Screen Hots Up For Kidman, Crowe

Found this great little article in the Herald Sun today.

Screen hots up for Kidman, Crowe
It's not Oklahoma! and it's definitely not a musical.
But Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe will feature in a "sweeping romance" for Baz Luhrmann.
"Yes, it's very passionate," the Moulin Rouge! director said of the two stars' on-screen relationship.
The epic begins in the mid-1930s and end with it's major set piece, the 1942-43 Japanese bombing of Darwin and the exodus south, which became known as the Adelaide River Stakes.
Luhrmann, who has researched the film for 10 years, said the tale, co-written by Collateral's Stuart Beattie and The Pianist's Ron Harwood, will be a "mythological telling" drawn from books and historical materials.
"Russell, Nicole and I have been wanting to do a large Australian piece for a very long time," he said.
It is believed both actors have dramatically lowered their fees to collaborate with Luhrmann.
Shooting begins in August in the Kimberleys, Darwin and Queensland.
"We're in a unique moment where we can make an Australian film on a scale that's never been made about Australia with Australian actors in all the primary and lead roles," Luhrmann said.

Man, fully pumped for this! My favourite actress, one of my favourite actors, one of my favourite directors + I'm sure there will be a bounty of great Aussie supporting actors. And they're starting filming in August! That makes it a possibility for a 2007 release, but knowing Luhrmann it will indeed be 2008.

There was also an article about Greg McLean's (Wolf Creek) next movie Rogue that has Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell (Australian, remember) and John Jarratt. It's about a crocodile terrorising people. Sounds sorta lame, but i was duly impressed by what McLean was able to do with such a threadbare plot and only four characters in Wolf Creek so I am looking forward to this. Rogue will be released later this year.