Baz Luhrmann recalls terrifying incident with earplugs: 'I thought I lost my hearing'

Baz Luhrmann, whose name is synonymous with musical opulence, spent weeks terrified that he was losing his hearing.

During a chat with New York Magazine's The Strategist, the Moulin Rouge and Elvis director revealed Blu Tack putty as one of the items he can't live without — and shared the harrowing story of why he uses it to plug his ears.

"I'm an insomniac, and I fly all the time," Luhrmann explained. "The two most important things when I'm flying are blocking out sound and light. I used to use those standard earplugs. But recently, I had a very, very scary situation where I thought I lost my hearing in one ear."

Luhrmann said he was wearing "children's earplugs" on a flight when, "unbeknownst to me, one attached to my eardrum."

The director was touring at the time and although he spent weeks unaware the plug was lodged in his ear, he definitely noticed the difference. As he went about his daily routine, Luhrmann worried that his hearing was fading.

"Everyone was feeding me lines and I was pretending to hear, but I couldn't," said the Australian filmmaker. "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 squishy stuff you use to put paintings up on walls? Drummers use that instead of earplugs. You place 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."

A celebrated filmmaker, Luhrmann is known for his maximalist style, marked by bold visuals, glamorous costumes, and over-the-top musical moments. He famously helmed the alt-pop-inspired Romeo + Juliet, and recently directed the Oscar-nominated Elvis biopic, recounting the life of the King of Rock N' Roll.

Whether directing a straightforward musical or not, the soundtrack and score are always integral components of Luhrmann's work. His Elvis leading man Austin Butler even likened Luhrmann's creative style to that of a jazz musician.

"In order to play jazz, you have to know music theory," Butler told EW. "You have to know the scales on that guitar inside and out, but at the end of the day, you're improvising. You have all this knowledge and practice that is then going into this present moment and playing off whatever's in front of you. That's how Baz is because he works so hard at preparation. When it comes time to actually film, I'll have been preparing a scene for a year, and suddenly, the day of, the entire scene changes."

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