Catherine Martin on Creative Partnership With Baz Luhrmann, Why She Was Sad When They Didn’t Do ‘Alexander,’ Fashion Documentary
Catherine Martin, the four-time Oscar-winning producer, costume designer and production designer of “Moulin Rouge,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Elvis,” says she is waiting to see what project Baz Luhrmann, her husband and longtime creative partner, will embark on next.
Martin is at the Red Sea Film Festival with Luhrmann, whom she started working with on his debut feature, 1992’s “Strictly Ballroom.” Since then, there have been a series of projects marked by their striking visual style, netting Martin a number of nominations and awards.
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She spoke to Variety.
Following last year’s “Elvis,” what do you think will be your next project?
Baz hasn’t made any decisions. And I assiduously try not to get attached to any project when he’s in the process of deciding what he’s going to do. Because invariably, the one that I become attached to is not the one we end up doing. At the moment, I’m working on the design for a production base in Australia, and I’m finishing a bunch of things that were started before “Elvis,” but never got finished. So we haven’t gone headlong into a project to start researching. I like the idea of clearing the decks and being ready and fresh and able to go to the next project.
Have you ever had your heart broken by a project that never came to fruition?
I was very sad when we didn’t do “Alexander,” (initially planned to star Leonardo DiCaprio) because we were so prepped, and we had so much material and so much work was done on the design. And you know, I’d love to work in that period. I’ve never worked in that ancient world. So it was very sad when that didn’t go ahead. The Alexander story is very much one about the human condition. And the idea of pathos. The idea of always moving forward, and always looking to the future, never really being satisfied with where you are; that kind of extraordinary hunger that humanity has for something just beyond their grasp. I think it would have been a completely different movie.
Oliver Stone’s version was certainly different.
You can see in “Elvis,” Baz is not interested as a film director in just doing a straight biography. He wants to deal with how the story of that person’s life intersects with the human condition.
Does Jeddah inspire you as a visual artist?
I’m a naturally curious person. I enjoy having the experience of other cultures and seeing how things are done differently. And, you know, it’s interesting, because in the interiors of the houses, I’ve read books about the Ottoman Empire, I’ve read books about this whole area of the world, and then to actually see it, have the decor of the interiors of these houses that have been reconstructed, connect to those pictures is just constantly surprising. All of the beautiful woodwork, and just how clever people were with air conditioning, you know, creating basically, a chimney in the center of their houses that made sure that the air was always circulating.
As a producer you’ve got some projects coming up.
I’m working on developing a documentary that Baz will direct. And yeah, we’re just starting to look at a whole bunch of new projects, that will be a variety of things, and everybody’s on tenterhooks, waiting, but it’s important Baz doesn’t feel the fingers of everybody around him on his back pushing him because when he decides to do something, he’s so all in and the commitment is so huge, that it’s really important he makes that creative decision for himself. A good friend of ours, Miuccia Prada said to us once: “Any decision is a good one, as long as it’s your own.” If you allow other people to nudge you one way or another, you can become resentful about the journey that you’re on.
And the subject of the documentary?
It’s a social history. It’s in my voice. As a costume designer, I’m interested in how history and social history and humanity interact with clothes. So it’s about fashion, and how fashion is a reflection of history, but also makes history. It won’t be heavy. It’s a sort of snakes and ladders view of fashion history. I’m really excited about it. But it’s in very early stages. Who knows if it’ll ever get made?
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