The story of 'Moulin Rouge' stems from the Orphean myth of a young poet-musician who descended to the underworld in search of ideal love. "It's a myth about idealism and adulthood, and the recognition that life throws up things beyond our control: the death of loved ones, relationships that don't last," Luhrmann explains. "According to the Orphean myth, this will either destroy you, or you'll go into the underworld, face it and return having grown from the experience."

The Orphean myth is central to what director Baz Luhrmann calls a "Red Curtain" theatrical style, which he has employed in each of his three films.

"We take a simple story based on a recognisable primary myth and set it in a heightened, created world that is at once exotic yet also recognisable. 'Strictly Ballroom" was set in world of ballroom dancing, and 'Romeo and Juliet' in the heightened world of Verona Beach. In our third film it's the underworld of the Moulin Rouge in 1899."

"Most cinematic naturalism puts the audience into a dream state so that they may observe reality, if you like, through a key hole. Whereas we employ a constant device that awakens the audience and reminds them that at all times they are watching a film, in which they are impelled to participate. This constant reminder in 'Strictly Ballroom'  is the use of dance; in 'Romeo and Juliet' it is the four hundred-year-old language of Shakespeare. In 'Moulin Rouge', our contract with the audience, our device to awaken is the experience of music, or simply put, song. Yes, 'Moulin Rouge' is fundamentally a musical, perhaps an opera, but finally a story told through song."

Once Luhrmann decided that his next red curtain film would be addressing musical cinema, he moved into the development stage with his Bazmark collaborators. Along with co-writer Craig Pearce and production designer Catherine Martin (known to friends and colleagues as CM) he journeyed to Paris to write a synopsis and conduct meticulous historical research of end- of- twentieth century Montmartre.

To find ways to depict 19th century Paris and the Moulin Rouge as it may have felt to its audience then - at the cutting edge of sex, music, dance, theater and modern thinking - the filmmakers immersed themselves in the neighborhood, venues and culture of their story. They researched everything from the can-can to Toulouse-Lautrec (an important player in their story), to the writers and journalists who recorded their breathless firsthand accounts of the late nineteenth century night-club itself.

They came to understand the essentially modern possibilities of a club that placed the hitherto rigidly segregated classes cheek to cheek: aristocrats and the fashionably rich alongside workers, artists, bohemians, dancing girls and working girls.

"The Moulin Rouge was the equivalent of Studio 54 in New York during the late '70s, a place where the rich and the powerful can mix with the young, the beautiful and the penniless," states Craig Pearce. "And that's exactly the thought that motivated [Moulin Rouge impresario] Zidler. He and Joseph Oller built a 'Palace of Women' based on a dance craze, the can-can, which was a kind of sexually confronting strip tease."

While Luhrmann and Pearce continued to work on the screenplay, CM took all the information and experiences they had accrued in Paris and turned them into designs for the film. Rather than slavishly recreate historical fact, CM worked from Luhrmann's imperative to create a heightened world.

"We always start pedantically, recreate precisely, then adapt and change to serve the story," explains CM. "It's about manipulating the elements that existed in their world, so they read now, so that a modern audience can access this period world. Baz wanted us to create a world in a style he dubbed 'real artificiality.' A 'created' Paris in which the musical of his invention would sit comfortably. A place where breaking out in song would feel natural."

The "Red Curtain" style was instrumental in creating this world. Luhrmann: "One of the characteristics of the 'Red Curtain' films is the use of classic cinema references. In 'Moulin Rouge' we have utilised this mechanism both in making reference to classic hair styles and costume silhouettes of the great divas of the '40s and '50s. Marlene Dietrich ('Blue Angel'), with a sprinkle of 'Cabaret' and a nod to Rita Hayworth in 'Gilda'. It is this constant referencing and re-referencing that we hope allows a modern audience to decode the historical setting. The ease with which the audience understands the story is crucial. In this musical we are not revealing the characters or plot slowly and invisibly, but quickly and overtly."

the music
The music and songs are critical to character and story. Creating 'Moulin Rouge' as a musical presented Luhrmann with a daunting challenge: Musicals have long been out of fashion, so he had to devise new ways to reach contemporary audiences. The key was having the actors sing the story. Co-writer Craig Pearce explains: "As writers, we're intent on making the songs not simply an adornment, but integral to the story telling, so that there is no better way to convey a story point than with a number. As a result, we deal in big, strong gestures. The scenes have to build to such an extent, with the characters getting so high on the energy, that they can't do anything else but SING!"

Producer Fred Baron notes that Luhrmann has created nothing less than a new kind of musical. "Baz has taken this classic form and re-mixed it to create a new cocktail, a new form. In the traditional Hollywood musical, the actor breaks into song and you know it's pre-recorded. Our actors are doing something very daring: singing live on camera. What Baz is trying to create is the feeling that the singing is the acting, that you're not leaving the world of the story. Baz is trying to draw you inside the characters so that their inner voice is a musical voice."

Though the characters sing the story, Luhrmann had decided from the beginning that the film was "not about voice first and characters second, but about actors revealing their characters through voice.

"We had to find two people who were actors first and foremost, but who could also sing," Luhrmann continues. When Luhrmann and casting director Ronna Kress began work early in the process, in 1998, she was immediately impressed with the director's methods. "I think what's interesting about Baz is that he's all about the process," Kress explains. "It's about the process of working with the actors and discovering how the actors work with him. I think that comes from his work in theater and opera; it's certainly unique in filmmaking."

When Luhrmann and Kress saw Nicole Kidman perform on Broadway in "The Blue Room," they were convinced they had found Satine. Luhrmann cast Kidman as the courtesan-star early enough in development that she was able to impact aspects of the writing of the character and vice versa.

"Satine is a courtesan who works in the Moulin Rouge," Kidman explains. "She comes from a dirt poor background, and Zidler has made Satine into who she is. But Satine doesn't want to be a can-can dancer her entire life; her dream is to be an actress. She's quite hardened though, and skilled at projecting different facades, creating fantasies is her job. But when Christian weaves his magic on her through song, he makes her believe that she could have something else, he brings out her belief in her dreams and that makes him particularly intoxicating to her."

For the role of Christian, Luhrmann and Kress considered many performers. Luhrmann had long wanted to work with Ewan McGregor, and the British actor's formidable acting skills and surprising singing talents won him the role. McGregor embraced the challenges of performing in a musical. "I've been waiting all my life to do this kind of singing and dancing," McGregor points out. I was musical at school, and used to dance when I was a kid. And I've always had a passion for the old Forties musicals. I drove everyone nuts on the set of Moulin Rouge' because I was too excited, but I just felt that nobody's done this for years. Not like this. I've never played a character more about love in my life," McGregor continues. "He's just absolutely unashamedly driven by love: after he meets Satine, she's everything he talks about. Nothing else matters but love."

Chemistry between the two leads was crucial, but as Kidman was performing on-stage in New York, and McGregor in London, Luhrmann could not screen test them together. "But once we got Nicole and Ewan together, they really fired off each other beautifully," Luhrmann says. "She's classy and elegant, and he's so spirited and alive."

Upon beginning work on MOULIN ROUGE, Kidman and McGregor immediately struck a bargain with one another. "Ewan and 1 had a tacit agreement that we'd support each other throughout, taking risks, and be willing to make complete fools of ourselves in front of each other," Kidman states. "The great thing about working on this film is that people are saying 'Let's try something different'," Kidman adds. "And we've connected wholeheartedly to it - that's what has made this project so fulfilling. I'm working with people who believe in the project."

Review