Happy Sad Confused - Baz Luhrmann, Vol. II

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Baz Luhrmann isn't done with Elvis just yet. After his blockbuster biopic with Austin Butler, the singular filmmaker has crafted a unique documentary/concert film, EPIC, that is earning some of the best reviews of his career. He joins Josh to talk about his journey with Elvis, how close Harry Styles came to playing him, reflections on MOULIN ROUGE, and a sneak peek at his long gestating Joan of Ark film. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! QUINCE -- Go to ⁠⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. NordVPN -- EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ ⁠⁠https://nordvpn.com/hsc⁠⁠ Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Saily -- 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code HSC at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to ⁠⁠https://saily.com/hsc⁠⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh, I can do one thing for you. Ready? Standing by. And action. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused.

Today on the show, a truly iconic filmmaker, Baz Luhrman, is back on the podcast. Returning to the world of Elvis with this new film, Epic. Thanks, guys, as always, for checking out the pod, enjoying us on YouTube, on Spotify, however you're doing it. I appreciate you guys. Remember to hit that subscribe button if you haven't

already and spread the good word of what we do over here. Returning Champion today. What a privilege to have Baz Luhrmann back on the show. Someone I absolutely grew up with Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge. These are films that are just part of my upbringing as a lover of film. I have a Moulin Rouge poster like 10 feet away from me in my place. So the fact that he came back on the pod, he was back. He was on the pod actually last for his Elvis movie starring our buddy Austin Butler.

back talking about this great concert slash documentary film. It's in theaters now. It's in IMAX in some theaters. I saw it in IMAX. It's fantastic. It is called Epic. I truly, truly highly recommend it. Before we get to more on Baz, let me just quickly mention, as always, remember, check out our Patreon. That's where we put all the content we put here a little bit early. You get early access. You get discount codes to our live events. Some really exciting live events we're about to announce, merch, all sorts of cool stuff. If you like what I do, support us over there, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. Okay, just a little more preamble on Baz Luhrman. He is a filmmaker like no other. That is true. His name ironically came up very

recently on the podcast when we were talking to Emerald Fennell, who is certainly an acolyte of Baz's, but also with many actors who have been through his famous, very unique casting process, whether it's Kate Hudson or Amanda Seifred. No one casts people quite like Baz does, his infamous kind of screen tests, workshops, whatever you want to call them. This is a great conversation not only about returning to the world of Elvis Presley, and it's a fascinating story of how this documentary came about, kind of in the course of making his Elvis biopic starring Austin Butler, all this footage was found of these concerts in Vegas and beyond,

as well as this, I think, 35, 40-minute audio tape of Elvis talking about his life in very frank terms. What Baz is now done in marrying it all together and working with Peter Jackson's folks to kind of refurbish the footage and look at as bright and vibrant as possible is make a truly cinematic experience. Truly, I said this to Baz. I'm a casual Elvis fan at best, but it's quite a thing to see the king on the screen in this way, just so vital, so alive, just at the peak of his powers. Highly recommend this one. Epic is in theaters now. Check it out. We also talk about a great many other things, including Romeo and Juliet, celebrating its 30th anniversary, Mulan Rouge, celebrating its 25th anniversary, close calls with a comic book character that I don't think he's talked about before that he almost did way back when.

Some really interesting stories from Baz here, one of the great, not only filmmakers, but conversationalists. So, so please this happened. So please you guys are here to listen and enjoy. And without any further ado, here's me and the one and only, Baz Luhrman. Here we go. Baz Luhrman, back on the podcast where he belongs. Not in person, but Mother Nature didn't want us to be in the same space, apparently, Baz. Damn, damn. Damn, and I love New York. I got a bar in New York. I got a house in New York. I miss New York. I know. Last time you were on the podcast, it was one of the last audio-only podcasts of Happy Second Fees we did, and you welcomed me into your home. And that was such a treat to see the pure world of Bazel-Lermin in person. Amazing.

