Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom (1992)

A life lived in fear... is a life half lived.

Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?

Date of release
1992-08-20
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (399)
Runtime
1h 34m
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director
Baz Luhrmann

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: A$21.8M
  • Filmed in: Sydney and Australia
  • Awards: 8 · Nominations: 12. Including: AACTA Award for Best Film; AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role; AACTA Award for Best Costume Design

Strictly Ballroom is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film directed by Baz Luhrmann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Craig Pearce. The film is the first in his Red Curtain Trilogy of theatre-motif-related films; it was followed by Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Production history

The film version of Strictly Ballroom was developed from an original short play of the same name. It drew on Luhrmann's own life experience—he had studied ballroom dancing as a child and his mother worked as a ballroom dance teacher in his teens and inspired by the life of Keith Bain (who grew up in the same town as Luhrmann).

This led Luhrmann to direct more theatre productions back in Australia, and in 1988, as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations, the Sydney Theatre Company invited him to establish an experimental theatre ensemble, Six Years Old, which took up a residency at The Wharf Theatre for that year.

During its successful run at the Wharf, the play was seen by an influential Australian music executive. Ted Albert was a leading record producer and music publisher, best known in Australia as the discoverer and original producer of 1960s pop sensations The Easybeats. By the time he saw Strictly Ballroom, Albert was the managing director of his family-owned music publishing company Albert Music (formerly J.

Albert's wife Antoinette (known as "Popsy") took him to see the play after seeing a newspaper ad; they loved the energy, colour and musicality of the play and Ted Albert immediately saw the potential to develop the play into a film using the musical resources available to him through Alberts' publishing and recording enterprises.

The producers had difficulty in securing funding for the project, which mostly featured a cast of newcomers. The only "bankable names" in the cast were Barry Otto and screen veteran Bill Hunter, and although co-star Paul Mercurio was well known as a dancer through his work with the Sydney Dance Company, Strictly Ballroom was his first acting role.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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