Baz Luhrmann’s Joan of Arc Movie Has Been in the Works for 30 Years: ‘I Was Waiting for the Right Time’ to Tell This ‘Ultimate Teenage Girl Coming-of-Age Story’

variety.com:

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Joan of Arc movie has been in the works for decades. “This is something he’s talked about for 30 years,” his wife and creative partner Catherine Martin told me Saturday at the LACMA Art+Film Gala, where Luhrmann was honored alongside sculptor Simone Leigh.

The teenaged Joan of Arc became a heroine after leading the French army to victory in Orléans in 1429 before being burned at the stake in 1431.

Warner Bros. confirmed in September that Luhrmann was taking on the epic tale of France’s national heroine and saint Joan of Arc.

The film is based on “Blood Red, Sister Rose,” the 1974 novel about Joan of Arc by “Schindler’s List” author Thomas Keneally. “I almost did Alexander the Great and then at one point I was going down the road on Napoleon, but more than ever, I realized I was waiting for the right time to tell this story and the idea of this ultimate teenage girl coming-of-age story set in a 100-year war,” Luhrmann said. “She’s a young girl who’s from a small town who manages to tell this 25-year-old king, ‘We’re going to be able to unite the country, and you’ll be king.’ It’s that inspiration, that uplift.