Special Features * Review
* Easter Eggs
Special
Features
DISC
1:
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Feature-length writer’s
commentary with Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce.
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Feature-length production
commentary with Baz Luhrmann, production designer Catherine Martin, and
director of photography Don McAlpine.
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Audio description/narration
track.
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‘Heightened reality viewing’
– click on the green fairy at several points throughout for a backstage look at
making the film.
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And, of course, let’s not forget the actual film!
DISC
2:
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HBO documentary on the
making of Moulin Rouge.
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‘Stars’—interviews
with Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo,
and Richard Roxburgh, combined with footage from
the film and behind-the-scenes. Preceded by a montage of costume tests, etc.,
with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, set to an instrumental “Your Song”.
v
‘This Story is About…’—interviews with Craig Pearce and Baz
Luhrmann about writing the film, plus early
drafts of the screenplay.
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‘The Cutting Room’—interviews
with editor Jill Bilcock, and Baz Luhrmann about
editing the film; ‘abandoned edits’
of scenes, including “Dance Across the Sky”, “Come What May”, and “Zidler’s
Rap”; ‘director’s mock previsualisations’ – Baz speaking the dialogue over
still shots from the film.
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‘The Dance’—extended,
multi-angle dance sequences of the “Tango”, the “Can-can”, “Hindi Sad
Diamonds, and “Coup d’Etat” (but first, ‘A Word From Baz’); interview
with choreographer John O’Connell; and footage
of dance rehearsals.
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‘The Music’—‘The Musical Journey’, a featurette about developing the music for the film, including behind-the-scenes
footage and interviews; interview with Fatboy Slim; music video and MTV Awards performance for
“Lady Marmalade”; “Come What May” music video.
v
‘The Design’—interview
with production- and co-costume-designer Catherine Martin; sketches and
stills detailing the evolution of the
various sets; interview with
co-costume designer Angus Strathie; sketches and
stills detailing the evolution of the
various costumes; tour of the posters,
billboards, etc., used in the film; special
effects section on creating the introduction and the green fairy.
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‘Marketing’—‘International
Sizzle Reel’; photo gallery;
‘Little Red Book’ (the story in pictures);
poster gallery; trailers (North American, Japanese, and for the Red Curtain
Trilogy); music promo spot.
I was looking forward to this DVD so much that it would have been
pretty hard to disappoint me, but when I finally did get my hands on it, and
saw what it had to offer, I was completely thrilled. First of all, the
packaging (I know, I know, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but we all do
anyway): when they advertise it as ‘beautifully packaged’, they really mean
that, not just that they got some artist to draw a pretty picture for the
cover. But I digress. The film itself has transferred really well to the small
screen, I think. The image is beautifully clear and sharp, and it doesn’t look
hideously garish. And hooray for widescreen! I haven’t actually seen it on
video, but given how important the mise-en-scene is,
and the large scope in which it is shot, I’m sure it would really lose
something in pan-and-scan. That said, for an all-encompassing experience,
nothing beats the cinema, so watch this on as big a television as you can find.
(Although, I actually saw Moulin Rouge
on a plane shortly before the DVD came out, and even on the tiny little
five-inch screen in the back of the seat in front of me, it still captivated me
for two hours, wrapping me up in its wonderfully crazy world.)
Now, the extras. Finally, a DVD with extras
that manage to be both entertaining and informative! This is especially true
for the commentaries which avoid the trap many DVD commentaries fall into,
which is the director talking for two hours about
their excruciatingly boring childhood, or other such things that are neither
interesting nor relevant to the film.
The writer’s commentary is really funny; Baz and Craig play off
each other at times like a vetran comedy team, and
still manage to convey lots of interesting information about how the film got
written, what got left out, and the thinking behind the screenplay in general.
The production commentary, while not quite as funny, has lots more to say,
about the look of the film, and it’s really interesting to see how things were
done (they actually point out a few continuity errors, like when Satine faints
after “Gorecki”, she’s wearing a different dress than
when she was singing, etc.), and how all the parts come together to make a
coherently stylised whole.
