Baz Luhrmann Reimagines Australia in Hulu’s First Faraway Downs Trailer

Hulu has released the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Faraway Downs. The 6 episode miniseries is a reimagining of Luhrmann’s own 2008 film Australia. In an interview with The Wrap, the director says that he got the idea of recutting the film and releasing it as a miniseries when production on Elvis shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I got the idea and started to relook at the footage and realized I’ve shot enough to do it as episodic storytelling through a revisiting of the piece, not necessarily as a better film than Australia, but a different variation on the themes.”

According to the official synopsis, “the story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset:  a million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called Faraway Downs.  Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney, plots to take her land and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah, a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the “Stolen Generations.” Together the trio experiences four life-altering years, a love affair between Lady Ashley and The Drover, and the unavoidable impact of World War II on Northern Australia.” 

The reimagining stars Nicole Kidman (Lady Sarah Ashley), Hugh Jackman (The Drover), Bryan Brown (King Carney), Brandon Walters (Nullah), and Ben Mendelsohn (Captain Dutton).

Australia was directed, produced and co-written by Luhrmann, alongside writers Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan, with production and costume design by multiple-Academy Award winner Catherine Martin. Faraway Downs is executive produced by Luhrmann and Martin, along with Catherine Knapman and Schuyler Weiss. 

Watch the trailer below; Faraway Downs will screen on Hulu in the United States, Star+ in Latin America, and on Disney+ in all other territories on November 26th.

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