Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S14 Ep 4: Baz Luhrmann

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

This is a blockbuster Table Manners episode. Having seen Romeo + Juliet 7 times in the cinema, and frequently quoting Strictly Ballroom, to have the genius, Baz Luhrmann in our kitchen was an absolute honour. Both of us are huge fans of his work so we were thrilled to ask him a hundred questions about Elvis, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and all the other brilliant projects he has been involved in. Baz whirlwinded into Lennie’s for some baked salmon, wine and a barrel of laughs. We talk about his love of ballroom dancing, good luck pearls from Australia, on set catering, Elvis & his obsession with a caviar.Thank you so much Baz. We LOVED the Elvis movie and we loved having two precious hours with you. X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and it's a biggie. Gosh darling, I'm absolutely, I always say I'm so excited, but I'm kind of the anticipation of having this person on. When you've been such a big fan of this person, it's just so exciting to meet someone And you can ask him all the questions. I feel like the trousers that you've chosen to wear are quite kind of Montague and Capulet, circa 1997 or 8, Romeo and Juliet. I thought they might be a bit strictly ballroom. Where are they from? Good old Wallace? No, Dorothy Perkins, about five years ago.

But they're good, aren't they? They're birds of paradise. We've got Baz baz lerman coming to clapham avec security who i believe oh hello that looks like a big old fucking gal it's been a bit of a tricky meal that you've left me to do which is fine basically do you see how relaxed i am yeah what do you prefer helping me a bit and then i look demure and relaxed okay anyway basically we got dietary requirements from the team now we never know as we have experienced before with dietary requirements from team sometimes that can be unnecessary however of course respectfully we always ask but we did get quite a list of things that he likes and doesn't like oh yeah so the menu is

limited dietary restrictions yeah so rather than dietary requirements so and look i'll be really pissed off if he comes in he goes i could have had a roast dinner yeah so i've made a green salad the only bit of other colour is some cherry tomatoes. It's got edamame. I've done some tender stem and soy that actually didn't burn up enough, so I kind of blanched it in them. Anyway, it looks a bit sad, but it'll be fine. Spinach, coriander, edamame beans,

and some baked salmon we're going to do with a little lime zest. Is this a sweet greens salad? Yeah, he likes sweet greens apparently. Now people from the UK may not know what sweet greens is. It's like a really fancy salad bar in America, which is really delicious, but you kind of build your own. And they're very delicious. Now I've risticked with a peanut lime sauce dressing.

Jessie, if he's here. Baz Luhrmann coming up. Baz Luhrmann is in Clapham. Yes. Charming the pants off everybody. Mum's trying to rob his pearls. I want to take his necklace. Well, you know what?

And I said I'll give you my heart, I'll? And I said, I'll give you my heart. I'll give you my soul. I'll give you my anything. But these beautiful pearls, and I love to say this because I've been dying to say it for a long time. When I did Australia, this wonderful family called the Paspalees, they have pearl farms in northern Australia. And I said to them, look, I'm about to do this tour with Elvis.

Would you make me a good luck charm? And Elvis is saying with TCB, which means taking care of business, which kind of means owning your, what it doesn't mean, it's not really business. What it really means is like owning, you know, getting on with life, you know, owning your life. So they made me these incredible pearls with the TCB on it. And I cannot tell you how many people say to me like fans not

fans of elvis or whatever like what is that and they are these pearls you see how rough hewn they are they are they are magical they've really been my good luck talisman you didn't need luck with elvis no well you did no it was a stunning, amazing, wonderful film. I think it's one of the best films I've seen in the last 10 years, at least. And we're big fans of yours. I think your other ones. I can't, I mean, I went to see Romeo and Juliet. I mean, yes, I did love Leonardo DiCaprio, like we all did.

But I loved him. He's very lovable. I saw him the other day. He's still lovable. Is he i saw him the other day he's still love is he still lovable he's a really look i don't say this lightly in the work i do you can work with hugely well-known iconic people you can be close to them you can be not close to them you can lie in all of that so i i'm only saying that or you can be professional and go, like, I don't really connect, but we can do the work.

But I met Leonardo when he was 19. He only cared about two things, acting and the environment. His dad, George and Ermalyn, and the whole family, right, they have been some of my closest friends. He is such such a good soul person and but you know he's had to deal with that trajectory of being like like i remember we were on romeo and juliet we were shooting and he says me as a studio want me to do this film it's about a big boat that sinks you know and we read the script and he went i don't know there are ghosts in this film you know i'd be careful what i say because they're not being clickbait but you know and we read the script and he went i don't know there are ghosts in this film you know i'd be careful what i say because it's not being clickbait but you know like the thing

is we read it and he goes i don't know and the thing about the next film which was titanic is that it sort of turns him into the beatles and you know when you're a young actor and all you care about is acting that other side of it it. It's really, really difficult to deal with. Now, he could have cashed in on that and went, OK, I'm going to be superstar teen idol the rest of my life. All he did was go, he just doubled down on it from now on. I'm only doing roles that challenge me. So that's professional.

