Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has promised fans that his new film about French heroine Joan of Arc will be the “ultimate coming-of-age” story.
The Elvis director, 62, is currently looking for a young actress to star in the upcoming blockbuster and also revealed that he has been planning to film the epic yarn since the 1990s.
The true story of Joan of Arc revolves around a peasant girl who led an army against the English during the Hundred Years’ War during the Middle Ages.
‘I almost did Alexander the Great, and at one point I went to battle Napoleon, but more than ever I realized that I was waiting for the right moment to tell this story and for the idea of this ultimate teenage girl coming along . -adult story set in a 100-year war,” Luhrmann said in a new interview with Variety.
Elsewhere in the chat, the Moulin Rouge director said he hoped the film would “inspire” the current generation.
He described Joan as a young girl from a small town and continued: [‘She] manages to say to this 25-year-old king: ‘We will be able to unite the country, and you will be king’.
He added: “It’s that inspiration, that uplift. It’s like now that the current generation has to do what the generation before us did, and that makes space, lifts up the new voices and the new energy, and makes sure they’re there to break through this petrified world.”
Lurhrmann’s film is based on the 1974 novel Blood Red, Sister Rose by Australian author Thomas Kenneally, famous for Schindler’s List.
Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has promised fans that his new film about French heroine Joan of Arc will be the “ultimate coming-of-age” story. Pictured: Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin attend the 2024 LACMA Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday
The director and his wife and creative partner Catherine Martin, 59, discussed the film during an appearance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Martin, who will take on the role of production design for the Joan of Arc film, says Lurhrmann has been thinking about making the story for 30 years.
Meanwhile, the director accepted an honor from LACMA at their annual Art+Film Gala fundraiser.
The Elvis director, 62, is currently looking for a young actress to star in the upcoming blockbuster, revealing to Variety that he has been planning to film the epic yarn since the 1990s. Pictured: French actress Lise Leplat Prudhomme in the 2019 film Joan of Arc
The historical Joan who died at about 19 years old provoked the wrath of church leaders because she wore men’s clothing, which was considered “blasphemous” at the time.
Joan’s story has been filmed many times over the past hundred years, with actresses such as Casablanca star Ingrid Bergman and Americans Milla Jovovich and Leelee Sobieski playing the role of the patron saint of France.
No budget details have been released for the film, but industry reports indicate that Luhrmann has set up the film at Warner Bros., where his 2022 blockbuster Elvis was produced.
American actress Milla Jovovich as Joan of Arc in the 1999 film The Messenger: The Story Of Joan Of Arc. (Pictured)
The musical biopic of Elvis Presley grossed a whopping $288,670,284 worldwide.
It comes after the Gold Coast ‘cabin’ Luhrmann and Martin rented while selling Elvis for $5.72 million.
The couple led increasingly “separate lives” in recent years, with Martin living in the Miami area while the director worked in New York.
In a recent interview with The Australian’s Wish magazine, Catherine spoke about being in a long-distance relationship with her husband.
The Academy Award-winning designer said the pair spoke regularly on the phone when he was in New York and she was staying at the seaside Gold Coast cabin.
Catherine said she enjoyed the “work-life balance” on the Gold Coast, where she took long morning walks on the beach every day and took classes at her local Pilates studio.
Baz and Catherine have been married for 27 years and recently saw their own children Lilly, 20, and William, 18, move out of their home.
Luhrmann rose to fame as the director of the Australian box office hit Strictly Ballroom in 1992.
He followed it up with more hits, including Romeo + Juliet (1996) with Leonardo DiCaprio, Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Australia (2008), both starring Nicole Kidman, and The Great Gatsby (2013), which also featured DiCaprio.
The true story of Joan of Arc revolves around a peasant girl who led an army against the English during the Hundred Years’ War during the Middle Ages. Pictured: Leelee Sobieski in a scene from the 1999 miniseries Joan of Arc