Baz Lurhmann has finally announced that his new Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman-led epic adventure flick will be called Australia.
In what will be his first time back in the director's chair since 2001's Moulin Rouge, the film will centre on an English aristocratic land owner (Kidman) who, in an attempt to avoid money-grabbing cattle barons, embarks on a harzardous cross-country trip with a rough and ready cattle driver (Jackman). The pair then encounter the Japanese bombing of Darwin, which occured a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
The Sydney-born director told website The Age, "I'm taking the perspective of the rest of the world to this film - how they might view 'Australia. When you say Casablanca or Oklahoma! it means big. It means vast... I'm not saying this film is Australia. It's a metaphor for a state of mind, for the faraway."
Filming is due to start in March, with the movie tentatively set for release in 2008. Expect an adventure of epic proportions, with beautiful scenery, lustful romance, massive explosions and cows. Definitely cows.