I don't know. Maybe the last time. Congratulations, though, on this one, sir. You've been really, you know, carrying this one on your back around the world, and it's all for a good cause. I got a chance to see this in IMAX over the weekend. Oh, good, good. Glad you started in IMAX. It's amazing, sir.

It's truly a, look, as a casual Elvis fan, along, I took my mom, another casual fan. She came out, she insisted, I say to you today, I get it now. I get what Elvis Presley is all about. I love that. I love your mom. I tell your mom, I love her. Talk to me a little bit about, I mean, this one, correct me if I'm wrong,

this might be the best reviewed film in your illustrious career. I don't know if you pay attention to such a thing, but you're getting stellar reviews top to bottom on this. It's possible. I mean, no detractors. I tell you something.

You know what, Josh, you're a, you say you're a casual fan. I had a, I was talking to a chap. earlier today and he said, I got to tell you, I want to give you full disclosure. I have no interest in Elvis Presley. I never have. Not the music, not the guy. To me, he was just a Halloween costume, like basically a joke. He said, I'm in love now. You know, and I went, well, that's about the best review I could get. But I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't like, it's not like I'm purposefully out there

prophetizing. I did when I made the film of Elvis. I did it. I was in my life as a kid. You know, like I loved him in the movies. We had a movie theater for a while and I loved the movies.

You know, probably they're not that great now when I look at them. Burning Love was dropped when I was a ballroom dancer, so that won me a few prizes. I thought that was cool. But I very quickly opened my heart to different music,

you know, opera, and the David Bowies and all sorts of music, Michaels and all that. But Elvis was kind of there. But I really thought of Elvis, again in the movie, as a sort of Amadeus movie, as an exploration between the great salesman, the Kani salesman, which is one side of America, and the beautiful Orphean soul that Elvis was. Spent years down there, Graceland's, made the movie, and then discovered this footage by acting.

accident, the struggle to save it from the salt mines, the struggle to then work with wonderful Peter Jackson, bringing back the life, the struggle with the music knowing we had the voice and stuff, but we had damaged orchestrations. And then finding the tape of him talking and saying, let's let him tell the story. But along the way, something unexpected happened, I think. And that is in working with Jono Redmond, who was my creative partner in this, but I decided to let the man tell the story and looking for, you know, having to do deals with collectors and stuff, I felt like I got to know him, and I was reminded only recently that when I was

died, I kick on the bus and he said, hey, I was died today. And I went, what? And in my mind, in my 10-year-old mind or whatever it was, I went, that can't be right. because I was kind of like meet him and we were going to be friends, which is of course the kid's imagination. But somehow I feel like I have met him. And now I feel like I'm... Something's happening here that's beyond me.

And maybe that's why the reviews are so like they are because all I've done is taking away all the rust, giving Elvis the best possible reproduction. There's no AI. And the man, the artist, the vibrating energy on stage is doing the rest. Well, it's fascinating what you, you know, you allude to a bit of the journey of this film, which is unusual. You've obviously never made a film in quite this way before.

You know, we talk about you as a world builder. You're truly one of those filmmakers that creates a world. And here you're kind of handed a world. You kind of have to reconstruct a world. And, you know, I know, like, Yirmo del Tura always says, like, you find, the movie tells you what it is, right? You listen to the movie. And this, I think, is like the extreme example. of that. Like you had to, you couldn't come in with a preconceived notion of what this concert or

doc was going to be. No. No. Was that, was that freeing for you as a filmmaker? Was it a yes. Yes. I mean, actually, I was with Guillermo de Toro last night in front of a crazy crowd. We were watching an IMAX and they were dancing and screaming and, and Gilma sort of said something like, he's my brother. I mean, we are like brothers in film. And to your point, The answer is yes, yes, and yes. Because it's a bit like, I said to get on my sort of in front of her, I said, look, it's a bit like having a baby, but not having to be pregnant, you know, not having to do, you know, because I didn't have to shoot it. And I knew that my lead actor was 100% going to deliver, you know, right? So all I had to do, I mean, it's not nothing.

