Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann has enlisted two big-name stars for another of his grand romances, this time set in the Australian outback.

The historical epic will star Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, who worked with Luhrmann on 2001’s hit musical Moulin Rouge.

Luhrmann’s publicist Maria Farmer confirmed on Thursday that the movie will begin production in August. The filmmaker told Australian newspapers that he would direct and co-write the movie, which he compared to “Gone With The Wind” and “Lawrence of Arabia,” with Australian screenwriter Stuart Beattie.

He said the film would be set in the mid-1930s leading up to the Second World War.

“We have some of the most extraordinary landscape on the planet and we want to get two of the most extraordinary actors in the world and put them … in that landscape,” Luhrmann told The Australian newspaper.

Native Aussies Crowe and Kidman had planned to star in another Australian film based on the novel “Eucalyptus,” by author Murray Bail, but the project fell through last year.






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