But as a person, I don't think he's actually ever changed. He's always been so passionate about the environment. You get within five minutes and he's telling you the Tasmanian devil might have been reconstituted in Tasmania or how coral is being regrown in Tahiti. He just cares about the environment and he's just a very warm and loving guy. Had you seen him in Gilbert What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Yes. Is that how you thought he'd be good? Basketball Diaries as well. It was probably Gilbert Grape. And there's a really funny thing because, oh dear. If my wife is here, she sometimes has this thing where she goes, bing, name dropping. Oh, no, we love that.

Oh, we love that. No, no, no, no, no. You are welcome to name drop. So I'm doing Romeo and Juliet. Oh, we love that. No, no, no, no, no. You are welcome to name top. So I'm doing Romeo and Juliet. And I can now say this, but I haven't cast Father Lawrence.

And I'm in... Is that Pete Possifoy? Yeah, but before Pete, yeah, exactly. Thank you, Pete. Bless his spirit. He's left the planet. What an actor and what a gentleman. But before that, I get a...

I haven't cast it and I get a FedEx and I'm in Mexico and on the actual FedEx it says from Marlon Brando to Baz Luhrmann now if you're a Marlon Brando fan like I am

I mean he was a god to me so I I can now tell this because in in the six letters I get from Marlon Brando he says

please don't share this with anyone but he's passed now he says I'm Baz Luhr, I'm working with my old friend, William Shakespeare. I'm currently trying to deal with

the human animus and the carbon cycle. Like, just incredible letter. But he wants to play Father Lawrence. You're kidding. I'm not. I'm not. So hang on. So we even make a set ready for Marlon, and we're getting ready for Marlon.

And then at some point I say, look, the young guy playing Romeo is in Gilbert Grape. And his assistant, she's a beautiful woman, she says, Marlon's a bit worried. I mean, it's an interesting idea, but... I mean, obviously the young actor in Goat Grape, you know, he had this... He thought...

Yes. And I said, no, no, that's acting. Oh, yes, acting. But, I mean, the whole series is... That's how brilliant Leo was in that movie. Yeah, he was fantastic. We know. I mean, the all seriousness, that's how brilliant Leo was in that movie. Yeah, he was fantastic. We know. I mean, the instinct to play someone who has mental,

like has a mental adjustment, you know, is a mental health issue, was phenomenal. And what happened was, I mean, like, I really want to do a Shakespeare. I want to do Romeo and Juliet because that's probably one. Why did you want to do it? Because I wanted to do roman juliet because that's probably one i want to explore what did you want to do because i wanted to answer the question if shakespeare were making a movie having been a sort of mad shakespearean nut and sort of studied it all my life i wonder how you go about doing a movie and of course you strip away all the generalizations

and you go well he would do broad comedy in the beginning. He put pop music in his shows. Yeah. You know about that. Well, that soundtrack was so important to me at the age of 12, 13. It introduced me to garbage. Yeah. Younger generation would think

that that's what you're saying about the album. No, no, no, no. The band, the very important band, Scottish band. But no, it was such an amazing soundtrack. So before you did Elvis, were you a massive Elvis fan? It's different. I mean, it's like when I was a kid, there were these definitely fanny moments.

I love a red wine for breakfast. I know. We are naughty, aren't we? This is lovely. I love this wine. Let me tell you what we're doing. They told me something silly, like we're going to actually have lunch, but given it's breakfast time. You are. No, we are going to have lunch. I love the way you roll. This is a bit early, isn't it? That is a crack of wine. It is gorgeous, isn't it? Should we plug it? No, we plugged it because mum only gives it to the top ones. Joanna Lumley said, darling, it's fortified wine. It's that strong. Darling, that is a great wine.

You must know your wine. Here it goes. I do. I've actually tried to give them up. I mean, only because I have an app called Get Drunk, Not Fat. And it turns out red wine is actually kind of really calorific. No. It is. It is. It is. not fat and it turns out red wine is actually kind of really calorific no it is

it is I used to drink it like in the size of a goldfish bowl but it's I do know if you don't mind me saying

you're incredibly svelte you look great well it's genetic actually is it yeah my mum is like 80 and she can

lift a truck I mean like if she pins you up against the wall you're probably not going to leave the house right she's strong and she can lift a truck. I mean, like if she pins you up against the wall, you're probably not going to leave the house, right? She's strong. And she was a dancer. She's a ballroom dancer.

And you know everything. I know, but I haven't. That's why you got your security outside. But you also did ballroom dancing when you were younger. Okay, so let me connect that to Elvis. So I grew up in a very, very tiny country town, a very small town, a few houses. I think there were five in my mind,

but there might have been 11, but I think two were unfilled. And it was on a sort of highway. We had a gas station and a farm. But Dad and Mum, Dad particularly, had come back from the Vietnam War and were obsessed that we should be educated. So we had people live with us like a painter and ballroom dancing

and commando training. And it was relentless. How fabulous. It was relentless. Like five in the morning we'd be up. And if we weren't, like, I had my own shop. My brothers had their own shops. At what age was this?

Five. I mean, you know, like really old like i could barely hold it together we all had to uh my older brother uh grew and sold plants younger brother birds hunting the whole nine yards horse riding all that sounds kind of like a kibbutz but like kind of it was very active like we were just crazy active. Sounds like Club Med. Well, I think Dad, to be honest with you, he drank very heavily coming out of the Vietnam War and then he gave it up. And I think he just threw himself completely into his kids. And as a result, we were non-stop active, which probably explains something. But the Elvis bit. So ballroom dancing, I find a flyer.