As for the ‘heightened reality viewing’, I was slightly
disappointed in that; I would have liked to see some more rehearsal footage,
etc. The sections they do have are quite interesting though, especially the
last one, which explains how the ending was worked out at the last moment. The
descriptive audio track is quite hilarious at times, just because of some of
the things it has to describe. (One of the lines is something like: “A dwarf
female belly-dancer stands on a table and starts to sing.”)
The HBO documentary on disc 2 is
interesting, if an obvious bit of promotional advertising,
and well-put together, aside from the rather amateurish wipes. And, as
promotion goes, it’s quite effective, I have to say: if I saw this on TV, and
hadn’t yet seen Moulin Rouge in
theatres, it would make me want to go see it.
I really love the montage of Ewan
McGregor and Nicole Kidman’s costume tests and rehearsals, etc. that comes
before the actual menu for the ‘Stars’ section; it’s a pleasant surprise when
you select this the first time. As the featurettes
themselves, well, they’re quite good, mixing interview footage with clips from
the film. I thought they should have let the actors talk for longer, however;
usually they just showed them for a quick sound bite, then
cut to a corresponding clip from the film. I would have liked to have seen more
of what they had to say about their characters and about making the film.
In the writer’s gallery, the
interviews with Baz and Craig are, again, both hilarious and informative. Craig
Pearce completely cracks me up; in the section where he describes Count von
Groovy, I just about ended up rolling around on the floor with laughter. The
early drafts of the screenplays are really interesting, to see just how far the
story evolved, from the first draft included, where Satine had a child, the
show’s premiere took place in the middle of the film, Christian and Satine went
off to live in the country, and Christian’s father was responsible for the evil
plan that pulls Christian and Satine apart, to the final version of the film.
But where is the rest of the other drafts? I would
have loved it if the other drafts were included in their entirety, instead of
just the beginnings, so as to see their complete evolution.
The editing section likewise has some
interesting things to say, and helps to explain some of the thinking behind the
wonderful but unconventional editing in this film. The interviews could have
been a bit more in-depth though; I had been hoping for a discussion of the
fabulous montage-style editing of the tango and Moulin Rouge sequences.
Interesting to see the different versions of the sequences that were cut out of
the film; it just goes to show how much of a film (especially one like Moulin Rouge gets decided in the editing
suite. Again, however, I find myself asking, where are the rest? I was especially
looking forward to seeing the much discussed lengthened version of the sequence
where Christian first goes to the Moulin
Rouge, the version where Ewan McGregor apparently sings some Elvis songs
(!). The director’s mock previsualisations were a
nice treat, though—wasn’t expecting anything like that, but when I saw “with
apologies to the actors”, I knew they’d be hilarious—and they were!
I love the extended dance numbers
included here, and how you can play editor, cutting between the different
angles (I had a lot of fun with that!) The tango especially, since it’s one of
my favourite numbers, and they had to cut so much out for the film. But why is
there only about thirty seconds of “Coup d’Etat”? The
footage of the rehearsals was interesting, especially the ever-hilarious “Like
a Virgin”, and another informative interview, with the choreographer.
The ‘Musical Journey’ featurette is interesting, but the interview with Fatboy Slim doesn’t really add too much, I don’t think, and
as for the “Lady Marmalade” videos, well, I think they’re hideous, and look
even uglier when considered right next to the actual film like this, but maybe
that’s just me. (I do know someone, however, who didn’t go and see Moulin Rouge in theatres simply because
she saw the “Lady Marmalade” video on TV and hated it. So
much for synergy.) Love the “Come
What May” video, though.
The design section is also really
good. Informative interviews with Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie; interesting to see how the costumes and sets
evolved; and I liked the chance to get an up-close look at the wonderful
posters, etc. seen in the background throughout the film. (As a side note, I
really wish they sold copies of the poster for “Spectacular Spectacular”.)
