Chicago, 1929. Murder. Passion. Fame. Sex. And All That jazz

The Windy City's promise of adventure and opportunity dazzle Roxie Hart, an outwardly innocent performer who dreams of singing and dancing her way out of her ho-hum life. Roxie's one wish is to follow in the golden footsteps of vaudeville performer Velma Kelly. Roxie gets her wish when some very wrong steps land both the star and starlet in prison for separate murder charges.

Under the crooked care of the prison Matron Morton, Roxie meets up with legendary lawyer Billy Flynn. He agrees to take Roxie's case for an immodest fee. Roxie's career explodes, to the chagrin of her mentor. But the clever Miss Kelly has a few surprises left for her second act…

Based on the award-winning musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, "Chicago" is a stunning spectacle full of intrigue, love, betrayal, rivalry and friendship, a pageant of music and dance that adroitly shifts between reality and fantasy, as Roxie's world moves from the prison to the courtroom to the stage.

"Give'Em The Old Razzle Dazzle"

"I'm amazed by how enduring this little story has turned out to be," screenwriter Bill Condon says of "Chicago's" enduring cultural relevance. "Maurine Dallas Watkins's original play ushered in a generation of cynical, wise-cracking newspaper comedies. It actually opened a few months before 'The Front Page.' In 1975, Bob Fosse cast a darker light on the material. The corruption of the legal system became a metaphor for the hollowness of all American institutions. Like so much popular art of the time, it was informed by the twin traumas of Vietnam and Watergate. Then 'Chicago' was revived in 1996. on the heels of the 0.j. Simpson case, and the show business metaphor really came into focus. People connected to it in a completely new way. As for the movie, I suspect that the blurring of the line between notoriety and celebrity will make a lot of sense in our post-Monica age."

"It's fun and it's a great ride, but what it says is rather dark," director Rob Marshall agrees. "It's about the perversity of celebrity, and who we choose to celebrate."

Inspired by the highly sensationalized trials of Cook County, Chicago Tribune court reporter Maurine Watkins penned the first incarnation of "Chicago." The play, originally titled "The Brave Little Woman," opened to rave reviews when it was produced in 1926. Two film adaptations followed: "Chicago," a silent film released in 1927, and "Roxie Hart," starring Ginger Rogers, which was released in 1942 by Twentieth Century Fox. Though the satire was specific to a certain time and place, Watkins's tale of murder and media manipulation would prove both prophetic and timeless.

In 1975, Broadway veterans John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse adapted "Chicago" as an acclaimed Broadway musical. Stage legends Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera originated the roles of Roxie and Velma, respectively. The production was a great success, once again punctuating the consistent popularity of seduction and murder.

But "Chicago's" story isn't its only timeless element. The lyrics and melodies provided by Kander and Ebb enhanced the universality of Watkins's clever play. The choreography by Fosse added a trademark sensuality. "John Kander and Fred Ebb are American heroes when it comes to the theater," executive producer Neil Meron explains of the importance of the trio's contribution to "Chicago." "A good song, a good lyric, a good melody withstands the test of time. I think that's really true of the words and music of 'Chicago.' They're fun, they're sharp, they're sarcastic, sexy, they're biting. They hold up now, they'll hold up in the future, they'll hold up when we're long gone, and they'll hold up in interplanetary video distribution."

Miramax Films optioned the rights to the Kander, Ebb and Fosse musical in 1994 from producer Marty Richards and began the arduous process of transforming the lauded stage production into a film. Despite the popularity and success of the adapting  and casting the musical proved more difficult than anticipated. "The whole stage production was created as a vaudeville. That was one of the hardest things about bringing it to film, because no one sings to each other," Marshall explains. "In most musicals, you see people sing songs to each other. They don't sing to an audience. There is no audience. There's the fourth wall."

But Marshall thought of a way to obliterate the fourth wall.

No stranger to musicals, Marshall had collaborated with "Chicago's" executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan on their highly acclaimed, award winning television productions of "Cinderella" and "Annie," for which Marshall won an Emmy. Marshall also co- directed and choreographed the Tony Award winning Broadway revival of Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret" with "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes.

Following this string of achievements. Marshall met Meryl Poster, Miramax's copresident of production, to discuss the possibility of working with the studio on a proposed screen adaptation of "Rent." But the bold director/ choreographer took the opportunity to express his ideas about "Chicago." Poster remembers, "He was confident in our first meeting; he was just so engaging." After hearing his concept for the film, Poster whisked Marshall into Harvey Weinstein's office for what became a two-hour meeting. Poster says, "I thought he had cracked it. We'd met with so many writers and directors, but we kept running into the same problems. In an instant, Ron cracked it." Simultaneously, Marshall met with producer Mary Richards who had been a strong supporter of his throughout his theatrical career and pitched his concept.

Marshall's solution involved transforming the musical numbers into imaginary projections of the protagonist, Roxie Hart. The film would exist on two planes: the reality of Prohibition-era Chicago, and what Marshall calls the "surreality" of Roxie Hart's interpretation of that world.

"We had to figure out a way to involve the audience in a similar way without breaking the fourth wall, the way one can on stage. Roxie is the dreamer in the movie. She's the wannabe.' She desperately wants to be on stage. She sees her life in these musical sequences. It becomes one linear story that jumps back and forth between these two realities. It embraces the fact that all these numbers take place on stage instead of trying to disguise it," Marshall says.

Impressed with his ingenuity, Weinstein and Richards gave him the go-ahead.

