Baz Lurhmann turns historical epic movie Australia into series for Disney

Film director, writer and producer Baz Lurhmann has reimagined his 2008 epic feature film Australia as a television series told in six chapters for Star/Disney+.

Baz Lurhmann at SXSW Sydney

Renamed Faraway Downs, the series premiered at a live event at SXSW Sydney at the weekend and will stream globally from November 26 on Hulu in the US, Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories.

The original film has been re-edited with the addition of unseen footage. Lurhmann told the SXSW audience he was inspired to re-approach his film and turn it into Faraway Downs “because of the way episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world. With over two million feet of film from the original piece, my team and I were able to revisit anew the central themes of the work.”

The original film, set in Western Australia during the Second World War, stars Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters, Ben Mendelsohn, David Wenham and Jack Thompson in a quasi-historical adventure-romance told through the eyes of an Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s Stolen Generations.

Australia, was directed, produced and co-written by Luhrmann, with writers Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan. Faraway Downs is executive produced by Luhrmann, Martin and Schuyler Weiss.