Louis In The Outback? Theroux Plans To Develop Australian-Based Documentary

With the news that delightful human and filmmaker Louis Theroux will tour Australia later this year, it is rumoured that while Theroux is here, he may develop a long-held ambition to make a documentary about the Australian outback.

As a journalist fascinated by subcultures, Theroux has said that he hopes to at some point document the more remote areas of Australia.

“I’ve always been interested in the landscape of Australia,” Theroux told the ABC.

“The idea of the outback is hugely appealing. I’ve got a romantic association both with the American West and the Australian interior which seems to strike [an] emotional tone of austerity and size and remoteness, people carving out their destinies in this vast wilderness.”

Theroux said he had been considering the Australian documentary for a number of years, but hasn’t had the chance to visit and get to know to country – until now.

“I don’t know exactly what the story is but I’ve loved the idea of being in that frontier … the town at the end of line, this one-horse town with lives that combine dignity and a sense of desperation,” he said.

“This trip could be a prolonged reccie [reconnaissance] for me, this two-week tour I will keep my ear to the ground.”

Knowing Theroux, the documentary would most likely take a divisive stance on some the issues that are largely unknown to an international audience – such as disproportionate levels of poverty, social issues and indigenous inequality- but this is purely speculative at this point. Stay tuned…