I end up going to a ballroom dancing lesson. he tricks the other brothers into doing ballroom dancing and we had incredibly short hair which in the 70s was like you may as well have smelt not very well like i mean it was like you got beaten on a regular basis it was a bad thing why did you have your hair so short because he was he was so anti hippies you know he was anti the new world he'd fought in vietnam and he thought we should present ourselves neatly anyway born dancing you you got to dress up in a tuxedo you traveled in buses you competed but i have a distinct memory of burning love from elvis presley comes out and i go like we're gonna win do you know that song? How's it go? Hunker, hunker, burning love. Okay. Hunker, hunker, burning love.

Do you put music on the show? No, we don't need it when we've got dulcet tones of you lot. We'll sing later. When you've had that glass of rum. Yeah. You can do it. No, I don't know this one though. I feel my temperature rising. You can both look at me.

I still don't fucking know it. So you were on this coach. So I go up to the DJ and I say, can you play that Elvis song? He'd just dropped the track. Yeah. Because that really gets us going. So we won that one.

Do you think Elvis helped you win it? No question about it. That song nailed it for us. What star were you dancing for that song? That was a question about it. That song nailed it for us. What star were you dancing for that song? That was a jive. We would have jived to that. Yeah, it's such a good jive. It's a great jive.

Okay. Yes. Too mad it's not visual, I'll show you. But, so Elvis was, let me answer that, Lenny. Elvis was there in my life and I really dug him. But you're much younger than me. Yeah, but by teenage what happens is, I mean, I'm also watching old films

because we ran the local cinema for a while and the black and white television, we only got old movies. So I think I skipped the generation. So when I was about 12, 13... I'm not much younger than you. You are. Stop saying that.

You are. I'm very old. You're not old. When I was about 12... You're not old. When I was about 12 or 13, a new Elvis film would come out and we would queue right round the cinema just to get in. And we'd go to, as early as we could,

the first showing that we could possibly go to. Well, you're right. Because we loved him so much. So what year is that? And you want to give the year or not? Yeah, no, no. Everyone knows. I was probably 1963.

Okay, well, I'm 10., you're right about, you know why? Because we used to run Elvis matinees. You see, it was such a tiny theatre in those days, you didn't have show prints. So we used to get, like, they'd send you old stuff and we would have an Elvis matinee in our theatre. He was a matinee idol, wasn't he? That's what happened in the 60s.

Exactly. It was all young people that loved him. Right. Well, what happens is, no black music, no Elvis. And in the film, as you see, he grows up in one of these white houses in the black community. But I didn't know that at all. That was told to me by an 80-year-old man who I found who passed last year. The little boy in the

scene in the tent who goes to grab him and the preacher saying leave him be he's with his spirit i have this older man on video who rarely speaks about it i said everything in that section is absolutely verbatim i just did it so but the colonel is like we've got to keep him away. The black music is associated now. What he's doing is associated with teenage, with delinquency, which was a huge issue in the 50s. So they send him to the army, cut his head. It's not unlike what happens to, like, BTS, you know, all the Korean kids.

At the height of their career, they're sent away, and bring him back as a family entertainer. And they're the movies. Now, I'm not saying we didn't love the movies, but that was a different Elvis. He wasn't really an actor. You see, he was just so handsome and so beautiful. And it wasn't his acting. He was just an idol.

Charismatic. He was just someone that you just wanted to look at. But the bit I couldn't get in there was that he did two films before the army and one directed by the same director who directed Casablanca. And it's the one he sings Crawfish in. And Kid Creole, check it out, he was really good in it. And serious directors went like, he's really good.

He could be a serious actor. And what happens is that's Elvis' one wish in his life, is to do a serious role, like Frank Sinatra did, right? The Colonel realises that, can't make money doing that. Like, gotta have the songs. So terrible.

And so the Colonel conspires to make sure that he just goes like, people don't want to see you in a movie we don't sing. Did you have to get the family's blessing to do the film? Actually, I met with them. I didn't. The estate is actually controlled by another family called Authentic Brands.

They're a Canadian family. Why do they have the control? Well, at a certain point, I think Lisa just didn't want the burden of it. And it's a Canadian family. Why do they have the control? Well, at a certain point, I think Lisa just didn't want the burden of it. Yeah, okay. And it's a big management, you know, his likeness. And also exploiting it, you know, like how do you... And I said to Warners at some point years and years and years ago,

see, I didn't do it out of fandom though, Lenny. I did like Elvis, but then I suddenly became a crazy Bowie fan or at 15 and all that. And I did it because someone like Shakespeare takes a famous person's life and they explore big ideas. Like Amadeus, if you know that film. Yeah. Is it about Mozart?