Miramax and Marshall began the difficult search for the best writer to re-envision "Chicago." "We met with many people from theater, television and film." Marshall says. "The second I met Bill Condon, I knew I'd met a kindred spirit who loves musical theater. He loved 'Chicago' and knew instinctively how to make it work as a film."

"Ultimately, it was very clear that Bill was the writer for 'Chicago,' says Meryl Poster, "He really enhanced Rob's idea while making it his own. The concept was so inventive. This isn't your old fashioned, traditional musical."

"It was appealing in every way, and the most fun I've ever had writing a script," Condon recalls of the experience. "Not only to write a movie musical, but also to work with Rob, who has had an incredibly successful career in the theater. He's worked with giants like Jerome Robbins and Harold Prince. You learn so much on every script, and this was a chance to learn from someone who had learned from the masters, and become a master himself."

Condon was intrigued by the idea of completely redesigning the Broadway adaptation, but realized that the project required a delicate touch. "Once we decided to create these two worlds." Condon says, "the challenge was to imbue the character of Roxie Hart with a level of psychological complexity, without softening her or betraying who she was. She is an ambitious, self-absorbed character, but there is something sympathetic about her."

The innovation also afforded the writer the opportunity to enhance the supporting characters and to infuse the musical with excitingly creative and visually breathtaking touches. "The harsh flashlight of an aggressive detective becomes a soothing stage spotlight. Shouting reporters at a press conference become dancing marionettes, manipulated by Roxie's slick attorney," Condon states. "It's a simple concept, but it could have gone terribly wrong, if Rob hadn't executed it so deftly."

For those involved, "Chicago" is a triumph of love, almost eighty years in the making. "Because I'm a theater lover and Rob is a theater professional," Condon says, "I think this isn't going to feel like a Hollywood-ization of a great theatrical property. It was done with such respect and love of what works in the theater."

Yet despite its several incarnations and modifications, "Chicago's" original themes will ring true for today's audiences. One only has to look at the slew of recent celebrity trials to see that Roxie, Billy, and Velma are a very real part of our contemporary legal climate. "The corruption of our legal institutions, the pathology of celebrity worship," Condon says. "These themes find their ideal expression in the desperation, and joy, of seducing an audience."

With Condon's ingenious script in place, the search for Roxie began. Though Condon and Marshall's clever alterations enhanced "Chicago's" fluidity, the changes also expanded the role's complexity. Roxie's desires, daydreams and interior monologues were laid bare. "The great thing was that we had Renee Zellweger to play her," Condon says. "She filled Roxie out in so many different ways."

In her impressively diverse career, Renee Zellweger has portrayed a lonely single mother in "Jerry Maguire," a soap opera-obsessed waitress in "Nurse Betty," a journalist-turned- caregiver in "One True Thing," a suicidal foster mother in "White Oleander," and quirky single Brit in "Bridget Jones's Diary." Zellweger has made a point of defying categorization. "Chicago's" producers and director were not surprised, then, to discover that the petite Texan had a powerful singing voice and remarkable dancing skills.

"Renee was the only choice. Period," says Poster, "I have a strong relationship with her and knew that she could sing and dance. I already knew she was a brilliant actress. I had to get her into the movie"

"This is a lady who loves a challenge, who loves to work really hard, and loves to attain something that she hasn't yet before. That's just who she is. She's very brave in that way," Marshall says. "She's an athlete. She has a great sense of her body, and she moves beautifully. The vocabulary of dance was a little new to her, but the style, sensibility and coordination-she had all that."

"I thought there would never be another Roxie Hart," Marty Richards says. "There's never been anyone that has ever matched Gwen Verdon until Renee, and now she gives it a whole different dimension as an actress as well. I'm thrilled to death. I really am."

Richard Gere, who plays slick attorney Billy Flynn in the film, believes that the part wouldn't have come together without Zellweger. Though so much of the character lives in fantasy, it's Zellweger's infusion of humanity that gives Roxie her heart. "Renee brings something incredibly moving to this piece," Gere says. "She's doing something with her part that's unexplainable. She'll break your heart."

"I didn't really grow up around musical theater," a modest Zellweger says. "I didn't have any reason to sing, except for in the shower. while my brother was down the hall screaming for me to 'please shut up."

Nevertheless, Zellweger jumped at the chance to don Roxie's garters. "She's so earnest in a way, and so desperate and tragic in another. She's so desperate for fame because of what she thinks it will bring - self esteem, self-respect, self-worth, love. All the things she doesn't have a lot of. She feels that if she is lionized by the masses like Velma, she'll be more whole as a person. The sad reality is that it's a fallacy."

Zellweger is nothing short of effusive when it comes to praising her director. "His passion was contagious," she says. "He was so encouraging, so positive, and had such a good spirit. His kindness elicited such good will on the set from everybody. You really wanted to try as hard as you possibly could for him."

First cast in the production was Broadway enthusiast Catherine Zeta-Jones as the devilishly conniving Velma Kelly. Being the first "Chicagoan" afforded the actress an opportunity to share in her director's unyielding enthusiasm for assembling a talented and diverse group of actors. "It was fantastic to be the first one cast in the movie," she remembers. "Robby would call up and say, 'Guess who we think we've got: Renee Zellweger! "Oh my God! ''Guess who we think we've got: Richard Gere! "Oh my God!' 'Guess who we think we've got: Queen Latifah!' 'Ohmy God!' It's a fabulous cast."

For Zeta-Jones, "Chicago" was the realization of a childhood dream. "When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be on stage, singing and dancing. I was obsessed with musicals from the golden years of Hollywood. I would have just loved that world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."