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Originally considered for the roles of Satine and Christian were
Courtney Love and Heath Ledger. Baz Luhrmann said that Courtney Love “blew
[him] away with her comic abilities and dangerous intelligence,” but of course
the part eventually went to Nicole Kidman. After she lost the part, Courtney
Love did allow “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to be used in
the film, but at a later concert in
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Baz Luhrmann got the idea for a comic-tragic musical that depends
on a contract with the audience which reminds them that they’re watching a
film, not reality, from watching a Bollywood musical
in
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Baz Luhrmann and Ewan McGregor originally met when Ewan auditioned
for the role of Mercutio in Romeo + Juliet; John Leguizamo appeared
in R + J as Tybalt.
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Some original plot points, that were later abandoned: the film
opening with Christian dead on the fields of Flanders in WWI; Satine having a
young child, adopted by Christian after her death; Christian’s father having a
much larger role, ranging from separating Christian & Satine to being the
father of Satine’s child; Satine & Christian running away to live in the
country; the opening night of “Spectacular Spectacular”
happening half-way through the film, followed by Christian’s departure (then
later, return); Christian killing himself after Satine’s death; and, of course,
‘Count von Groovy’, the bisexual German count, with his hot-air balloon and
Gothic Chateau and drink-and-drug-soaked dinner parties.
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By the numbers: Moulin Rouge
was 4 years in production; took 188 days to shoot; had 480 hours of dance
rehearsals; 80, 000 metres of floorboards were used; the 10-metre-high elephant took 8 weeks to
build, but only 2 days to destroy; 35 full-scale sets were built, and 50
miniatures; the production incorporated more than 650 extras and over 750 crew
(& 1 donkey!); 2625 costumes were used, all hand-made; 85 wigs were used,
either hired or custom-made (Ewan McGregor & John Leguizamo
were the only 2 of the main cast that didn’t wear some sort of hair-piece);
Garry MacDonald, as The Doctor, required 3 ½ hours in the make-up chair to have
all the hair applied to his face; the garden set took 6 months to build, stood
for 3 days of filming, and was destroyed in under 24 hours.
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There really was a giant elephant in the garden of the Moulin
Rouge, taken from the Universal Exhibition of 1889; in reality it contained an
Arabian-themed night club and opium den.
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During production, Nicole Kidman broke her rib twice, once during
dance rehearsals, then again by getting laced into a corset when it hadn’t
quite healed; she also injured the cartilage behind her knee filming the
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” scene; her final close-ups (like the ‘a
real actress’ one) were taken with her in a wheelchair.
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Shooting was postponed twice, once due to Nicole Kidman breaking
her rib, then again when Baz Luhrmann’s father died on the first day of
shooting—the film is dedicated to him.
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All the main actors in the film sing all their own songs, except
for Jim Broadbent as Zidler, who had some help from an opera singer for the
big, operatic numbers (“Like a Virgin” & “The Show Must Go On”).
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Tara Morice, who played Fran in Baz’s
first film, Strictly Ballroom, has a
cameo here as a prostitute in
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Moulin Rouge got eight Oscar nominations:
Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best
Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Makeup, and Best Editing. It was the first
live-action musical to be nominated for Best Picture in 22 years (All That Jazz was nominated in 1979; it
didn’t win either); another film titled Moulin
Rouge was also nominated for Best Picture, in 1952, but lost.
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Moulin Rouge won two Oscars: Best Art
Direction and Best Costume Design. Both were shared by Baz Luhrmann’s wife,
Catherine Martin. (She was also nominated for Best Art Direction in 1996 for Romeo + Juliet) After her wins, Baz
joked, “I hope she keeps me around. I’m sure she’s going to be looking for a
raise.”
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Adding insult to injury, after snubbing Baz for a Best Director
nod, the Academy misspelled his name, dropping one of the n’s in Luhrmann during the Best Picture presentation
of Moulin Rouge.
This story is about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…This story
is about truth, beauty, freedom, but above all, love…