Mad about Baz

I'm very excited to see Great Gatsby because Baz Luhrmann is one of my favorite directors. He's very theatrical and eccentric and I think you either love him or don't care for him too much.
To say that I am a fan of his is a small understatement, one of the best surprise birthday gifts I ever received was his Red Curtain Trilogy DVD set which includes Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. I'm not much of a girly girl but I do love a great love story and Baz knows how to tell some awesome ones.

I remember when Romeo and Juliet came out in 1996, I watched it a couple years later and was forever changed, the more I watched it the more I grew to love Shakespeare and the more I loved Baz's sense of style, interpretation and presentation. He's seamlessly blends humor, tragedy, and love, I think that's what admire most about his movies. Well that and his amazing attention to detail..... and they way he can direct actors to give amazing, type cast smashing performances. Most girls will say the love Leo because of Titanic but I love Leo because of his performance of Romeo.

I love that he kept the original text, but everything else is modern, I love the costume design, the soundtrack, the cinematography the whole package, he thinks of every little detail and how it will add to the story. Below is one of my favorite scenes when they first meet.

Moulin Rouge is boisterous musical with modern pop songs and original songs too. Who would have thought Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor could sing? I think they are absolutely adorable together and Baz does a wonderful job putting his stamp on the musical genre. My favorite song performed in the movie is "Come What May" in the finale scene. But I love the instrumental song played in the credits "Bolero" and Rufus Wainwright's song "Complainte De La Butte".

And last but not least his first of the Red Curtain series, Strictly Ballroom, a more traditional tale out of the three movies, but no less endearing and entertaining.  Strictly Ballroom explores the competitive and flashy world of ballroom dancing and two unlikely partners who want to put their own spin on things. What can I say it's his first movie as a director and it's really sweet and I think it shows a lot of his personality and his background.

So are you a Baz Luhrmann fan? Are you excited to see Great Gatsby?