Baz Luhrmann is responsible for films like Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, but he’s tackling the small screen for the first time this summer with The Get Down. The famed director will transport viewers to New York City in the 1970’s during the rise of hip-hop, punk, and disco through the eyes of several South Bronx teenagers starting on August 12.
Luhrmann gave a little more insight into the show during a Q&A at the Ghetto Film School in the Bronx. According to Luhrmann, the show is about “a friendship between two guys and there’s a girl involved.” He added, “at a certain point we cut between now and back in the day, and their trajectory through life.”
Grandmaster Flash, who is considered one of the pioneers of hip-hop, is serving as associate producer on the Netflix series. Rapper Nas, who is a producer, features a new song on the latest trailer released by the media streaming giant on Monday.
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“One of the great collaborations is that I’ve been working really closely in creating these rhymes, and he’s a producer on the film, with one of the most iconic voices of the ‘90s and that’s Nas,” Luhrmann said during the Tribeca Film Festival. “And so Nas has been this other huge creative force in the production. And it’s been playing really, really successfully.”
The show also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Jaden Smith, Justice Smith, Shameik Moore, Skylan Brooks, and TJ Brown. Jimmy Smits co-stars as “Papa Fuerte,” a South Bronx political boss who delivers services the City fails to provide, such as jobs, housing, healthcare, etc., according to Deadline. “A big man with brass, he navigates downtown politics the same way he handles his uptown turf —with ease and a touch of deception.”
