great television storytelling. Compressing footage into a single film means losing precious moments.
In the United States, all six episodes of Faraway Downs premiered on Hulu on November 26, 2023.
Now, director Luhrmann is able to add back footage from 2007 and 2008. “They’re not just padding,” the director told Variety. “Those are different ways of telling the story.” Notably, Luhrmann did not shoot any new footage for this project, but Kidman and Jackman worked together to record audio for unused scenes in the story. called. That said, there are six chapters in Faraway Downs, and each chapter is between 30 and 50 minutes long. Additionally, all six episodes will stream simultaneously on Hulu. This is clearly different from the streamer’s usual approach.
The biggest difference the remote Downs bring to Australia
Australia’s final act chronicles the 1942 Japanese attack on Darwin, a real-life town near a fictional cattle station. In the midst of this confusion, Lady Ashley listens to Drover’s reminder that one cannot own another person or their story. Therefore, she encourages Nura, an aspiring member of the Stolen Generation, to return to her grandfather. In the original cut, Lady Ashley and Drover survive the attack and remain together. However, the original ending was not so sweet. In Faraway Downs, Luhrmann follows his first instinct and kills a key character. That character death is the biggest difference between Australia and Faraway Downs.
Related: All Baz Luhrmann Movies, Ranked by Box Office Mojo
No new footage was shot, but Kidman and Jackman did additional digital recording (ADR) to augment previously cut scenes. Additionally, fans of the original film will also notice that several new title cards have been added to the miniseries. For example, when someone dies, it is Aboriginal custom to honor that person by never speaking their name again. In the 15 years since the film’s release, several notable Aboriginal actors who appeared in the film have passed away, which encouraged the Faraway Downs production team to consult with Indigenous communities. From now on, viewers will see a disclaimer respectfully stating the use of “images, sounds, and artwork of deceased persons.”
Why Baz Luhrmann released the Australian TV version 15 years after the movie
Baz Luhrmann’s creative experiments were mostly born out of pure chance. During the filming of Elvis in 2020, the cast and crew were quarantined due to coronavirus-related issues. (Infamously, Elvis star Tom Hanks contracted the coronavirus while filming in Australia.) With a lot of time on his hands, Luhrmann felt an urge to revisit the archives of Australian film footage. I realized the potential of re-editing the film into an episodic mini-series. The filmmaker has been candid about his future plans, and not all of his films need the limited series treatment. However, some projects involving Elvis are not completely ruled out.
Faraway Downs is about 205 minutes total.
In reimagining the stories told in Australia, Luhrmann delves deeper into his characters. Instead of placing sketches of characters against grandiose backdrops and continuing that sense of mystery, the filmmakers could have re-centered the story around Lady Ashley, Drover, and Nula. The miniseries’ alternate ending is arguably the re-release’s most exciting tidbit, but it’s not the only example of Luhrmann getting to explore the story in a newfound way. For viewers, the experience of watching Australia will certainly be different to Faraway Downs. The two projects are not in conflict with each other, but coexist.
Source: Variety
