Netflix cancels Baz Luhrmann show
May 25, 2017
By Nik Roseveare
Netflix show The Get Down, a musical drama exploring the birth of hip-hop and directed by Baz Luhrmann, has been axed after just one season.
The show had a production cost of $120 million – the largest ever for Netflix – but metrics from Variety suggest that it was only attracting around one-fifth of the audience that Orange is the New Black, another Netflix exclusive, pulls in.
Luhrmann took to Facebook to suggest that the decision may have been partly caused by his inability to devote enough time to the series.
“When I was asked to come to the centre of The Get Down to help realise it, I had to defer a film directing commitment for at least two years,” he wrote. “This exclusivity has understandably become a sticking point for Netflix and Sony, who have been tremendous partners and supporters of the show. It kills me that I can’t split myself into two and make myself available to both productions.”
He added: “But the simple truth is, I make movies. And the thing with movies is, that when you direct them, there can be nothing else in your life. Since The Get Down stopped, I have actually been spending the last few months preparing my new cinematic work…”