All John and I had to do was, it was a lot of labor. but it was the most enjoyable thing I've ever made because when, and Guillermo and I were talking about this at dinner, when you're making a movie, you write it, then you get, there's the fight with the studio, but the number, and then there's shooting, and then there's casting, and did you get the casting right? And then there's, by the time you get to post,

which is what this is, you're spiritually exhausted. Right. Whereas I began in post, you know, now. And that is Guillermo's right too. It was like when Jono and I found this one 40-minute tape above it was just speaking, the film spoke to us. It said, let El, get out of the way. Let Elvis tell the story. Things about Elvis are always someone telling you about him.

Right. Let him tell his story. And that was the moment of, yeah, we're doing it like a dreamscape. I think people will maybe not be surprised, but hardened to know that this does feel like a Bazleurman film, despite kind of like, you know, you're working within that context of like receiving the material and molding it. I mean, for me, it shares with all your work, like whatever period you're working in, you make things feel so vital, so present, so in the moment, you know, whether it's, whether it's Gatsby or Shakespeare or whatever. And that's really this.

This is like you feel like you are seeing a vital performer in their prime, in the moment. And it's so refreshing as someone that grew up, you know, like, you know, you hear about fat Elvis and dying Elvis and Elvis at the end. And it's like, this is a guy at his most charming, so, like, so awkward and wonderful backstage. So in his element on stage, it really brings him back to life. It must be, I mean, I can only imagine for me, if it makes me feel that way, for the diehard fans to see him like this. It must be something close to, yeah. Well, you know what? I tell you what, Josh, I'm not sure why, but I have a habit of doing what you're saying.

But I always start with this point, which is when Fitzgerald wrote the book, The Great Gatsby, you know, and you put Black Street music in it, everyone went, oh, my God, that's a fad jazz. And when Jay-Z and I went, no, no, it would have been like the most edgy. It's not nostalgia. I'm not interested in nostalgia. I'm interested in making it feel like. There's what it was, and then there's what it felt like. Right.

In the moment, at the time. What it felt like, yeah. And what did it feel like to be in the audience with Elvis? When he was making a show, he thought he was going to take on a world tour, which never happened. And look, I spoke to Clive Davis about, he was there at the opening night the year before. And he said, to this day, he's never. been at an opening night quite like it. He said, it was just so, he said,

Elvis actually did a car wheel and they had to stop from doing that because it was scared he'd not break his neck. But, like, I think the energy that vibrates off the stage, the fact that no one knew what he was going to do, the fact that he conducted the music with his body, you see him constructing the orchestrations, he didn't have a stylist,

you know, he's a one-off. And you're right, he's both incredibly idiosyncratic, funny, goofy, cool, dramatic, spiritual. One minute he's like being really silly, and the next moment he's seeing how great they're at, as if he's actually an acolyte connecting with God, you know? We'll be right back with more HappySeg Confused.

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This is old-school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story of the story. that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s and man, it is so good to be back.

Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. I mean, you've worked with some of the greatest actors

on the planet in your career. And I have musicians, actually. And of course. And, and, but I'm curious, like, what struck me in the film among many other things is how he did turn into this other person on stage in front of a camera, in front of an audience. Have you experienced that with certain actors? There's like, an actor jump out to you at, like, they're one person when they're rehearsing, when we're talking, whatever, and then when the camera turns on, something else happens. Yes, I mean, almost all the great ones are like that, you know. And it's interesting with musical.

icons because I mean I could go into the actors but pretty much all the really you know the Leonardo's and the and the Nicole's I mean Nicole but they are specifically transforming but with musical icons Bowie who was someone I was like an icon to me and then we worked together and then towards the end of his life we became friends he lived near me and I loved him and he would come around and he was very wise and funny but he does this mime earlier in his life when he's doing what working with Lee Kemp and he goes you know forgive my bad accident but he goes when you're a little Tucker you put on the

mask and people go isn't it funny and then later you put on the mask he's doing he's doing Piro Mime and you get paid to do it and then you put on the mask and you're suddenly very famous and then you put on the mask and you're at the world come up and you put it on them up and you put it on them and you put it and he chokes because you can't get the mask off and dies and that happens to these iconic performers that are beyond just performers their actual culture and there's only about two or three of them at that level and the problem is that they become the avatars they create right they become like elvis says at some point I'm so tired of being Elvis Presley.

