'Elvis' director Baz Luhrmann to receive directing award during Palm Springs film fest

"Elvis" director and Academy Award nominee Baz Luhrmann will receive the Creative Impact in Directing Award from Variety during the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The award will be presented on Jan. 6 during the annual 10 Directors to Watch brunch at the Parker Palm Springs. "Elvis" star Austin Butler will present the award to Luhrmann. Butler will also receive the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Jan. 5.

Luhrmann's work spans film, opera, theater and music. His most recent film, “Elvis,” which opened this summer, has become the filmmaker’s highest-grossing film in the United States and in 22 international territories, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Holland, Brazil and New Zealand. In Australia, “Elvis” is currently ranked as the fourth-highest grossing Australian film of all time. The film also has landed as the second-highest grossing musical biopic of all time globally.

The Oscar-nominated director, writer and producer burst onto the scene with the first of his Red Curtain Trilogy (each of the films contain a theater motif), “Strictly Ballroom” (1992), followed by a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and the Academy Award-winning musical “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), which was later adapted into a stage musical. A collaboration with Netflix later produced “The Get Down” (2016), a critically successful series based on the birth of hip-hop in 1970s South Bronx.

"From his dazzling Cannes Film Festival sensation of 1992, 'Strictly Ballroom,' to his current Oscar-contending biopic, 'Elvis,' Baz Luhrmann has been at the forefront of international cinema as the rare auteur who also connects with global audiences,” EVP of Global Content Steven Gaydos said in a statement. “Whether it's turning the screen musical upside down with 'Moulin Rouge' or bringing F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jazz Age to new life and new relevance with 'The Great Gatsby,' Luhrmann makes distinctive, personal cinema on a grand scale, a reminder of Hollywood Golden Age directors who are revered as bold film artists and also remembered for creating big, accessible, beloved hit movies."

Past recipients of the Creative Impact in Directing Award include Ryan Coogler, Tom Hooper, Patty Jenkins, David O. Russell, Charlie Kaufman, Jeff Nichols and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The award celebrates Luhrmann’s body of work.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival will be held Jan. 5 through 16.

Other honorees at this year's festival include: Cate Blanchett (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress), Colin Farrell (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Sarah Polley (Director of the Year Award), Michelle Yeoh (International Star Award) and The Fabelmans (The Vanguard Award).

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 'Elvis' director Baz Luhrmann to receive honor at Palm Springs fest