It's really about jealousy. Yes. You know? Yeah, you're right. And that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to use elvis to really explore america 50 60s and 70s also this idea of management or the seller it's an abusive relationship that's right that's what fascinated me it was horrendous but i don't think i realized

the extent of it it's i i think i went pretty light on it actually really well the thing about those characters are despots they're both incredibly human like as priscilla would say there were two sides to the colonel he could be the most touching warm human loving person and and then absolutely a scorpion stealing from you you know coming back, to what you're saying about the estate. I didn't, but I reached out early on and I met Lisa Marie and wonderful Riley, young actor, granddaughter, what a fantastic person. And then Priscilla. But then I, because of COVID we became with Priscilla became somewhat

estranged. I couldn't get to her. There was no like I had to check the script or anything like that. There was no, there was just a kind of like, we're really happy you're doing it. Please, please, can you deal with some of these things that are just not true? And I had Nelson George, a black music academic and dear friend of mine go out and I said, look, go and prove that they are true. You know, the things that Chuck D said and all that. They just simply aren't true. That isn't the man. I mean, I'm happy I would have said it. It isn't the man.

Priscilla started to say, look, I'm really worried about what Baz is going to do with our lives. How can this skinny kid, Austin, play Elvis? And I understand it. I can't underline enough how much i empathize with how priscilla would have felt when i was out there in australia for years making this movie so i thought at some stage i have to show her a rough cut i've done screenings where i've thrown up you know just out of nerves going what am i doing like strictly ballroom first cut um i'm on the plane

and the plane's late and i ring it's been screened for her the rough cut and they're saying oh he said oh the security guard's crying it's a female security i was a woman crying i said oh gosh she's walked out and hates it. I said, why? She said, well, because Priscilla's crying. I said, well, where is she? She said, she's still in there. So I land.

I get the most beautiful letter. I mean, this is the beginning of a really wonderful journey and relationship with the whole family. And it says so many things I can't go into a bit. She says every eye movement, every twitch, breath. If my husband was here, he'd say to that young man, Austin Butler, hot damn, you are me. I didn't think it was possible.

Can I just talk a little bit about Austin Butler? Besides him being so extraordinarily beautiful, he's captivating. Inside as well. Exactly like Elvis was. Elvis was so beautiful. Yeah. And he is so beautiful. And he gets him...

You think you're watching Elvis. Yeah. In fact, there's some bits when I think you put real film in and I'm not sure who's who. I did a little bit of meta stuff. There's little bits right in the beginning no one's ever brought it up but right in the beginning in the overture you see Austin doing in a blue suit karate and next to him he shares the screen with Elvis and

they're both doing the same yeah oh wow and no one goes oh one's Elvis and one's Austin they think it's just two shots but it's actually Austin andvis and i did the meta thing to sort of go like well if you can tell is it like they're not exactly the same but but the acting is the same like the character and the truth is is it doesn't matter because what austin is doing is not it's the most impersonated man on the planet he's not impersonating he's interpreting yeah that's a different thing he's taking the spirit of Elvis yeah and that's way different that's acting from impersonating impersonating is like someone holding up a sign and going that's a nine yeah yes you almost oh I think that's a seven so like Elvis not like become. I mean, we have the pandemic. Austin Butler.

So you started doing it before the pandemic? I was, the day before shooting, brace yourself, Lenny, for this. I'm rehearsing a scene where Tom Hanks guides Elvis through a crowd and the girls are all kissing him, you know? Yeah, yeah. We're rehearsing it.

We're going to shoot the next day. Day one of shooting. Am I on mic? Day one of shooting. Oh my God, that's when Hank's got COVID. Damn it, you ruined my punchline. You screwed my punchline. Mark, Rita and...

Oh my God. Sorry, Baz, go. Sorry, you do it and we can edit. If this was movies, we'd have a second take. Do a second take. And AD comes up and he says, I think Tom's got that flu. Oh, fuck.

Because no one had heard of it. But his wife had it as well, didn't she? Yeah, like Rita had been down to a show in Sydney. Tom was there. Next thing, bang, hazmat suits, we're locked down in a state. The movie's over. So it was Rita. Rita fucked up going to the show.

No, I'm joking. No, no. I mean, you know. We love Rita. We love Rita. Rita was great, but can I tell you something? I think it's just that we just nobody knew what was going on. Like, I mean, it was everywhere, but we didn't know.

And all of a sudden, the world, I remember. Were you shooting in Australia? Yeah, and we were locked down in an estate. We had this sort of big, big chunk of land. Locked down. I remember seeing on CNN that night, Tom Hanks has COVID, and the world immediately went like, this is serious, mum. If he can get it, we can all get it.

And then the film went away and we were locked down for six months. Austin Butler was meant to go home. Now, he was practicing Elvis 24-7, seven days a week, so much so that I'd never heard Austin speak in his own voice, even when he came into audition, until about four months ago. We've still got the twang of Elvis. It's going. It's going.

It's going. It took him so long. It's so hard. He's not pretending. No. Like, once you've adjusted your vocal cords like that. Yeah. So he should have gone home.

And even though the film was falling over and I couldn't hold it together, I said, I don't know. Tom's thinking maybe to come back in February when this is all over. And then when we realised it wasn't, he said, I'm not leaving. And he doubled down on his rehearsing. He doubled down on the kung fu. He doubled down on the voice.

He just, like, even though the film had gone around, he was like, he was just working, working, working. He refused, because that's, see, Leonie, that's the voice. He just, like, even though the film had gone around, he was like, he was just working, working, working. He refused, because that's, see, Leonie, that's the point. He didn't do an impersonation.