Others, you know, I worked with Prince. And it was very hard, you know, it was like never broke character. It was always Prince. But the human being behind it gets lost. And in this film, Elvis says it. He's so articulate about it. He goes, it's very hard to live up to an image. There's the image and then there's the man.

And we try to show the a man in this film. We try to get to know the man. And the man is kind of really sweet and humble and has empathy and funny and, you know, but the image so overwhelming. But it also seems my sense, again, I haven't seen nearly the footage you have. Like in seeing him in the concert footage, it's like the audience needs him, but he needs them. And that's that seems like... One thousand a cent. What happens is we can all criticize, but none of us, Like as another famous person I know as a musician who's kind of recluse now, she said to me, we were talking about Elvis, she said no person, no human being is built to be that famous. And as that fame becomes so great, things that are okay for us like just go to Hawaii and rest or fall in love with someone.

What happens is the only real love you can trust and feed off is that with the audience and the one that they're fans and that love that they give back to you. You really trust that because you know it's authentic. And everything else outside of that is kind of, it's just interesting that all of the ones, the three I think of, let's just say all develop medical problems where they need a lot of prescription drugs. numb themselves. That's all I'd say about that. I saw, you mentioned you did a Q&A with Guillermo. I also saw Austin came out, Austin Butler came out to your premiere the other day. What did he have to say before, during or after about, I mean, he's seen so much footage himself. Well, we are crazy because we were running around and we're dear friends, but we actually

met on the carpet. So we weren't doing, you know, photo ready hugs. It was real. And I love him, love him so much and he saw it and he was just got smacked. I mean, it's a complicated thing for him because I've had people come on see, gee, Elvis did such a good Austin Butler, you know, some of the young ones. I go, no, no, it's the other way around. But we talked about some of the things that we, like, you know that's Super 8 where we'd heard about Elvis dancing like he had a sort of an electric eel in him. And Austin just obsessively.

watched every frame that was available of Elvis. But some of that stuff just wasn't available. And he was a bit like, oh, she would have done that one. But I think it's a testament to Austin, just how many people come out and say, oh, my God. You know, sometimes they thought watching Austin, you know. Right. It's been obviously a few years now. You obviously made the right choice.

But like the war is, as you well know, Harry Styles, and I believe Miles Teller were pretty close to landing the Elvis role. Was, were either of them very close to being your Elvis in the end? The eye workshop. Like when I was looking for my Jean-Dark, I, I know what, having been as a young actor and having a theatre company at the same time and being at night and auditioning people, I don't like auditions. I like to workshop.

And both of them brought so much. It was such a privilege to have them work on the material for an hour or so. or sometimes three hours. So I never go, you're right or wrong. I go, my job is to help you get this, but more importantly, let's forget result.

What can we learn about this material? What can we learn? And I learn quite a bit from both of them, actually. But it doesn't work like a horse race. It was just, in the case of Austin. He brought in kind of a full package. You know, the thing with Austin was he was sitting right in the pocket

of being able to play. there's so many reasons. Right. And it's kind of funny. I don't go like, okay, it is you. Number three, step forward. It just sort of evolves. And you just find yourself actually continuing to rehearse with that person.

It's such a privilege, I would imagine, to be like in your position where, you know, in the case of something like Elvis, it's like your name and Elvis's name make that movie. Because, and similar, like, you know, I want to talk a little bit about Joan of Arc, which you're about to embark on. And you've cast a relative unknown in that where there's, I would imagine in normal circumstances, you're casting an Elvis movie. The studio would be breathing down your neck and being like, Harry Stiles is right there. Please, for the love of God, take him, Bass. Do you not feel that pressure from the studio?

