Baz Luhrmann thought he was losing hearing in one ear: It was a ‘very, very scary situation’

Baz Luhrmann could hardly hear the music.

The “Moulin Rouge!” and the author of “Elvis” revealed to The Strategist of New York Magazine that he was “terrified” of losing hearing in one ear. Luckily, Luhrmann realized that an earplug had been attached to his eardrum.

“I’m an insomniac, and I fly all the time. The two most important things when flying are to block out sound and light,” Luhrmann said. “I used to use those standard earplugs. But recently I had a very, very scary situation where I thought I had lost my hearing one ear. I wore kids earplugs and unbeknownst to me, one stuck to my eardrum. I spent weeks terrified on tour. Everyone was giving me jokes and I pretended to hear, but I couldn’t.

He continued: “It turns out the earplug was stuck on my eardrum. The surgeon who removed it shared a tip that rock-and-roll drummers do. You know that fluffy stuff you use to hang pictures on walls? Drummers use it instead of earplugs. You put it in, it forms in your ear, it comes out really clean, and you throw it away. It’s a much safer and cleaner option for blocking sound out of your ear.

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Luhrmann recently shared that he was eyeing a sci-fi project as his next feature film.

“It’s not that I don’t like fantasy, it’s just that[that]other people have already done it and done it really well,” Luhrmann told People magazine. “They have their own language. I kind of found myself in the world of musical and postmodern melodrama and a particular swinging story.

He added: “That said, as I get older, I think, ‘What would I do with science fiction?’ So I wouldn’t rule it out.

Luhrmann also previously told IndieWire that there will eventually be a “directors assembly” of the four-hour concert footage from the making of “Elvis” starring Austin Butler as the king of rock ‘n roll.

“I went to record now to say not today, not tomorrow, but I would at some point,” Luhrmann said in November 2022. “Because Austin has done his concerts to the fullest. He did all the numbers. Austin just did that and it was an out of body experience to see him do those full gigs, so one day he’ll cut those full gigs together.