He became the spirit. He became him. He became him. And that is why it's taken so long for him to deconstruct. It's like a hermit crab. He needs to find

a new shell to inhabit. He's in, he's going to be in Dune right now. He's in Bud be in Dune right now. He's in Budapest shooting Dune, I believe, with no hair on his body. I mean, I don't know. On his head.

On his face. So, Baz, we need to know about this family dynamic. It sounds absolutely brilliant and mad, So Baz, we need to know about this family dynamic. It sounds absolutely brilliant and mad, your kind of upbringing and wonderful and rich. Yes, we were the renaissance players of Heron's Creek. So how did food play a part in that? Well, it's interesting. I got food stories there because innovative.

I mean, Pops was... I now look back, and if I ever did a coming of age story i mean mum was kind of very theatrical and she's still around and dad died actually on the first day of shooting mon rouge of skin cancer so we're a sunscreen um but um um he was a he was inventive so we had this snack bar i mean snack bar and restaurant right and i used to serve in it and we had this thing called sizzle plates and they were like these iron things that you put on a fire and you put your steak on and dad was always inventing wackadoo like there was like lenny's tropical bow wows which meant basically a hot dog, I think, with a pineapple. Or there was Chops Aloha, right?

But he made up, like, meals. And we became so successful as a sort of roadside cafe. How many of you are there? There was, like, there was Dad, Mum. There was Dad, Mum, my older brother, my younger brother, my younger sister. But we always always that's why i'm surrounded by people we had what we call the girls they were our staff we had harry quenelle

which is an older man that lived with us who was a war veteran and he just lived with us and we had younger guy that lived with us and he was like just there was always a lot of people living with us. And then some distant cousin who was a drawer or a painter would come and live. It was very populated. And the food was good. And whereabouts was it exactly? So it would be about, from Sydney travelling north, I think it might have been, it was a full day's drive, so whatever that is. Crikey, so it was really in the boondocks.

Oh, it was totally totally it wasn't desert it was in the middle of incredible trees it was a logging area on a creek but we were so isolated that it took two hours to get to school

on a bus we used to hitchhike the first bit and the first hour no one else was on the bus but us so it was two hours

so it was a long way away from anything that's going to the the town called port mccry which was on the on the beach when we're in junior school i went to a catholic school which had three rooms in it oh it was tiny like tiny like there were three Catholic well i would say lapsed. Lapsed, okay. I mean, looking at the way I live, I'd say I wasn't staying. I'm not really swimming between the flags, yeah. So you have this cafe. It was a cafe, gas station, farm. I had my aquarium shop.

We had a pig farm. We had a horse breeding. We had mechanics. We had a restaurant. And this was all encouraged by your father and your mother and just yeah dad was really it was driven he would invent so i think it was a you know what a caravansia is caravansia is like in the desert when trains camel trains are crossing through the desert it It isn't just a hotel. It's like an island that has a wall around it to protect it.

And it has everything in it. It's like a little citadel. And in a way, it was a caravansia. Because we also, I mean, I didn't even mention that we were breeding horses and that we grew corn. We had corn growing competitions. It was, when I think back on it, it was kind of bonkers. It sounds amazing.

It was fabulous. But being a teenager must have been tough if it's two hours an hour to get to the nearest friend no because it was

but ballroom dancing the reason dad would drive is the two hours to get to ballroom dancing was you got to dance with girls and that's how you met people

there's a whole lot of shenanigans going on in the back of the bus we did that Jessie I did ballroom dancing. Did you? Yeah, when I was...

What was your strong point? Well, I wasn't very good at any of it. What was your favourite dance? The waltz. I mean... Really? I would not have put you down. Wait, wait, modern, modern, modern or Viennese?

No, modern. But my mum sent me because of bar mitzvahs. You had to dance ballroom dancing at bar mitzvahs so my mum sent me on so I could learn how to do it and dance at weddings or bar mitzvahs because that's what everyone danced people didn't just dance

no no you're right and there was a bit of that in our world because see self expression had just come in and that was part of the alternative but before that every school kid had to be able to actually partner dance. It was just part of the course. You've led to Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing With Stars.

I think Strictly Ballroom was the beginning of it. I hope you've got money coming back from all these franchises. I haven't, but I'll tell you something. They wanted to do Strictly Ballroom at the BBC. Yeah. I was busy doing other stuff. They couldn't do it. So they came up with Strictly Come Dancing based on Strictly Ballroom.

And once, the American one, which is Dancing with the Stars, I once went on there as a judge because, you know, that English judge that's on there? Len. Lenny, yeah, Uncle Lenny. He couldn't make it. So I was doing the Blu-ray and I agreed to go on. And you know what?

I was terrible. At judging? Well, yeah, because I... You're not mean. Yeah. I spent my whole life lifting artists up. I mean, if I have a negative... I don't have negative views about artists.

I just go like, how can we... Make that better. Make that better. And you're not going to be a very good television person judge if you go like, you know what? There was a cage fighting guy on Lidl, a very famous guy, and he really threw himself at it. It was kind of weird dancing, but he really threw himself at it.

And I was like, you know what? That was kind of awesome. Like your commitment. You're a good person, Baz. No, I don't know if I'm a good person. You see the good in people. I see the good in artists, you know what, that was kind of awesome. Like, your commitment. You're a good person, Baz. No, I don't know if I'm a good person. You see the good in people. I see the good in artists, you know. Yeah.