I think Harry's got real chops as an actor, I can tell you. Can't wait for the new album. I think the new song's great. And I would be thrilled to make something with Harry. But when it comes to my movies, no, I, well, no. I have to I mean I make movies

in a way I try and tell them the way I would tell you a story at a dinner party with a lot of me waving my hands about and a bit sort of jumping all over the place maybe a bit of colour and movement

but the point being that I have a I'm in a sort of unique position in that I've made not unique but I've made only a few films they've all made their money back and pretty much every single one of them

people would go, oh, Shakespeare, really? Is that going to do okay? Or Gatsby, who cares about a hundred year old book or Elvis? You mean the Halloween costume guy? Right. So my old mission for that moment, I just decided to do them because I think the audience will need that. It'll be useful.

And I just give myself completely to it. And I don't really have that. Like, I think generally speaking with studios, they just go, he's got this thing. I mean, I mean, with Austin,

we made him famous before the film open. You know, we made him, his star rose before we even opened through. I mean, I was the oldest guy

on TikTok, I think, at the time. But I'll do whatever I need to do to, to, you know, get audiences in

because I can't rely on the normal channels. I do, I do admire your Instagram game. I was, hoping in person for you to show me your your action move for Instagram because I'm obsessed.

And I'll do at the end if you like. I'll put the end you can button on the beginning. Perfect. I mean, that is in fact, that is in fact on the set, how I call action. I was going to ask. I was going to ask. Yeah. And we're breathing.

See, the end is very important because the end is when everyone breathes in and action. But I have to really feel when there's, everyone's locked in and settled. Like I coach everyone to sort of breathe the same moment. So we all hit it. It's a bit like music, a bit like conducting. Yeah, you have to get them into that flow state moment. You just have to get everyone ready to go to say moment. It helps the scene.

Your name comes up a lot on this podcast, and it's always good. Trust me. Actors, just in recent weeks, I mean, Kate Hudson, Amanda, I love her. She's... And these are actors who have screen tested for you that didn't even get the roles and yet still put you on such a pedestal

not only for your films, but going through the process. So I'm curious, like, you know, you alluded to this a little bit, and we've talked before about your screen tests, the workshop that you do. Yeah, the kind of workshops is what I call them, yeah. But I'm curious, like, how you even arrived at that process.

Was that, did that start with Romeo and Juliet or even strictly ballroom? Oh, no. So it began because I've always done this. And I have my own process even as a kid. But then I had a theatre company, an opera company. And I was in movies. I also knew what it was to.

I used to audition for NIDA, which is the National Institute. And I never got in. And eventually, they kind of let me in because I became so successful. I was terrible at auditioning. Because I was always, I think I was trying to direct myself. I was trying not to drink myself. I was trying to please someone. And so I realized that I see it as a privilege

if someone comes into my room, and I see it as my job to get them the job. Even if everyone around me is rolling their eyeballs going on, that'll never be right. I don't care because they're coming in, that actor is coming in, and I'm going to learn something about the scene just by working with them.

So I tried to get us to forget about a result and say, okay, what can we feel? fine, let's just rehearse like we're making a movie. What will we do and what will we discover and how will, you know, and for that it becomes enjoyable for both of us. And I give my all to it and so do that end, you know. More happy say and confused coming up. Searchlight Pictures presents in the blink of an eye on Hulu on Disney Plus,

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we figured, hey, now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again. And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll, of course, have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit of a left field choice in the best way possible. The note from Kripke was, he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent Dukovny type.

With 15 seasons to explore, it's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now. Another person that brought you up very recently, I had Emerald Finnell on the show, who just directed Wuthering Heights, and she is not shy about saying she is, you know, a student at the precipice of your work. Have you seen Wuthering Heights? Are you a fan of what Emerald's doing? I have because I interviewed her for interview magazine. And I got to see it early.