Also enjoyed the special effects section, since I really loved the opening shot
through the streets of
As for the marketing section, well, I
didn’t think this film was marketed as well as it should have been (But, like
Baz said, how do you
market a tragic-comic post-modern musical? Interesting that the Japanese
trailer (in English?) did a better job of actually showing what the film was
about (i.e., that it’s a musical) than the North American one, and that the
comedy angle is completely left out of both. (I know so many people who went to
see the film, and were very pleasantly surprised to find out that it was so
funny) And why is there a trailer for the Red Curtain Trilogy box set when
there isn’t one? As for the rest of the bits in this
section—the picture and poster galleries, the ‘international sizzle reel’ and
the music promo spot, pure promotional fluff, unsurprisingly. The ‘little red book’ book, that tells the
story in pictures, and is, I’m assuming, from the press kit or similar, the
most interesting of this bunch.
Well, sorry to be so long-winded, but
there’s my take on everything to do with this DVD. The bottom line is, I love it! It is
(sorry for the cliché) Spectacular! Spectacular! And if you don’t already have
it, go out and buy it, you won’t be disappointed.
Easter eggs
are hidden clips on DVDs, and the Moulin
Rouge DVD is packed with them. Some are really funny out-takes and rehearsal
footage, and some are just plain puzzling (Baz driving in
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Main Menu, page 2: pressing the ‘up’ arrow when ‘Back’ is
highlighted will highlight a fairy at the top of the page; press ‘enter’ to see
a take where Zidler dances the can-can backstage.
v
Stars: after the opening sequence, press ‘9’ + ‘enter’, then ‘17’
+ ‘enter’ to see Ewan’s send-off on the last day of shooting (bagpipes!).
v
Stars, page 2: pressing the ‘up’ arrow when John Leguizamo is highlighted will highlight a fairy at the top
of the page; press ‘enter’ to see a costume fitting for the Magical Sitar
costume.
v
This Story’s About…, Script Comparisons; pressing the ‘right’ or ‘left’
arrows when ‘return’ is highlighted will highlight a fairy at the bottom of the
page; press ‘enter’ to see Baz and Craig joking around.
v
The Cutting Room: pressing the ‘left’ or ‘right’ arrow keys when
‘main menu’ is highlighted will highlight a windmill; press ‘enter’ to see a
funny out-take from “Your Song”. (used in the “Come What May” video)
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Dance, Dance: when ‘a word from Baz’ is highlighted, pressing the
‘left’ arrow key will highlight a fairy just to the left; press ‘enter’ to see
Baz directing the Argentinean and Nini in the Tango.
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Dance, Choreography: when ‘main menu’ is highlighted, pressing the
‘right’ or ‘left’ arrow keys will highlight a windmill in the lower left; press
‘enter’ to see a funny clip of Baz running through the “Like a Virgin” dance
rehearsal.
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Music, Lady Marmalade Phenomenon: pressing the ‘left’ or ‘right’
arrow keys when ‘main menu’ is highlighted will highlight a windmill; press
‘enter’ to see Baz in a car talking about a snowstorm (?)
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Design: press ‘18’ + ‘enter’, then ‘99’ + ‘enter’ to see a makeup
artist dusting some nipples—but sorry, it’s not exactly very sexy!
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Design, Set Design,
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Design, Set Design, Spectacular Spectacular,
page 2: pressing the ‘up’ arrow key will highlight a fairy; press ‘enter’ to
see a clip of Baz at the ADR stage, mockumentary-style.
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Design, Costume Design, A Courtesan’s Wardrobe, page 4: pressing
the ‘up’ arrow key will highlight a fairy; press ‘enter’ to see a funny
out-take from just before the “Elephant Love Medley”.
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Design, Costume Design, The Bohemians, page 5: pressing the ‘up’
arrow key will highlight a windmill; press ‘enter’ to see a clip where Ewan
McGregor and the Bohos rehearse the can-can.
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Smoke and Mirrors: press ‘5’ + ‘enter’, then ‘18’ + ‘enter’ to see
how they filmed the tops hats flying into the air.
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Marketing, Photo Gallery: when ‘Mary Ellen Mark is highlighted,
pressing the ‘right’ or ‘left’ arrow keys will highlight a windmill; press
‘enter’ to see a funny clip from one of John Leguizamo’s
costume tests.
This story is
about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…This story is
about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…