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Eucalyptus (2005) Filming was expected to start February 2005. However on February 7th, the day shooting was to start in near Bellingen, NSW, Australia, the film was halted. On February 11 it was announced the film was postponed indefinitely due to 'script issues'. A statement was issued by Russel Crowe: Statement: Crowe, Kidman, writer-director Jocelyn Moorhouse and producer Uberto Pasolini, issued the following statement: "Despite everyone's efforts during recent days and weeks, the script of 'Eucalyptus' needs more work. Unfortunately our availability prohibits us from completing this work at this time. Therefore, we have agreed that the best thing to do is to postpone shooting until the project's foundation is solid Source: Hollywood Reporter. Thanks Ivani. |
| Eucalyptus (2005) Directed by Book Screenplay Executive Producer Producers Actors Nicole Kidman Russell Crowe Jack Thompson Hugo Weaving Roy Billing Aimee Moffatt |
| Cast and Crew Jocelyn Moorhouse Eucalyptus by Murray Bail Michelle Joyner Jocelyn Moorhouse Russell Crowe Lynda House Uberto Pasolini Characters Ellen Story Teller Ellen's father Holland Roy Cave |
| The book is a popular fable set in New South Wales, an Australian state, where a widower (Thompson) announces his beautiful daughter can marry only the man who can identify each of the hundreds of species of eucalyptus trees overwhelming the grounds of his estate. However, the daughter has become smitten with a mysterious New Zealander (Crowe) who has enchanted her with a tale to correspond with each eucalyptus tree. Source: Variety |
| Left: Article from The Sun Herald in Australia scanned by our roving reporter. |
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| Check for all the latest news on this project, including the 'postponement', in our Eucalyptus forum by clicking here. |
| Notes: Australian actor Geoffrey Rush was to be Nicole's father in the film but had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. Which is rather ironic because Nicole had to pull out of The Producers to appear in this film due to her own scheduling conflicts. Nicole and Russell have both taken a pay cut for this film, their first film together. The film is to be shot in the beautiful Glenniffer region very close to where Russell Crowe has a property and filming is expected to start in January 2005. . refer to the following article from the Australian newspaper The Sun-Herald for much of the background so far for this movie. Russ and Nic give movie a $46m discount By Christine Sams and Rachel Browne October 24, 2004 The Sun-Herald Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman will work for a fraction of their usual fee in Eucalyptus to help the embattled Australian film industry. Crowe and Kidman have signed on to the low-budget film for a reported $US500,000 ($678,000) apiece, millions of dollars less than they normally command. Crowe's asking price is believed to be $US25 million while Kidman asks about $US10 million a picture - adding up to a discount of $A46 million for the makers of Eucalyptus. However, the Oscar winners have put their passion for Australia's film industry ahead of their bank balances to make the much-anticipated screen version of Murray Bail's novel. Neither actor will officially confirm their salary but sources close to the film say money was not a motivating factor for either. "Nicole has always wanted to put something back into the local industry because of what it did for her," said a source close to Kidman. Their rescue bid for the Australian industry could not be more timely, with feature film production at an eight-year low. Crowe is doing double duty on Eucalyptus, playing the leading man and acting as executive producer. The marquee names are regarded as a huge coup for Fox Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind the project. Fox Searchlight, the low-budget arm of Rupert Murdoch's entertainment giant, 20th Century Fox, is fully funding the film for a sum believed to be under $US20 million. The financing guidelines for Fox Searchlight show that the actors signed on to its projects can earn no more than $US500,000 to keep budgets from spiralling out of control. The salary cap allows the project to come under special funding from the NSW Government, meaning Fox Searchlight will receive significant tax breaks for the project. While the film is not receiving any funding from the national body, the Film Finance Corporation, it will be eligible for a 12.5 per cent tax rebate on all expenditure in Australia. It may also be eligible to claim up to $100,000 from the NSW Government's regional filming fund, which subsidises projects shot outside metropolitan areas. Much of the film is expected to be shot in the picturesque town of Gleniffer, inland from Coffs Harbour on the NSW North Coast and near Crowe's property at Nana Glen. It is scheduled to be filmed in January, which has created a timing conflict for the film's third major star and another Oscar winner, Geoffrey Rush, who may be forced to withdraw. Rush has already committed to Australian film Candy, which is being made at the same time and will star Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger and be directed by Kidman's close friend Neil Armfield. Rush is also scheduled to take part in the Hollywood blockbuster sequel Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, starring Johnny Depp. "Fox Searchlight is currently working with Geoffrey to see whether his schedule can be changed to incorporate Eucalyptus," said a source close to the film. "But it looks as though they may be having some problems, given he is already committed to those other projects early next year." Rush was planning to film his role in Eucalyptus this month, but the production went into a three-month hiatus when director Jocelyn Moorhouse decided to extend the search for her leading lady after Cornish dropped out. Kidman signed on for the main role of Ellen last week. While Kidman and