“Australia” just received its first word of bad press yesterday, when it was revealed via the Australian news that director Baz Luhrmann had caved to studio pressure to change the dour ending of the film to a happy one after a “disastrous” test screening where audiences weren’t pleased with its originally sad tone (we won’t get into the spoilers, but they’re here if you wanna dig deeper).
However, on the same day, the film also received a huge endorsement from one of the U.S. biggest television figures, Oprah Winfrey who apparently loved the film. Obviously, Oprah’s multi-million dollar empire and her influence reaches far and wide. On yesterday’s “Oprah,” the talkshow queen dedicated the entire show to Luhrmman’s film.
“Congratulations on your imagination, your vision, your creativity, your direction. Our hearts are all swelling because, my God, it’s just the film we needed to see,” Winfrey told Luhrmann during the special, “Australia” edition of “Oprah.” “I have not been this excited about a movie since I don’t know when,” she gushed.
Oprah sounded like she was practically actively campaigning for the film, which she’s obviously seen. “I’m telling you, have I got the movie for you. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a long, long, long, long time. It literally swept me off my feet. You just don’t get to see movies like this anymore.” “
Luhrmann, speaking to Oprah over teleconference said, “Part of the reason I wanted to do a film about my home country was to come to understand the indigenous story in Australia. One of the most difficult parts of our history was the time when mixed-race Aboriginal children were taken by the government from their families and put into institutions to make them into Europeans. This has been a big issue, and it’s called the Stolen Generation.”
Oprah continued to wax effusively during the show. “It’s like you painted a canvas for us all to experience, Baz,” she cooed.
Both Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman reiterated the story that they both agreed to the film without looking at the script (at Kidman’s behest she told Jackman, “Oh, I haven’t read the script [either]… It’s Baz…You just sign on.”).
You can see most of the show on Oprah.com. According to Nielsen Media Research, the yearly average viewership is 7.3 million, which is down 7% from last year, but still her endorsements are nothing to sneeze at. She obviously has a huge female audience and an older one that could respond to the “Out Of Africa,” or “Casablanca”like epic romanticism of the film (btw, is this the new final poster? It looks a little different from what we’ve seen).
Spoiler related to the previously changed ending:
In related news that’s kind of hilarious and kind of awesome, Jeffrey Wells is saying that two versions of “Australia” should be released, one in which Hugh Jackman’s character lives (the ending that Fox and Luhrmann ultimately agreed upon for regular release) and “releasing the ‘dead Hugh‘ version in a small number of big-city theaters — 15 or 20 or 25 prints, tops — while mass-releasing the [aforementioned] version to mainstream theaters coast to coast.” Ha, we kind of love it. The idea of a three-hour sweeping adventure epic might be off-putting to some, but hell, by Baz Luhrmman, we’d probably go see both.
The whole audience got to see it…damn them all! I wonder if that was considered the test screening which gave the ending the bad press? And speaking of the ending again…didn’t Nicole Kidman’s last love interest in a film like this die as well? It didn’t seem to hurt Cold Mountain.