“Are you going to light me well?” Baz Luhrmann asks when Georgia Godworth, a comedian who interviews strangers on the street, stops him in Sydney to ask about his love life.
“I think you need to put the camera – I think it is there,” the famed Australian director says while, well, directing the shoot of Godworth’s TikTok vox pop.
Godworth, seemingly unaware of who she is speaking to, replies: “Yeah that’s good, get the light, get the angles.”
She begins by asking Luhrmann if he’s single – he’s of course been married to Australian costume designer Catherine Martin for nearly 30 years – and he replies: “No … I’m married.”
Godworth later moves the interview on a Newtown street along to, um, group sex. But before then Luhrmann delivers some considered reflections on long-term commitment and love.
“During that journey of marriage, the person I’m married to and I found our own really genuine and authentic concept of what our contract to each other should be,” the 61-year-old says.
“But I think more importantly, marriage is not so much about what exists between you and another person, it’s about advertising to other people that you love and care as to what the dealio is.”
Love and respect and communication, Goldworth riffs. Luhrmann goes on to say that if you care about someone and they fall in love with someone else, “there has to be some form of acceptance”.
“It’s a contract of communication.”
Goldworth notes: “It’s a loose contract where you can fuck other people occasionally. Monogamy is hard long-term and you know people come into your life?”
Luhrmann, who appears to be on a night out, interrupts: “Let me think about that. I’m not sure what that means.”
Godworth continues: “Occasionally you can have the open dialogue, whether that be a threesome, a foursome, an orgy.”
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Luhrmann then asks the interviewer: “How many foursomes have you done?”
“Maybe like six,” she replies before Luhrmann says: “So, I mean, what is the point of the conversation we’re having?”
The coalescence of the celebrated director – whose work includes The Great Gatsby, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge – and a young, relatively unknown comedian on a Newtown street, delivers two minutes and 18 seconds of part-sarcastic, part-earnest fun.
The video was posted to Godworth’s TikTok on 30 May and had garnered 100,000 views by Friday. But it was filmed earlier. On 8 April, Goodworth posted a shorter clip of the interview captioned: “Baz Luhrmann spotted!”
Godworth said in a reply to a comment on this week’s TikTok that “I genuinely had no idea” when a viewer asked: “Please tell me you’re joking and you absolutely knew who this was.”
As the interview wraps up, Luhrmann says: “I usually don’t do interviews, so I’m glad to be part of yours.” She replies: “Thank you very much. I’m honoured, I’m honoured.” End scene.