Baz Luhrmann is a director whose work has inspired a fervent following and equal disdain, depending on the project. Part of that is due to his maximalist tendencies: his work often tends to feature big sets, big names in the cast, and narratives that stretch on. A key example is Australia, the 2008 Luhrmann-helmed drama featuring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Australia is set on the brink of World War II, as Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) travels to the titular country in order to sell a cattle station. But after the death of her husband, Sarah finds herself falling for Drover (Jackman), a cattle rancher. It isn’t long before drama rears its head, especially surrounding the indigenous Nullah (Brandon Walters) that comes to live with Sarah and Drover. Australia received a mixed reception when it was released, and probably would have remained a footnote in Luhrmann’s career if not for the fact that he reworked the film into a streaming series called Faraway Downs, 15 years after Australia was released in theaters.
Faraway Downs is an interesting experiment; while most directors might release an alternate cut of their film, Luhrmann chose to create an entire television series. Some would argue that’s the format he should have originally gone with, as Australia clocks in at a whopping 165 minutes. Faraway Downs not only features new footage and songs, but an entirely different ending that adds a tragic weight to the story. It also has the unintended effect of bringing Faraway Downs more in line with Luhrmann’s overall body of work.
‘Faraway Downs’ Ends With the Death of a Major Character
The final moments of Australia see Nullah embarking on a trip to the Outback to visit his grandfather, “King George” (David Gulpilil). It came after a very intense moment, as well; prior to this, Nullah was almost shot by Neil Fletcher (David Wenham), the manager of Faraway Downs who wanted to take it away from Sarah and sell it to a meat tycoon. In Australia, Fletcher is unsuccessful as “King George” kills him with a well-placed spear to the chest. In Faraway Downs, things take a much more tragic turn as Drover throws himself in front of Nullah, taking the bullet and dying. As he lays dying, he finally tells Sarah his full name — Jack Clancy — and encourages her to let Nullah live his own path. The final moments feature Nullah going off into the Outback like he did in Australia, only this time Sarah watches him go alone.
Luhrmann revealed that the reworking of Faraway Downs came about when he was working on Elvis in 2020. After Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19 and production shut down, he started looking at the footage he shot for Australia, and believed that recutting the film into a series could better serve its themes. He further elaborated on this in an interview with TheWrap: “I initially thought and then revisiting it realized just how important it is for Lady Ashley not to be defined by any one person so much as her relationship to her environment. It’s a melodrama and melodramas have a relentless amount of tragic twists and turns. But I think that if I was being true to the bigger theme of the story, the ‘Faraway Downs’ ending speaks more directly to the primary theme of the movie.”
‘Faraway Downs’ Tackles an Element That ‘Australia’ Failed To
In reshaping Australia into Faraway Downs, Luhrmann also corrects a major failing of the original film and explores Indigenous culture. In taking place during the cusp of World War II, Australia acknowledges the “Stolen Generations”— Indigenous children who were removed from their birth families and placed with white families at the behest of the Australian government. Luhrmann said he made this change to avoid the “white savior narrative” that often occurs when a white character visits a foreign country, telling Variety: “What I hope we are left with at the end of ‘Faraway Downs’ is that Lady Sarah Ashley hasn’t come in and saved everyone… She has actually been the one saved by learning to live a good story and be responsible for herself.”
The new ending of Faraway Downs does show that Sarah is not only willing to respect Nullah’s culture by letting him go at the end, but that she can handle being alone. It also serves as a rather poignant bookend to her story: when she first came to Australia, she was alone, and she ends the story alone. Luhrmann also made sure the soundtrack for Faraway Downs contains Indigenous music, and even had his longtime producer Catherine Martin screen the series for Indigenous communities, showing that he was committed to telling an authentic story on his second go-around.
The Ending of ‘Faraway Downs’ Continues a Trend in Baz Luhrmann’s Work
In recutting Faraway Downs so that Drover dies in Sarah’s arms, Luhrmann continues a trend that’s echoed throughout his films: no one gets a truly happy ending. The best example is his 2001 musical Moulin Rouge, which literally opens with Christian (Ewan McGregor) writing about the late love of his life, Satine (Kidman). It might be a trippy thrill ride full of great music, but the minute Satine is introduced on stage the audience knows she isn’t long for this world — and Luhrmann puts his star crossed lovers through the wringer. Even his adaptations swing toward the tragic, with William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet being based on the Bard’s most tragic romance of all time and The Great Gatsby ending — as the novel does — with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s titular billionaire fatally shot in the swimming pool of his extravagant mansion.
Yet even though these films have a tragic end, they also manage to pack their runtime full of love, humor, and pairings that feature some immense chemistry. It’s the same with Faraway Downs, as the magnetism between Jackman and Kidman is still there (and given an extra hour of time to breathe.) Baz Luhrmann got the second chance so many filmmakers dream of: to have a second crack at his work and deliver a better story. With Faraway Downs, he definitely succeeded.
Faraway Downs is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
Watch on Hulu
