Luhrmann inspires extreme reactions. A director of raging, furious talent, bright, frenetic cinematography, and utter disregard for sensibility, he provokes you into turning into an obsessive fan or into loathing his every cinematic step. His films have shied constantly away from tradition, and his absolute irreverence treads a very fine line between charming and disturbing.

At a time like this, his earlier adaptive work, the critically disgraced Romeo & Juliet, comes disastrously to mind, as do Moulin Rouge thoughts of song and colour. The director makes films that look radical but don't say much, and signify even less. Remember, this is the man who directed La Boheme for the Sydney stage, preferring to forsake 'big Pavarotti style voices' for realism.

The Good: Maybe he isn't entirely bonkers yet. He has, after all, pushed back his release date to 2006 just to avoid the film versions conflicting. And he's using Valerio Manfredi's brilliant but controversial book as his reference.

The Bad: Disastrous, disastrous casting and total unpredictability. The change of release date could also ensure people who have watched a great piece of cinema having to face a mega monstrosity. Oh, maybe three of them, as he calls this the first in a trilogy of historical epics!