Baz Luhrmann talks Elvis with Maureen Dowd

There are stressful moments, like with “Moulin Rouge!”, when Mr. Luhrmann and Ms. Martin found a fax that someone accidentally left in the machine with an urgent call to the studio to pick up the slack. because “Baz is out of control.” But if it’s not incredibly difficult to birth, it’s not Baz-y.

CM, as Mrs. Martin is known, brings her husband’s enchanted worlds to life with opulent sets and costumes. She admitted that the magnitude of Mr Luhrmann’s dreams of finding “the best of the best of the best” can make him feel like Harrison Ford running to escape the rock in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. “.

During the first week of May, Mr. Luhrmann was racing to complete mixing and editing on “Elvis” for its Cannes premiere this weekend, a month before its June 24 wide release. He was flying from Australia, where the film was shot. , from New York to Los Angeles and back to New York before going to France. And he was also helping to lead the Met Gala and walking the red carpet wearing a Prada “Elvis decorative aesthetic” outfit, as he put it, flanked by Priscilla Presley, oddly arm in arm with Elvis from the film, the thirty 30 year old. Austin Butler.

Mr. Luhrmann, who calls himself a “research freak”, wrote the screenplay with three other screenwriters. He enters into total immersion on his films, surrounding himself with excavations of the world he creates, from the hangings to the wardrobe through the photos.

During “Gatsby,” he laughed, “I think we went a little overboard with the speakeasy part.” He and Mrs. Martin also flew to England so they could travel to New York on an ocean liner, like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

“He makes coffee nervous”

The afternoon of our interview, Mr. Luhrmann, whip-thin at 59, wore flared black Celine jeans and Acne Western boots, a Prada sweater in a blue Elvis preferred, a double-diamond ring, a copy of Elvis’ “EP”. ring, a pearl necklace and a gold “TCB” necklace with a diamond lightning bolt, a riff on jewelry worn by Elvis and the Memphis Mafia that meant “taking care of business” quickly. And he showed a replica of the jeweled belt with gold chains that Elvis wore on stage in the 70s.