Baz Luhrmann's The Get Down opens 'vault' on hip hop's early days

When Baz Luhrmann asks a question, expect an epic series as the answer.

The award-winning director,known for his theatrical-style film productionsMoulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, describessitting in a Paris caf 10 years ago and contemplating the early rise of hip hop in New York City'sThe Bronx.

"How, in a timewhen there was so little, and the city was saying to this group of youth 'you are nothing and no one,' how did they manage to come up with something completely and totally new that went on to transform not only the city but the world?" he told CBC News during an interview in Los Angeles.

Baz Luhrmann's The Get Down revisits hip hop's origins

8 years ago

Duration 1:41

Making his small screen debut, the famed director and members of his Get Down cast talk returning to the '70s to track the birth of hip hop.

A decade-long quest to find the answer has becomeThe Get Down, reportedly one of Netflix's most-expensive series to date and Luhrmann's first foray onto the small screen.

"Along the way, I became the audience but also the student."

Luhrmannsays heintended to keep his distance from the project, choosing initially tobe a "curator" or "uncle" as he calls it.

But it soon became clear that hisvision one he says defied traditional television models and forced the team to re-evaluate its path (and budget) several times wasn't going to be achievedunless he took the lead.

"I realized that if I didn't fully immerse myself and put myself in the centre, it wouldn't get made."

The Romeo + Juliet directorenlisted the help of people who knew the era best, including author and music critic Nelson George andpioneer hip-hop artist DJ Grandmaster Flash.

"Baz has a way; he just sits you down and says what he's asking for. So he says to me, 'Tell me about the era,'"Flash, an associate producer on the show,told CBC. "And he would ask the question a million times,over and over and over, and he was very anal very, very, very descriptive about certain things."

Cast members can attest to Luhrmann'smeticulous approach.

"There was this room, I kid you not, 40 feet long full of timelines, pictures, artwork," said Jimmy Smits, who plays South Bronx political bossFrancisco (Papa Fuerte) Cruz on the show.

"Oh my God,it was insane!" added castmate Herizen Guardiola, also referring to Luhrmann'sdetailed story-boarding. "Likeyou'd walk into this world and this is the world he's created."

To keep that world authentic, it meant the main cast, many of whom werenewcomers to acting, had to go through two months of an intensive"boot camp" to learn the skills integral to their roles likeDJing, disco andbreakdancing.

"Thestance, like how you stand, how you walk, your swagger,"said actorShameikMoore about learning the nuances of club behaviour in the 70s. "When music came on, you needed to be the best dancer on the floor."

The series begins atthe intersection of disco dominating the airwaves, with a small pocket of the city seeing theemergence of hip hop, a musical art form still in its infancy at the time, in The Bronx.

Grandmaster Flash spent monthstrainingMamoudou Athie, who plays Flash himself inthe series, to turntable like a pro.

Grandmaster Flash discusses how he trained Mamoudou Athie to play a DJ

8 years ago

Duration 1:03

Hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash, an associate producer of Netflix's The Get Down, says he spent months coaching the actor who played him as a young DJ

Flash says the music was a positiveoutlet for young people who were filled with optimism about their place in the world.

"We didn't document it, we didn't film it, we didn't do these things," said Flash about living through the early era of hip hop in The Bronx. "So Baz has cracked open this vault."

Season one of The Get Down includes12 episodes, with the first six being released on Netflix on Aug. 12.

The soundtrack features work from Nas, an executive producer on the show, as well as Miguel, Christina Aguilera and Grandmaster Flash, among others.