Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann expresses interest in creating a Jazz Age version of Charli XCX’s soundtrack for the upcoming Wuthering Heights film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
Luhrmann’s Luxurious Train Carriage Project
Luhrmann, known for directing Elvis (2022), the Elvis EPiC concert film, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge, collaborates with his wife and creative partner Catherine Martin on a new carriage for Belmond’s British Pullman train. The project stems from his passion for slow travel, which induces a dream-like state detached from worldly realities.
The carriage, named “Celia,” transforms a 1932 Pullman original to seat 12 guests. It draws inspiration from a theatre set for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring abundant flora and fauna decorations, a cocktail bar, lounge, entertaint area, and more. The design evokes the elegance and extravagance of bygone eras, similar to Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Jazz-Inspired Music Vision
Discussing music for the carriage, Luhrmann draws parallels to his Great Gatsby approach, where Bryan Ferry and his jazz orchestra reimagined modern tracks like Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love.” He proposes a similar treatment for Charli XCX’s Wuthering Heights soundtrack.
“What I would do is probably something like what I did with Bryan Ferry on Gatsby, where I got Bryan, with his wonderful jazz orchestra, to cover ‘Crazy in Love’ and do some modern cuts,” Luhrmann states. “So I’d take the soundtrack to Wuthering Heights and do a Jazz Age version of it.”
“You’d have to ask Charli if that was OK, but I think it’d be cool,” he adds.
Desired Guest Experience
Luhrmann envisions the carriage delivering civility, kindness, warmth, magic, love, and beauty amid a world lacking these qualities. Guests should depart feeling nourished by exceptional food, laughter, and drinks, as if returning from a month-long escape rather than a single day. “I really want them to stumble back out in London, shimmy off into the night and feel like they haven’t been away for a day, but that they’ve been away for a month,” he says.
The Pullman carriage launches this summer, with further details forthcoming.
Spotlight on Charli XCX’s Wuthering Heights Soundtrack
The Wuthering Heights soundtrack earns four stars for its delicious gothic pop, ideal for a winter of yearning and discontent. Charli XCX questions in her Substack post whether it qualifies as a “Charli XCX album.” As a follow-up to Brat, it avoids cultural phenomenon status but provides solid new music, potentially easing pressures to reignite inspiration.
Charli XCX’s Recent Projects
Beyond Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX composes for A24’s Mother Mary starring Anne Hathaway, appears in her mockumentary The Moment, takes a role in romance Erupcja, joins fantasy 100 Nights Of Hero, plays a comedic self in TV’s Overcompensating, and stars with Milly Alcock in a horror film by Takashi Miike.
Luhrmann’s Upcoming Works
Luhrmann develops a stage musical on Elvis Presley’s life, building on his biopic and concert film. He also advances Jehanne d’Arc, starring Isla Johnston, slated for 2027 cinemas.