Were you good at dancing? I mean, were you... Oh, yes. I had won a few trophies, yes. I was pretty good. What's your favourite catchphrase, Jessie? You gatless wonder. You gatless wonder.

Or what about, what about, there are no new steps, Barry Five. But all that stuff with like loves in the air with the i mean it was so it was just amazing well you know what the underlying ethos of that it's cute as it is and was actually studying greek myth at drama school when i devised it with a bunch of other young actors and And it's really about overcoming oppression. And believe it or not, I actually did a version of it. We went to Czechoslovakia during Glasnost. And there used to be moments, Brechtian moments,

when we'd turn to the audience and say, F the Federation. And we won unbelievably. The asides. Unbelievably, we won the competition, the drama competition. But it's really about, I think I refuse to be told that there's only one way to cha-cha-cha. Like when people tell you there's a rule book about making a movie and they'll give you ticks and crosses.

I don't try and be, is it obstrepitous? I don't try and not follow the rules. I've just always been only able to do things or tell stories in the way I can. Is food important to you when you're making a film? Do you like good catering on your films? It does not mean... Does the army march on its stomach?

Okay, the answer is absolutely yes. I'm obsessed with the food for the crew and everybody else being great. Me, I just have the most ordinary food because I'm so tense in my stomach. I can only eat really simple food. So it'll be like the same thing every day. But I learned really early on. I was actually shooting. I was an editor for Vogue very early on.

I did a special issue. And's when i met nicole actually yeah and we went out to la to shoot it and i was working with this amazing photographer called rocky shank and there was just me and cm and two other people and we had no crew or nothing but there was about four people out there and we didn't realize it was the jewish holiday so we couldn't get food we didn't know how to do that so we didn't have very good food and they were very upset and from that day on I realised

whatever you do, whatever cuts you make we feed people brilliantly on our movies because it doesn't matter what they're being paid or what their job is making films has such an unusual emotional stress that when everyone sits down to a good meal, they feel cared for. Do you have a particular cuisine that you like? Yeah, I'm crazy. I mean, I'm not someone who goes, gee, I can't wait to have ribs tonight.

I don't eat red meat much, but I love Japanese cooking. I love Asian food in general. Asian Pacific food and seafood. I mean even salmon would be nice. I've got a salad dressing that's on the side because I didn't know whether you'd have it. It's like lime and peanut butter but I didn't know whether you'd have peanut butter.

I'd go there. You know the Dalai Lama once said if they serve meat I'll eat it. you'd have peanut butter. I'd go there. Okay, amazing. You know, the Dalai Lama once said, if they serve meat, I'll eat it. Oh, wow, hang on. This is not visual. Wow, let me... No, I'm going to have it. I just think it's amazing looking.

Peanuts and lime and I think also... It looks like a coffee. Do I just put it... I think it looks amazing. I bet it's going to be great. I'm going to put a little bit on. Amazing. We ask everybody.

It feels kind of a bit of a silly question now that I've got you here and you're kind of so wonderful. There's nothing silly. I do silly for a living. Okay, it's your last supper. Hang on, wait. I got a silly question. You're about to die. What would you do?

No, you're not about to die you don't have to be you could be going to a desert island you're not going to get you're not going to get the grub that you know you like

there I'm sure you'd make it work for yourself but yeah coconuts but last supper what would you have

with your family what's kind of a starter remain a pud and drink of choice there's so much to unpack in that like I couldn't even begin to think about the food

if it's really my last supper and my family's there. I mean... You're being too literal. Okay. It's not a sad occasion. Well, can you, like... You have to reset the scene, Faye. You're being a director, and I appreciate this.

This is a director's cut. Happy-go-lucky holiday. You're not on death row. You're not going to die. being a director and I appreciate this this is a director's cut happy go lucky holiday you're not you're not on death row you're not gonna die you're just not gonna get your favourite bits of food but I do like

that Baz Luhrmann is the only person that went yeah but how could you even ask me that question let's say we there's this like

exclusive resorty island and you get you know people that want to get away from it all and want a bit of privacy go there you won't believe it the supply ships didn't like sank yeah that's right okay fine okay what am i gonna do i'm here with my family all right cm my wife like cm is such a genius cook like i've been on a we were on a houseboat as kids once and it was floating out to sea and

and I was like oh my god I've got no food she went down she found a can of beans and maybe I don't know a piece of bread or something and that's that's messianic you know suddenly there was a banquet um so what does CM make that you adore well because I don't feel like I'm gonna get the last supper question so what is your favourite thing that your wife makes? Well, she does, I mean, I'm not a big eater. I'm not a big eater. But what she does do great, this is so boring, but she'll just like egg whites and salmon like we've got now,

chopped up, and she'll put like spices in it, tomato, a little bit of mushroom. I've got sriracha for you. I know you like sriracha. Do you want a little sriracha now? Yes, I do. I love sriracha. But your, by the way, your peanut sauce is amazing. I don't want to ruin that. But I'm a spice nut. By the way, I've been in China, in Sichuan,

and I've out, I've out spiced my Chinese guests. I've out spiced my Chinese guests. I've outspiced them. That's how much I love spice. How are your taste buds shot? Shot? I mean, I don't know if they're shot or they've just got a thing for spice.

