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Baz Luhrmann rushing to complete new film Australia

12/11/2008

Baz Lurhmann's new film Australia is still in the cutting room even though its world premiere is next week, the director has revealed.

The second world war epic, which cost $130 million (£84.2 million) to produce, is to be screened for the first time on November 18th in Sydney, with simultaneous screenings in Darwin and Bowen, Queensland.

But Moulin Rouge! director Luhrmann has admitted he is yet to complete the film, which stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

"I'm going back to the mixing desk to finish it in 24 hours," Luhrmann told News Ltd.

"It's right on the edge, we're right up against it. I literally have to on Friday night push that button."

The 46-year-old will fly from New York to Sydney to complete the final edit of the film, he explained.

"This is really dangerous, I hope there's no problem with the plane going back."

The most expensive Australian film ever, it tells of an English aristocrat (Kidman) who falls in love with a cowboy (Jackman) in the midst of the Japanese bombing of Darwin.

Luhrmann laughed off recent media reports which said studio 20th Century Fox had pressured him to alter the film's ending.

"You really think that on my films people tell me what to do? I don't think so," he said.

"On my films I decide. I wrote six endings and I shot three."

He added: "There is a death at the end of this film, but it's a surprise how that works."

Australia opens in the UK on December 26th.