Desert Island Discs

Baz Luhrmann, director

12.25.2022 - By BBC Radio 4Play

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Baz Luhrmann is an Australian director whose debut film, Strictly Ballroom, became one of Australia’s most successful releases, and also inspired the title of the BBC’s popular Saturday night dance show. He went on to direct Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, the Great Gatsby and, more recently, Elvis starring Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Baz was born Mark Andrew Luhrmann in 1962. His friends nicknamed him Baz after the puppet Basil Brush because of his unruly hair. When he was five the family moved to Herons Creek, a remote settlement in New South Wales. Several years later Baz started ballroom dancing after he picked up a leaflet advertising classes while travelling on a bus. At drama school in Sydney he devised a play called Strictly Ballroom with his fellow students and later wrote a screenplay with his school friend Craig Pearce. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992 where it received a rapturous response and went on to win eight Australian Film Institute awards and three BAFTAs. Baz’s most recent film, Elvis, tells the life of Elvis Presley from the perspective of his infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. The film has been a commercial success – making almost $300 million around the world to date. In addition to making feature films Baz has directed theatre and opera productions. He lives mainly in New York with his wife and frequent collaborator, the production designer Catherine Martin, and their two children. DISC ONE: Changes by David Bowie

DISC TWO: One by John Farnham

DISC THREE: Spanish Flea by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

DISC FOUR: Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley

DISC FIVE: Puccini: La Boheme / Act 1 - 'Che gelida manina' by Luciano Pavarotti

DISC SIX: Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

DISC SEVEN: Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, MYA, Pink

DISC EIGHT: No Church in the Wild by JAY Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The-Dream

BOOK CHOICE: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

LUXURY ITEM: A silk eye mask

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Puccini: La Boheme / Act 1 - 'Che gelida manina' by Luciano Pavarotti Presenter Lauren Laverne

Producer Paula McGinley

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