Baz Luhrmann Hooks Up With Sony Pictures Television

Baz Luhrmann — the visionary filmmaker behind such films as Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, and Strictly Ballroom — recently signed a deal with Sony Pictures Television to bring his unique talents to the small screen. According to The Wrap, the Australia director has reached an agreement with the company to develop content for both cable and network broadcast.

An anonymous source close to the deal explained that Baz Luhrmann’s agreement with Sony Pictures Television will span two years and will allow the director to produce programs with wife and Bazmark Films co-founder Catherine Martin and longtime collaborator Anton Monsted.

Outside of a few sketches written for the The 81st Annual Academy Awards, the deal with Sony Pictures marks Baz Luhrmann’s first foray into the world of television. Given his penchant for whip-smart editing and extravagant musical numbers, it should be interesting to see what the filmmaker has in store for fans of the small screen.

In other Luhrmann-related news, the director’s latest cinematic endeavor, a stylish adaptation of author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, is finally headed to the big screen next summer. The film was originally slated to hit North American theaters this Christmas, though it would eventually get bumped from the schedule. According to Coming Soon, Baz Luhrmann’s flick is now tentatively set to arrive on May 10, 2013.

The Great Gatsby reunites the director with his Romeo + Juliet star Leonardo DiCaprio. The upcoming motion picture also assembles the talents of Isla Fisher, Carey Mulligan, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and Jason Clarke.

Baz Luhrmann made his feature-length directorial debut with the kinetic 1992 romantic comedy Strictly Ballroom, a movie that would help establish the filmmaker as a bold new talent. He would follow up his first feature with Romeo + Juliet, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the iconic star-crossed lovers. Five years later, Luhrmann would deliver Moulin Rouge!, a film that is arguably his most memorable film to-date.

Do you consider yourself to be a Baz Luhrmann fan? Are you excited about the director’s deal with Sony Pictures Television?