Buds, do you always make your films in Australia? I don't do it on purpose. Well, I do, partly. I love our crews. I love our team. Great filmmaking environment. I mean, every frame of Elvis was shot in Queensland. Every frame.

But I think we just find that the consistency of the team and all that. But I've shot Romeo and Juliet in Mexico. It's the only film I've made outside Australia. And it ends up being what you get on the screen, given my films want everything. Drama, music, costumes, action. Like, they have everything in them. Some would say too much everything, and I get that.

But that everything doesn't come cheaply, and I work at kind of large scales, which I don't try to. I always think, oh, well, that'll be... It's only coming out of there. Yeah. Hey, I think the guests on the previous shows crushed the sriracha bottle um sorry about it it's like the the dregs of sriracha if you want it i think you'd be better like that i want to know is your family set up kind of similar to you know what you had in your upbringing with all these different creative outlets.

Yes, I would say. Are your children, you know, is it like, have you got the bakery outside? Are they selling terrani? I don't know. What are they? I think, we think we're terribly normal, but there's no question. I can't imagine that. That's a nice lead in, isn't it?

There's no question that CM and i from the day one um we knew we built a family and we built our way and it's our way and our kids even like if i started to tell you in the last three days like i had a big birthday given for me by a dear friend in New York, 60, right? It's been your birthday? Yeah, like three days ago. Happy birthday. So sorry. We would have made you a cake.

Hang on. Hang on. They said there was going to be a cake. What? I'm bleeding. No, I did. It was a big party given by a dear friend in New York. And there was that.

And the kids flew out from Australia. They were New Yorkers. And then they've fallen in love with Queensland. And, you know, like one's 18, one's 17. And we, but we are surrounded. We're never alone. The house is always full of creatives and friends and ongoing. And so that, you might call it a sort of, we call it growing old disgracefully,

but it's a kind of boho army, really. It's a boho army circus run like an army. So your main home's in Australia? Actually, we have our main house in New York City. Okay. We have up to recently, but it's kind of like the kids are growing up. main house in New York City. We have up to recently. But it's kind of like the kids are

growing up. It's a bit too big given we're not there all the time. So we're in Australia a lot. New York. And Sam has a lot of French family. She's half French. So we kind of get around. Do you like Europe?

I love the Med. We love Paris. We absolutely adore Paris. We always sort of say, Paris is where you are. I mean, the civility of Paris. And I love the Med. I mean, there's a few things in the world

that never let you down. And running around the Med on a boat will never let you down. Doesn't matter what size the boat. It can be like a dinghy or a rowboat. I'm going to be in New York on Saturday. Is there a particular restaurant that you would be like, Jesse, you've got to go.

I've got two. I've got two for you. There are two restaurants, two different friends. One's called Dante's, and he's Aussie, right? Linden. And he just won actually bar. I think he won bar of the year, world bar of the year. He's got two different restaurants.

And there's another friend of mine, Ben, and he has a place called, so there's Dante's and Maison Premier. That's in Brooklyn. So if you want one in Brooklyn, Maison Premier. Great. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Can I just say Baz sent me? Yeah.

Go to Ben and say Baz sent me? Yeah, go to Ben and say Baz sent me. Okay, fine. Ben Crispin. And then Lyndon, who's an Aussie who moved into our street, took over this legendary but very old place that Bob Dylan used to hang out at. And now he's got two of them and food and beverage. If you're on the island, it's a go-to. Now, there are a lot of others like Lucien's and things like that.

I've got other friends, other classic places. But both these places will also, they're both brilliant, brilliant cocktail people. And they can both tell you incredible. Their cocktails are not just, and you know, some people just make up cocktails and you go like, oh, you're just putting sugar on sugar and you really know tell you incredible. Their cocktails are not just... And, you know, some people just make up cocktails and you go like, oh, you're just putting sugar on sugar and you really know what you're doing. They're absolute high-end artists when it comes to the cocktail and the food.

What's your cocktail of choice? I judge all bars by their martini. How do you have yours? Well, I'm really classic. Gin or vodka? Gin. OK. I go for a classic dry martini because, because actually it's extremely hard to get that right.

It's a bit like bread at a restaurant. When I used to eat bread, if you go to a restaurant, you judge it a bit by the bread. You judge a country by their bread. I think so. If you had to sing karaoke, would you choose an Elvis song? Everyone thinks. I'm going to be the world's best person at karaoke and charades. And? I'm the worst karaoke person and charade person of all time. Why?

Because I've got great pitch, but I think I feel, well you, you're a performer, you are a performer. You sing, right? Yes. And I think I'm probably... My function in life is to help people be better. And when I get up and do a karaoke song, all I'm thinking is, gee, I could be a better... Oh. I mean...

Okay, what's your song? You don't have to sing it now. No, here's my rule about karaoke. Don't try and pick your favourite song. Don't even pick a crowd pleaser. Pick something that you can sing. Like, I have a friend, we call him the karaoke king, and he sings I'm just a gigolo.

And everywhere I go... I don't know. I'm just a gigolo. He just knows that it's so easy to sing, and he can pull it off, and people sing along. So it's good to do a sing-along. So what are you going to sing? Me?

