IT’s not Oklahoma!, it’s not Gone With The Wind and it’s definitely not a musical – but Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe will feature in a “sweeping romance” directed by Baz Luhrmann.

“Yes and it’s very passionate,” the Moulin Rouge! director said of their on-screen relationship.

Luhrmann confirmed details of his highly anticipated next movie ahead of an official announcement in three weeks, when the title will be revealed.

The epic begins in the mid-1930s and concludes with its major set-piece, the 1942-43 Japanese bombing of Darwin and the exodus south, known as the Adelaide River Stakes.

Luhrmann, who has researched the film for 10 years, said the tale will be a “mythological telling” drawn from books and historical material.

“Russell, Nicole and I have been wanting to do a large Australian piece for a very long time,” he said.

Both actors have dramatically lowered their fees in order to work on the film.

But Luhrmann’s biggest task has been convincing Twentieth Century Fox that he could shoot the film in the Australian Outback.

“In this day and age of computer generation, no studio wants you to step outside the studio to shoot locations anymore” he said. “Making it in a traditional sense is not something people support you in.”

Luhrmann will rehearse with Kidman and Crowe in Los Angeles in March and will begin shooting five months later.

Filming will take place in The Kimberleys, Darwin and Queensland, with an almost entirely Australian cast.

Producers are still searching for a 7 to 9-year-old indigenous child to star in a major role.

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