‘Moulin Rouge’ celebrates its 20th anniversary; Discover fun facts about the iconic musical!

Baz Luhrmann may have “disappeared” from the film scene, but not before leaving his dazzling legacy which includes, among other films, “Romeo + Juliet” and “Come Dance with Me”. However, none of them emerge as the main work of his career: the classic musical jukebox “Moulin Rouge – Love in Red”.

With Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, the story revolves around a young English poet who falls in love with the courtesan and cabaret star Moulin Rouge in the lush bohemian setting of Paris. Closing the trilogy known as “The Red Curtain,” the film received a very favorable reception from critics, winning two Oscar statuettes and six other nominations – in addition to grossing nearly $ 180 million worldwide. .

To celebrate this momentous feature film and its 20th anniversary, CinePOP has put together a list of ten behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the work.

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RISK TEST

Filming for ‘Moulin Rouge’ was cut short for two weeks in November 1999 after Kidman broke two ribs and injured his knee while training for one of the dance sequences. Several of the scenes where she is only seen from the chest up were shot while the actress was in a wheelchair.

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“COME WHAT CAN”

The song “Come What May” was originally written by David Baerwald for “Romeo + Juliet”, but was not used. In ‘Moulin Rouge’, it was written for the performance of Christian (McGregor), being the only original song in the production. However, because it was written for another movie, it was disqualified from the Best Original Song contest at the Oscars.

EMBODY THE TESTIMONY

Originally, the green fairy would be a man with disheveled hair and quite burly, wearing a sitar. Ozzy Osbourne had been hired to sing, but the idea was scrapped and changed to a Tink-like incarnation. Kylie Minogue played the character, but Osbourne was still responsible for some of the fairy’s throaty screams when she collapsed.

DIFFERENT IDEAS

‘Moulin Rouge’ was immortalized as one of the greatest love stories of the century, but the early drafts of the narrative were somewhat different: Satine (Kidman) would have a three-year-old son and the plot would unfold in flashbacks , with Christian recounting what happened to the child.

TEAM: FORWARD!

One of the Oscar statuettes the film won was Best Costume – which isn’t too shocking: after all, the creative department has built no less than 300 costumes and, at one point, eighty people. had been hired to report on the demand to him. .

IN MEMORY

The film is dedicated to Baz Luhrmann’s father, Leonard, who died just before filming began. Before his death, Leonard told his son to focus on the feature film. When Baz thought about giving up mid-production, he remembered his father’s words.

BETWEEN OPERAS AND OPERETS

The main plot of the film is a fusion of three operas and operettas. The plot of the young writer with bohemian friends who falls in love with a sick girl is taken from “La Bohème”, based on the novel “La Vie de la Bohème”, by Henri Murger; the courtesan’s learning that love can also be true and idealistic comes from ‘La Traviata’, based on Alexandre Dumas’ book ‘A Dama das Camelias’; and, finally, the writer who travels to the “underworld” of the Moulin Rouge to meet his beloved comes from Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers.

SNOBE?

The film became the first musical in ten years to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars since Beauty and the Beast (1991). However, Luhrmann was snubbed in the Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay categories, being cited to date as one of the award’s biggest blunders.

WEIGHT CONSIDERATIONS

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Heath Ledger were good candidates to play Satine and Christian respectively. Other possible names to play Christian were Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Ronan Keating; to live Satine, Kate Winslet, Hilary Swank and Renée Zellweger were considered by the studio.

CONTROVERSIAL ACCLAMATION

Legendary American author and screenwriter Rad Bradbury was not a fan of the film. In an interview to promote the updated edition of the classic ‘Fahrenhent 451’, Bradbury criticized the frantic editing of the work, saying it created less of the need to analyze the story by the amount of images projected on the screen. He said that it was a matter of concern that the film received so much praise and accolades.

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