Catherine Martin - Details

Biography

CATHERINE MARTIN's distinct and
highly original aesthetic has been an essential ingredient in Baz Luhrmann's feature films, operas and plays. Along with Luhrmann, Martin is a partner in Bazmark. Inq. , which, with its subsidiaries Bazmark Live and Bazmark Music, is one of the world's most innovative producers of
film, theatre and entertainment.

For her work on WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO and JULIET (1996) (on which she was also associate producer), Martin won a BAFTA for Best Production Design and an Academy Award Nomination for Best Art Direction. Three years earlier in 1993, Martin made her film debut with Luhrmann designing the hugely successful STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992), for which Martin won Best Production Design and Best Costume Design at both the BAFTA and AFI
Awards.

Martin began collaborating with Luhrmann when she was studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. There, in her final year, she designed Luhrmann's production of LAKE LOST for the Australian Opera. This earned Martin and colleague Angus Strathie (her
fellow costume designer on MOULIN ROUGE (2001)) a Victorian Green Room Award for Best Design. Martin has designed all of Luhrmann's subsequent productions, including the extended stage version of STRICTLY BALLROOM (1992), Puccini's opera LA BOHEME updated to 1957 and featuring striking monochromatic sets and costumes and, Benjamin Britten's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM for the Australian Opera for which she won the Sydney Theatre Critic's Award for Best Opera Design.

A notable exception to her work with Luhrmann has been Martin's set
design for Sydney-based theatre director Neil Armfield's award-winning
production of DIARY OF A MADMAN (1990) starring Oscar" winner Geoffrey Rush.

Her other projects with Luhrmann include guest editing the first signature edition of VOGUE AUSTRALIA (January, 1994) and establishing Bazmark.Inq. and its subsidiaries, in 1997. CM made her directorial debut with fashion designer Collette Dinnigan's Autumn/Winter show of
1998, produced by Bazmark Live at the Louvre in Paris. Also for Bazmark Live, Martin recently led a design team in creating the streetscape design of Fox Studio Australia's backlot in Sydney. She is currently developing the design for a revival of Luhrmann's production of the opera LA BOHEME for Broadway.