‘Elvis’ director Baz Luhrmann to receive honors at Variety 10 Directors to Watch Brunch

LOS ANGELES — Variety will honor “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann with the Creative Impact in Directing Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The award will be presented on Friday, Jan. 6th as part of the annual 10 Directors to Watch brunch at the Parker Palm Springs.

The film’s star, Austin Butler, will be on hand to present Luhrmann with the award. Butler will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor at the festival’s Film Awards ceremony on Thursday, January 5th.

Writer/Director/Producer Luhrmann is a master storyteller and pioneer of pop culture working across film, opera, theatre, events and music. His most recent film, “Elvis,” which opened in theaters around the world this summer, has become the filmmaker’s highest grossing film in the U.S. and in 22 international territories, including the UK, Mexico, Holland, Brazil and New Zealand. In Australia, “Elvis” is currently ranked as the fourth-highest grossing Australian film of all time. “Elvis” also has landed as the second-highest grossing musical biopic of all time, globally.

The Oscar-nominated director, writer and producer burst onto the scene with the first of the Red Curtain Trilogy, “Strictly Ballroom” (1992), followed by the ambitious modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and Academy Award-winning “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), which brought back the movie-musical and cemented Luhrmann’s cult-like following amongst audiences and industry alike. In addition, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” won Tony Awards for scenic design, costume, lighting, sound design and orchestrations, and a featured acting Tony for Broadway favorite Danny Burstein. A collaboration with Netflix later produced “The Get Down” (2016), a critically successful series based on the birth of hip-hop in 1970s South Bronx.

“From his dazzling Cannes Film Festival sensation of 1992, “Strictly Ballroom,” to his current Oscar-contending biopic, “Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann has been at the forefront of international cinema as the rare auteur who also connects with global audiences,” said EVP of Global Content, Steven Gaydos. “Whether it’s turning the screen musical upside down with “Moulin Rouge” or bringing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age to new life and new relevance with “The Great Gatsby,” Luhrmann makes distinctive, personal cinema on a grand scale, a reminder of Hollywood Golden Age directors who are revered as bold film artists and also remembered for creating big, accessible, beloved hit movies.”

The Palm Springs International Film Festival will be held January 5-16, 2023.

Image Sources

  • Baz Luhrman: PS Film Festival