How Baz Luhrmann got caught up in The Get Down

Baz Luhrmann is known for fanciful retellings of classic stories - a far cry from a TV series about the beginnings of hip-hop in the Bronx.

"I'm probably the least obvious person you might think to be curating and trying to get this story told," he said of his Netflix saga The Get Down.

Indeed, the Australian director is known for colourful retellings of such classic stories as Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby - a far cry from a TV series about the beginnings of hip-hop in the Bronx.

"Curating" is an apt description of what Luhrmann has done for The Get Down, which begins streaming its first six episodes tomorrow, with another six expected to drop next year.

Luhrmann put his theatrical, grandiose style into the project, which reportedly cost about NZ$170 million (Netflix declined to comment). But the series is also grounded in historical accounts and an authenticity owed to collaborators such as Grandmaster Flash, Nas, Kurtis Blow, DJ Kool Herc, Rahiem (of Furious Five fame) and writer-film-maker Nelson George, a noted hip-hop expert.

The Get Down is the rare television series with a young cast that's predominantly black and Latino. "The story had to be told from the kids' point of view, because people who invented this new form, this art, they were young," Luhrmann said.

It begins in 1977, the height of disco - and amid a sense of discord in New York City. Ezekial "Zeke" Figuero (Justice Smith of Paper Towns) is a smart and sensitive high-school student who writes stirring poetry that helps him cope with a haunting childhood tragedy.

Zeke is in love with his longtime friend, Mylene (newcomer Herizen Guardiola), a gifted singer whose disco aspirations are at odds with the wishes of her strict, religious father (Giancarlo Esposito) - and her own feelings for Zeke.

Zeke struggles to envision a promising future - the result of both standard adolescent ennui and a lacklustre support system. But he meets a street-smart graffiti artist dubbed Shaolin Fantastic (Shameik Moore of Dope), who wears bright red Puma sneakers and glides through the Bronx like a graceful ninja. He introduces Zeke to "the get down"- an underground world of DJs and "wordsmiths".

Shaolin - in moniker and aesthetic - is a nod to the popular kung fu movies of the era and the enduring cultural intersection later embodied by Wu-Tang Clan.

That intersection is one of the many details that Flash, an associate producer, and other consulting legends lent to the project. (The name Grandmaster is a nod to the honorific martial arts title.)

They also spent time teaching the young cast members how to rap and command turntables.

Flash didn't know Luhrmann by name when he was first asked to consult on The Get Down, but The Great Gatsby was one of his favourite films.

"I look at this white guy from Australia and I say, 'Why?'" Flash recalled. "'Why do you want to do this, and why should I do it with you?'"

Luhrmann told Flash he wasn't interested in telling a story about hip-hop in the 80s - he wanted to know what came before that.

The approach fit with an analogy Flash likes to use, in which 80s hip-hop is a cake - a now-billion-dollar confection that has fed countless artists, producers and fans of the genre - and he and his peers in the 70s were the bakers.

Here was Luhrmann asking about the recipe.

In particular, the director wanted to know how such an influential culture was born at a time of poverty and struggle.

Flash signed on after Luhrmann agreed to consult with more of his fellow hip-hop pioneers.

The Get Down's fictional universe is set against real-life figures and events - buildings burning across the South Bronx; a young Ed Koch railing against graffiti and surging crime during a (faux) evening news report about an increasingly heated mayoral race; the July 77 blackout that caused widespread mayhem across the city's five boroughs.

Luhrmann's films are known for integrating genre-bending music - Jay-Z's 2001 song Izzo (H.O.V.A.) merged with jazz for a surreal scene on New York City's Queensboro Bridge in The Great Gatsby; Romeo + Juliet indelibly featured a soulful choral arrangement of Prince's When Doves Cry.

But The Get Down - Luhrmann's first television project - provided a particular set of challenges.

In July, Variety reported that the production, which began more than two years ago and went through multiple showrunners, had stalled so many times that some writers had nicknamed it The Shut Down.

Luhrmann attributes many of the issues to the sheer scale of the project - from the costs and logistics behind creating new music and licensing existing songs to hiring the show's bevy of collaborators.

Luhrmann had initially seen a more limited role for himself, but eventually he agreed to go all-in.

"I tried many ways to get it going, but the only way to really do that was to put my brand on it."

Tune in

When:

From today

Where:

Netflix

What:

Hip-hop heritage

- Washington Post