‘Australia’ director blames poor Box Office opening for Oscar snub

Melbourne, April 05: ‘Australia’ director Baz Luhrmann has said that the poor box office release of his film in the US was the reason why he and his crew did not get an Oscar nomination.

He also said that another reason for the epic film missing out on Oscar nomination was that its release clashed with Reese Witherspoon’s ‘Four Holidays’. "We opened badly in the US - the weekend where we went up against the Reese Witherspoon comedy (Four Holidays) we mis-communicated the film and we collectively failed to get a big audience in on the first weekend," a news daily quoted Luhrmann as saying. He added: "It was ordinary to say the least and it was during the times of nominations so we were out of the Oscars way early." Luhrmann made special mention of ‘Australia’ cinematographer Mandy Walker, and said that he was plain unlucky not to receive an Academy Award nomination. He said: "Personally I think for her incredible achievement Mandy Walker, at the very least, should have been nominated. "You can hate the film but nobody denies the pictorial power of it. "The Australian creatives that stood by me every step of the way - a few more of them should have been recognised but it wasn`t our turn." Talking of his own Oscar snub, he said: "If you have a look at the list of directors who tend to not get nominated or who have not been looked upon in that way I`m alright with that company.” ANI