Yeah. I think I could sing your song. Because, I'll tell you why. Elton. Because Elton, who is a dear friend, and without Elton there would be no Moulin Rouge. And I didn't know him at the time and I rang him and nobody wanted no publisher wanted us to do what we were doing

with all the music and I wrote to him and I flew all the way from Australia and I got a temperature of 110 or something and I was sick and I rang him and I said look Elton I'm so sorry I'm sick and you've got to go on concert and I can't come near you. He said, don't worry about that, darling. Come on over. So I come on over and I showed him the video and I told him, he said, you know what? This is such a great idea.

I'm going to tell everyone to do it. And he led the charge to make Moulin Rouge happen. And he became a great friend, him and David. And I admire them so much, the way that they've lived that life as artists and they've managed to weather so many storms. But I have a terrible problem that I cannot remember lyrics, right? But your song was so integral in the writing. It's the moment at which you either buy into the movie or you don't. And the lyrics by Bernie are so effortless.

They seem to be lyrics that almost anyone would make up because that's what you would say. It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. I hope you don't mind if I put down the words. How wonderful life is. Now you're in the world. I can remember that.

Because it just seems like what someone would say. You know? Yeah, no, I do. No, I'm just thinking, I'm just trying to think about old Ewan McGregor on the old, was it, he was on the roof, wasn't he? Yeah, well, they're in Inside the Elephant. And the gag is, we do it in a funny way,

and remember he's supposed to be like a genius poet so when we were writing moulin rouge craig and i going like well it's got to be genius poet and i was like well i was thinking about this and like well if you're doing a genius painter and i got the world's best painter today to do a painting and you shoot the painting you it might be amazing but some people might might go, I don't like it. If I point the camera to Picasso, it doesn't matter whether you like Picasso or not, the world has decided that man is a genius. So the conceit, the preposterous conceit came to me

that, well, what if what came out of his mouth instead of poetry was the world's best pop music? And that's where he's in the thing. He's going like, oh, you know, it's a bit long, and here's my funny poem. He goes, it's a bit funny, this feeling inside. I've got not one of those. I hope you don't mind.

How wonderful life is. And then he sings the song. And the idea is that everyone goes, oh, my God, you're so gifted. You know. Baz, you've got to go. You've got to go. I don't control my life this is dreadful

I feel like a little hamster on a treadmill oh I'm exhausted for you oh my god save me are you listening hamster on a treadmill

where's the cheese they're driving you too hard oh they are they are you don't know what it's like darling you spend a lot of time on aeroplanes do you like plane food

I'd never eat on planes I bet you don't do you bring your like? Darling, you spend a lot of time on aeroplanes. Do you like plane food? I never eat on planes. I bet you don't. Do you bring your own? No. I think what I do is... Oh, I'll tell you what my favourite food is. I love protein and I do love caviar. I'm actually...

Because I love you. It's so pretentious. It's so pretentious. You know what my family call me? The caviar hoover. Because if there's ever caviar around, I hoover it up. God, Mum, you should have told us that. Yeah, you should have told us that one.

We'd have just had that. No, by the way, can I tell you, can I tell you that meal that you've just served, and I'm not just saying it, is my idea of the perfect meal. I might eat salmon and salad and things like that. By the way, that is a delicious meal. And the dressing, right?

That's fab. I poured a bit in my pocket. It's a bit clammy, but I'm going to have it later on. Oh, Baz. No, but seriously, that's a fantastic meal. See, lifting me up. Lifting me up. I'm telling you, I'm not saying it.

Ask Rina CM. If you text CM, say, if Baz asked for, or ask Angus, who's my long supporter, works with me, he'd say, what would Baz have if he's like, he'd say, oh, he'd have salmon and salad. Okay, well, thank God. I thought someone told you. No.

Baz Luhrmann, your people are coming in and they're going to scoot you to the next interview. We've got to take a photo. We've got to take a photo, but thank you so much for being on and taking this. Look, I do a lot of things. I don't get around, have delicious meals and drink fabulous wine and really hang around

and feel like welcome in a family setting like this this doesn't happen that's why this is popular you know why because it's real and it's it's wonderful to be made about lenny who would play you mom me darling i i see it should be simple i see a couple of techno cranes maybe a drone shot zooming in on the salmon oh you've made my day thank you isn't it time for the confetti drop just a bit So, Baz has gone. I absolutely love that. He didn't finish his salad, but he did say that he thought it was lovely. And we're going to tuck into meringue, cream and berries.

And I'm sat here with Tully and Alice and Mum. Who's very happy. I'm really happy. Mum, how good was that? It's just the best, darling. But he was just such... A, he was such fun. Mum, your meringue is amazing. Is it?

Amazing! He was fun, he was infectious. He... Do you know, whatever project he'd work on, he's so infectious, the enthusiasm. And I think the spirit would be brilliant in his team I mean he's an absolute legend just like charisma he looked like he was in a Gucci campaign with the outfit that he was in that kind of beautiful cord suit polar neck gorgeous love him mum why are your

meringues so brown I don't know probably because I because I had the oven on a bit too high. But they're fantastic. I know. I said for you to take them home because I don't want them. So if you're interested in seeing the photos of the food or the guests, you can follow us on Instagram. It's Table Manners Podcast, I think. Thank you for listening.

And we'll see you next week. next week thank you for listening the music you've heard on table manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser table manners is

produced by Alice Williams