20th Century Fox Ewan McGregor and
Nicole Kidman fall madly in love in the new movie
"Moulin Rouge."
By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Director Baz Luhrmann grew up on a farm in an isolated area of
Australia, where his father ran the local gas station and cinema.
As a kid, Luhrmann watched plenty of musicals and as a filmmaker,
he wants to bring the language of musical cinema back to life.
“I loved these artificial storytellings that made you
feel,” Luhrmann said at a Los Angeles press junket. “So
I wanted to see that come back to fruition.”
His latest film, “Moulin Rouge,” is a postmodern
musical that tells a love story through popular tunes. While the
movie is set in France in 1899, the musical numbers reference
contemporary pop icons like Madonna and the Police.
“People want music,” he said. “They want to
see music and story worked together.”
In the film, Nicole Kidman plays a worldly courtesan who
headlines the notorious Paris nightclub. She becomes involved with
a poor writer (Ewan McGregor), who offers her poetry when he
can’t afford to shower her with diamonds. The two fall in
love, and, in one scene, they express their feelings in a medley
that combines tunes by Phil Collins, U2, Elton John and Dolly
Parton.
While Luhrmann (“Romeo + Juliet”) is no stranger to
love stories that end in tragedy, Kidman had to get acquainted with
her role as a tragic figure who could incite a riot with her fiery
singing and dancing.
“It was like going back to drama school,” Kidman
said.
The Rita Hayworth fan spent two weeks in various workshops with
McGregor, and the two pushed forward through both excitement and
frustration.
“Ewan and I sat down and said, “˜We have got to be
willing to make complete and utter fools of ourselves in front of
each other at any time. We also have to help each other through
this,'” Kidman said.
The two actors became great mates despite a mishap during a
dance routine when Kidman injured her ribs.
“Ewan McGregor is very proud to say that he broke
it,” she said. “We were doing this dance sequence where
I have to jump in his arms, and neither of us ““ particularly
Ewan ““ is a trained dancer.”
Though Kidman said her rib just suffered a “small
crack,” it became a full break when she was put into a corset
before her bone had healed. Then, six months later, she suffered
another injury after a long day of filming.
“I was in these huge heels and I just fell down the stairs
and tore the cartilage behind my kneecap,” she said.
“It’s a really painful injury. I’m embarrassed by
my injuries. It makes me out to be such a wimp.”
Nevertheless, Kidman’s fancy footwork made it to the big
screen, while her vocal talent is featured on the soundtrack.
Contemporary audiences may not be used to watching people break
out into song, but actor John Leguizamo said that storytelling
through music is not so unfamiliar to the MTV generation.
While Leguizamo (“Romeo + Juliet”) is not a big fan
of musicals, he said that he still enjoys “West Side
Story” and getting stupid at the end of the day with MTV.
In order to play the 4-foot-11-inch artist Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, Leguizamo was fitted for prosthetic legs that
each weighed 35 pounds. He could only wear them for 45 minutes
before his legs would go numb.
“I had to kneel into a cast that hardened and then they
attached amputee prostheses ““ little pieces that moved the
knee and ankle,” he said.
In the film, the hobbled Toulouse-Lautrec and his group of
Bohemian friends frequent the decadent fantasy world of the Moulin
Rouge. In order to bring the colorful artist to life, Leguizamo had
to channel his feverish energy into the voice he created for his
character ““ a proper English accent with a lisp.
“It made me feel like Toulouse because I had all these
impediments and I wanted to be a part of everything so bad,”
he said. “I understood how that little man felt because I
could really dance and I’m the only one not dancing in the
movie.”
While “Moulin Rouge” is different from the musicals
that Luhrmann grew up watching, he said that movies today will
inevitably differ from movies of 10 years ago.
“The stories don’t change, but the way in which you
tell them does evolve ““ it needs to evolve,” he
said.
With lavish costumes and sets that give viewers a heightened
sensual experience, the movie’s singing and dancing may not
be the only evolution in Luhrmann’s cinematic language.
However, he uses familiar songs, like Elton John’s
“Your Song,” as dialogue to tell a classic story.
Though there wasn’t much money in the film’s budget
to buy the rights to famous melodies, Luhrmann was still able to
use the popular ditties he wanted.
“I had to go and explain to them what we were
doing,” Luhrmann said. “If music cinema would be alive
today, Bono would be doing musicals. These are not people who are
shying away from this.”
The soundtrack features performances from artists like David
Bowie and Christina Aguilera, while Fatboy Slim wrote a new track
(“Because We Can”) for the movie.
Luhrmann explained that publishing companies were also very
accommodating because it’s a whole new way of using their
music.
“I think music unites us,” Luhrmann said. “It
transcends time and geography so it does have a power beyond
words.”
FILM: “Moulin Rouge” opens tomorrow
in select theaters. Also check out www.clubmoulinrouge.com