An Epic Battle

Image credit: Moulin Rouge: Sue Adler

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Baz Luhrmann

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Will your movie be untraditional? It has its DNA in ''Lawrence of Arabia,'' which is its great-great-great-grandfather -- in the sense that it uses landscape to express something very personal. I'm using these new techniques as well. I've been in Australia building huge battle sequences digitally, and then we'll shoot drama to put into them. We've shot the horses. I've also developed what will be the largest battle sequence ever shot: Gaugamela.

Are you on schedule now? Rather disturbingly, we're ahead of schedule. My screenplay is way ahead and Steven Spielberg and [Universal chair] Stacey Snider are excited about it. Steven is very involved in the project. Actually, when he and I were talking about the cinematic style of it, he sat down and screened his extraordinary restored print of ''Lawrence of Arabia'' for me -- it was like one of those DVDs with him talking about the film.

Are you getting the cast you wanted? I've got Leonardo. In my mind, there was only one appropriate casting for Alexander and that was Leonardo. I worked with him when he was 19. He's a good friend and I've watched him grow into an actor who's truly in control of his own abilities. I've been thinking about doing Alexander for 10 years, but I never mentioned it to Leonardo. Then, when Marty [Scorsese] went to do his, he thought of Leonardo first and you totally understand why. When you see Alexander's face on screen, you've got to believe 50,000 men would follow this boy-man across the world. It's very hard to manifest humanity in a character that's an icon, but Leonardo is the guy for that kind of gig.

Who else is part of your cast? Nicole Kidman is playing Alexander's mother, Olympia, who is sort of a match for Cleopatra. I'll be seeing her in a few weeks and Leonardo in Montreal and I'm bringing them a draft, so both of them will know exactly what I'm doing. I still can't technically offer anyone contracts. I've gotten into the story by investing hugely in Alexander's childhood at the age of 9. So, I've got to find the perfect 9-year-old that looks like Leonardo as a child, who's really good with a horse and can act, and then I've got to schedule him before he grows up. As soon as I can cast the child, I can offer the contracts to the other actors.

Why focus on the young Alexander? We have to understand Alexander as a child to understand him as a man. He is so driven to understand and to know -- there is no amount of conquest, love, success, or achievement that fulfills him. He goes on to achieve the impossible. The problem is that once he achieves the impossible, he can't stop. That's where it becomes tragic.

It sounds very modern. When the world is rupturing, the only place to look is the past. And there are a lot of answers in Alexander the Great. Alexander created a world that is at the core of our civilization.

What is the film's look? The assumed look of the ancient world was cooked up in '50s Hollywood -- everyone in white bedsheets and white miniskirts. It's definitely not that. There's a visual richness that you don't associate with the kind of camp '50s Hollywood language of it. It's a world you look at and wish you'd been part of. [Once again, Luhrmann is working with wife Catherine Martin, his production designer on ''Romeo + Juliet'' and ''Moulin Rouge.'' She won Oscars for ''Rouge'''s sets and costumes.]

So, will you put the Luhrmann spin on this one? Yes, but there are no kick lines in it.

(Additional reporting by Joshua Rich)