Some 20 years ago (long before it was in the public eye thanks to
Dancing With the Stars), a young Australian director made his feature film debut with a comedy set within the world of competitive ballroom dancing. Baz Luhrmann's
Strictly Ballroom actually began life as a stage show when he was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia and is, perhaps, his most personal. Baz's mother was a ballroom dancing instructor and Baz himself took lessons as a child. The lead character of Scott Hastings, the rebellious dancer that is tired of dancing by the rules and just wants to do his own brand of "flashy" moves, is very much a stand-in for Baz as a filmmaker. His own "flashy" style has since become his trademark. But the groundwork for all his future films can be found in that first film.
The Red Curtain Opening
It's fitting that the first film in his Red Curtain Trilogy would also begin with the shot of a red curtain rising. The theatricality of the films is presented right off the bat to make the audience aware that things are heightened–this isn't a kitchen sink drama. R+J, which has more of an MTV style starts off with its own version of a curtain rising: a television set being turned on.