And of course, Jacob is a local. You know, to be honest, you know, so the two leads are like local kids from where I come. You know, Margo is a local too. so but but yeah I really enjoy I loved it I mean I just to me

there's a lot of discourse about it right right I told everyone was a bit like oh I'll keep out of the PR thing I've got you know Jake and and Margot

they'll do all that I said I think they're gonna be drawn into it because the thing about it is with adaption what she's doing and I mean this in the best possible way

it's like a great pop album like child Charlie's music is fantastic. I know Charlie. I think she's done an amazing job. But don't we love it when summer comes and a great album is dropped and we know all summer long

like Brat Summer or whatever your music taste is that the one by Rosalia, amazing, right? Don't we love it? We go, oh God, we've got that. It's going to make it all summer long we've got something, you know, or all whatever the period. And I think with what everyone's done

with watering ice is she's treated it Because when these books were written, I mean, when Gatsby was written, he wasn't trying, he was trying to write it brilliantly and do his best and great. And he was a great devotee of cinema. But he was a young kind of rock star, like it's pop. You know, he was writing something he wanted to be pop, meaning popular. Yeah. And everyone was just coming at it from an audience's point of even going popular. She is, and I've been through this myself.

I was going to say, like Romeo and Julia, were the Shakespeare purists happy with your Romeo and Julia at the time? I had critics going. One critic, there was, you know, the ones that had two thumbs up. I think the thumb, one guy gave it a thumbs up, and one was like thumbs down once it was a horrible. It was a film in first scene. It was great.

And he used to call it the MTV Romeo, which is funny, because I'd never made anything for MTV. But everything in it was actually based on a very deep, just deep study of it. Shakespeare and saying, well, he used to use pop music and put it in his movies, you know. But nonetheless, these things were not nostalgic. And I knew, I know, when I went about putting Jay Z and I did the music for Gatsby, you know, Fitzgerald put Black Street music in his novella called jazz and everything says,

why are you doing that? It's a fad. Right. Well, we think, well, jazz is lovely, but it's kind of nostalgic, right? How do we make it seem like now? And that is the mission and that what she's... But like everyone, I knew I'd have the ire of... Some academics, it's weird, because some academics absolutely consider Romeo and Juliet to be one of the...

The Royal Shakespeare coming, I think voted at the second most important Shakespeare film of all time, you know, the first one being chimes, at me not, which I happen to think is a work of genius, by Wells, you know. So you just have to accept you're going to be upsetting people. But if you're not upsetting pundits and critics and academics, right? I mean, the word academic pretty much sums it up, you know? Then because Shakespeare upset the academics of his side.

I mean, they just thought he was a pop, nobody, that no one would remember, you know? So you have to sign up for that. And she has signed up for that. Did you ever consider doing another adaptation of Shakespeare back in the day? Oh, yeah, I want to. I mean, I always thought, I'll do like the primaries in the canon because I'm Shakespeare not, you know. I thought at a certain age I should do Hamlet, and then I probably would do a Macbeth because that's about absolute power corrupting absolutely.

And then Leah, because they basically can track your life in those. four or five primary pieces. Plus, I love Henry the fourth part one. Although doing Jean Dark and researching it so deeply, I now have a very different point of view about Henry V. I mean, Shakespeare wrote him up as if he was quite the hero. Not sure about that from the French point of view. Sure.

It is so striking to look at your career, the six films prior to this, and like, you are your own brand. I'm sure franchises may be came calling, at various points. Maybe they still do. Maybe they still don't. They won.

Yeah. I very stupidly said no to a couple of extraordinarily, the first versions of a couple of extraordinarily, super iconic, many. And I would be a very wealthy person. So I was pretty silly. You can't just drop that, Baz. What are we, are we talking superhero?

Because there was a rumor way back when that Batman was in the mix. Did they ever come to you with Batman? Oh, I don't Batman. I mean, definitely Spider-Man, but like Harry Potter, you know, like the very first, I think Stephen was the first one,

and then they came to me, and I said, look, sounds amazing, but I want to redo the musical. Right. And, you know, this was after move on. But, you know,

and I probably, I probably would have ruined them because the filmmakers that make that, you know, the authorship of that, the brand in that, is actually, you know,

J.K. Rowling, you know, and everyone else That's a beautiful interpretation. But my brand is about taking stuff that people think is cheesy or forgotten, or even new works, but primary stuff. And for some organic reason, I might need to prove it to be relevant and new and fresh and of the moment. I'm not quite sure why, but it is a brand. Did you say Spider-Man was a real conversation at one point?