Crowe are close friends, they have never worked together. Rush was to play Kidman's father, a single parent who worries his daughter will never find a suitable husband. Crowe plays her suitor, who must correctly name every species of gum tree on her father's rural property to win his approval and the bride. http://www.sundaytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,9353,11950206-28784,00.html Hollywood in a one horse town EXCLUSIVE By STEPHEN CORBY The Sunday Telegraph January 16, 2005 DESPITE attempts to keep the location secret, this rickety-looking old house, complete with tower, is the main set of the $40 million movie Eucalyptus. Sneak peek:A birds-eye view of the set of the new Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe movie Eucalyptus Shooting on the film, starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, will begin soon on farmland outside Bellingen, on the NSW north coast, that has been rented for $500 a day. Bellingen's 2600 residents are already getting used to being a kind of Hollywood on the hinterland. Many have been hired as extras and will be paid $250 a day, essentially for standing around. Others are moving out temporarily and renting their houses for $800 to $1500 a week. Russell Crowe, who has a farm nearby, is hiring a Jetranger helicopter for a month to commute to work – at a tidy $1000 an hour. Bellingen Shire economic development officer Don Tydd says dozens of locals are being employed to build the movie's grand sets. "There have been a lot of big figures bandied about, like we're going to get a third of that $40 million, but we're told it's going to be more like $1 million," Tydd says. Mayor Mark Troy says the long-term benefits of what he refers to as the "Babe effect" are harder to estimate. "Babe did a lot for tourism in the southern highlands," he says. "We really hope this film is a success. Certainly, with the stature of the actors involved, it's going to get a lot of exposure." Murray Bail's award-winning novel Eucalyptus, which flows like poetry across the page, is being transplanted to a much larger stage, complete with Australia's own Hollywood players, Kidman and Crowe, as well as Hugo Weaving and Jack Thompson. The surreal story is about a beautiful young girl, Ellen, whose father decides that she will only marry a man who can name every one of the hundreds of species of eucalypts on his farm. Eucalyptus will be filmed mainly at a verdant area known as Gleniffer, just outside Bellingen, which was dubbed "The Promised Land" by early settlers. It's easy to see why. English-green pastures are girt by the suitably filmic-sounding Never Never River, and backdropped by hills so densely forested they look like broccoli tops from the air. It may seem like a well-kept secret, but you can't swing a twig without hitting someone famous. George Negus lives here, as does David Helfgott, of Shine fame. Jack Thompson has a place just up the road. As for the set itself, it does sit on land that slopes down "plump and smooth, as if patted unevenly by hand," as the book describes it, but some parts of the newly built farmhouse look as Australian as a Krispy Kreme outlet. Local building inspector Gary Farrell, who read and loved Eucalyptus, had to approve the temporary structures. "The farmhouse looks like the real thing from outside, but inside it's got all these spaces and holes for cameras and lights. It's pretty amazing," Farrell says. "Next to it there's this big tower, which the girl in the book stands on to look at the trees. "It's made out of plaster, about 10m tall and 2m around, and has fake stairs on the outside. "If they're actually going to put someone at the top, they'll have to use a cherry picker." The pink weatherboard farmhouse is certainly nothing like the "pessimistic grey stone" dwelling in the novel. It seems the US version of Renovation Rescue has been at work on the sets – and perhaps the script as well. The central character is just 19 in the book, which may be a stretch for even the youthful looks of 37-year-old Kidman. The dust-jacket description of the setting for Eucalyptus mentions a one-horse town in NSW, and Bellingen fits the bill. The owner of Bellingen's one horse, which is tied up to the local courthouse, is Buffalo O'Brien. O'Brien, who seems to be half man, half beard, takes tourists on horse rides when he's not breaking in wild brumbies. He's just one of the townsfolk waiting for his close-up after attending a casting call for extras last month. "I went for a role as an extra and they took me picture and asked me what I can do, so I'm just waitin for 'em to get back to me," O'Brien says. When it comes to the casting couch, it's hard to imagine a more beer-stained, dusty and bedraggled example than Bellingen's Diggers Tavern, but this is where more than 600 of the town's residents lined up for their shot at stardom – or a chance to be in the same shot as stardom. According to Stacy Cavanagh, a barmaid at the Diggers, "People were pretty psyched – just about everyone was here." Locals are hoping the Memorial Town Hall next door can host a premiere of Eucalyptus. Cavanagh has seen it all before. Back in 2002, Bellingen was the setting for Danny Deckchair, starring Rhys "Notting Hill" Ifans. "I had a few beers with Rhys; he liked to party, that boy. But I'd love to have a beer with Russ – I hope he comes in," she says. "And I'd love to see Nicole in the flesh, too, just to see if her skin is really that beautiful." Apparently Crowe has supped the odd ale in Bellingen at the Federal Hotel, where he and Tom Cruise rode up on their Harleys. The staff were so thrilled they left the middy Cruise drank from above the bar for months, pointing it out proudly like a grail, until the dregs he'd left behind grew mould. |
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| Above 1st photo of the set of Eucalyptus as per The Sunday Telegraph (Australia) 16 Jan 2005. Thanks to Ivani, Murph of Murph's Place and our roving reporter. See Further down for the article |