or yeah i did that it comes up in a very sweet way you know how's that uh i think i i might have asked amy i needed some help on something she was no oh i see i'm not gonna you know but that uh way back in the day i tell you what way back in the day i was a huge fan of silver surfer oh sure and way back in the day that was before it before uh i'm not sure if that's tc or or it's marble so it's marvel yeah yeah yeah there was there was there was there was This all become a lot of clickbait, but way back in the day, I just thought, I love Silver Surfer so much. Before Marvel was so big, you know, this is really early. And the guy who owned Marvel sent me all those Silver Surfer toys and books, and I went like,

philosophical surfer in space, you know. But alas, no, I did. It worked out. It worked out for everybody. It, time has no meaning when we're talking about anniversaries. So it's the 30th of Romeo and Juliet. It's the 25th of Mulan, which also makes me feel old. I did a 10th anniversary retrospective with you 15 years ago, so I don't know how we're still.

That's the sound of it. Exactly. Watch out for the Strigley-Boring 40th or something. There you go. There you go. We've talked about some of the famous, I mean, so many great actors you talked to for that one. Did Leonardo, was he in the conversation? You had obviously already worked with him.

Did he read for or sing for you for Mulan Rouge? Oh, I'm trying to remember whether, I mean, I'm trying to me. Yes, he did. And he sang really well, and he sang really well. He always says, oh, I couldn't sing. And I said, no, you sang really well. Um, he was involved at the time in, um, we workshops. So somewhere in the Basleurman vaults, there is footage of.

Oh, yeah, there's some in the Basleurman vaults, there's footage of everything. There's so much. You know, those bolts need to be only opened a hundred year after my death. But there's some beautiful things. I mean, Heath Ledger was actually really extraordinary. And he and Nicole. were extraordinary together. He was just a bit young.

He was just, it became another thing, you know? But the footage of Heath and Nicole is really beautiful. And we often talk about that because of great sadness of losing him, you know. I know enough about you to know that it's about as much the journey as it is kind of the destination. You love the adventure of making these films. It's part of probably one of the joys of extending this Elvis journey a bit. Are you, I guess you're kind of at an interesting point where you're about to say, goodbye to Elvis and you're massively in the world of Joan of Arc. Like, where are you at headwise

right now? I've done a lot on Jan. Actually, we've got a few little things like Sam and I made a little beautiful train carriage, a dining carriage for Belmont. And we do these kind of, I do these different adventures like some, some of my own and some Sam has her own homewares and does all of that kind of thing, but it's time very soon. To be honest, I've had to draw a few lines and say, now it is time to go inside the world of Jeanne. So a little more on, a little more on Epic, a week or two, then some debriefing and moving out some other things, and then it's 100% Jan time.

Second half of the year, I go inside the world of Jean. Do you know your musical approach to that soundscape yet? Because it's obviously going to be interesting if it's a Bazorman film. I have begun a philosophy on it. Not too early to talk. Whenever you say things, I always need you how to say them as if they're now part of the story. But I have a philosophy. Thoughts are floating, but nothing is random.

It comes from a very deep process. I am, for all the apparent chaos, I'm a serial researcher, very process driven, and a serial collaborator. And I love other creatives, and I love collaborating with them. One last question on that next project, if you'll indulge me. This is another one that you've been forwarding with for a long while. What's brought you to this project? What's kept you on this project for so long, in a nutshell? what's your obsession with that?

You mean, John? John? Yeah. John? Yeah, look, early on, I only ever abandoned one show. I was very deeply involved in an Alexander the Great with the legendary Dino de Laurentis. And then Stephen Spielberg and I were working on Napoleon. So there were the two. I just wanted to do a big, epic, and I was fascinated historically by those characters.

But all the way through it, I'd always drive, you know, we live in Paris a lot, and I'd drive past that golden statue of Jeanne in Place Vendom. And I used to look up and go like, yeah, she's probably the one, but oh my gosh, you know, a 17-year-old girl and all those soldiers and horses, that'll kill you, you know? Be careful. And then, with what's happened in the world recently, the way the world has moved.

I realised that a story in a world where I'm working with this wonderful young writer in England, this woman who's so-called Ava Pickett. And we were writing and she came up with this line where Jean says, we've got to this poor king who's a kid, really, he's only 25, we've got to peel this world out from the nobleman,

old fingers of these men. And I just thought the world we're in needs a 17-year-old to come out of some small country town and lead the new generation to believing that they can reclaim their world and put an end to this echo chamber that belongs to the nobly old hands of the last century. So I thought that this, it's, you know, I just, you know, I just don't really make the things I want to make. The things I want to make, I mean, I was so much more fun just to direct, I don't know, James Bond or something, you know?

But, well, I mean, Bond takes a lot, too. I don't want to dismiss the work on that. But I make what I think is needed. And I think the story of Jean-Dak in two years' time will be deeply needed. That makes perfect sense. Backtracking, as we wrap up here, you know, we talked a little bit about the amazing,

you know, with the help of Peter Jackson's company kind of figuring out how to kind of reclaim all this footage and make it look so vibrant and as great as it does. Oh, by the way, I've got a shout out to Peter and his people are just so divine and they do it with love. I mean, they do it with, oh, it's like being in a theater company. I'm a stroke habit to go down in New Zealand

and hang with them. Are all your films properly preserved? Do any necessitate going back and any kind of sprucing up, any kind of refurbishment, any kind of high, high-end kind of re-evaluation? I'm sure that can happen.

I mean, funnily enough, all the things, like all my props and stuff are kept by the national between two museums in Australia. And actually they work on the collection. They have people working on all the time

because, you know, there are crazy notebooks of my scrolls and my terrible sketches and collages that I give to see them and say, hey, make that brilliant. But I don't think about the fact. films. They're like, they're like, I just remember the time I made Romeo and

Giulia the time I did Milan Rouge, but I don't like watch them again, you know, unless I have to go to a retrospective and I see, which I just did because of Romeo and Julius saw the last 15 of it. I didn't even think I saw that, but I just, not nostalgic. I always like to move on. So, but I guess someone will want to preserve them at some point, maybe. They should be. No, they hold up. They are all perfect little gems. And this is another one, add to the collection. Congratulations on this.

I'll say again, if folks have the opportunity to see this in IMAX, I can attest to that being a really singular special experience. But regardless, seen in a theater, if you can, because this brings Elvis to life in a way that probably most, if not all, ever thought possible. Well, Josh, you know what? We're going to face it going wide this weekend. So to the EP course. and we also have the IP hardcore.

Try and drag someone in. Why I think it's a great experiment? Drag someone in who goes, I just don't give a brat's ass about Elvis. Because I think I've seen enough people going now, like actual heavy critic folk going like, I went in and going, and then come out and going, who is that guy? I love him.

So that's a great fun thing to achieve. And we need a broad audience. And I made a piece of theatre. And, you know, people to go out today into the cinema, they need to go into a theatrical experience. And I hope it feels like you're in the concert and on the tour that Elvis never had. Yeah.

Mission accomplished. It's always good to catch up next time in person. Thank you, Baz. Well, Josh, I can do one thing for you. Ready? Standing by? And I don't know where the camera is, but action. There it is.

Mission accomplished. Thank you, sir. See you, man. Safe travels. Have a good one. Always cool. Thank you. Appreciate it.

ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. For eight years, we've been asking the same question over and over again. How did this happen? My name's Mandy, and I'm Melissa, and we're the host of Moms and Mysteries, the True Crime podcast with over 55 million downloads. We're two Florida moms who are obsessed with mysteries. Each week we do deep dives into fascinating true crime stories. We cover everything from infamous cases like Casey Anthony to the bizarre and complex crimes right here in our home state, like the shocking murder of FSU professor Dan Markell. We bring you the facts, but with warmth and width you'd only get from two friends who have been hooked on mysteries since childhood.

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