Moulin Rouge!
No Laws. No Limits. One Rule. Never Fall In Love.
Ewan McGregor as Christian
Directed by: Baz Lurhmann
Written by: Baz Lurhmann, Craig Pearce
Starring: Nicole Kidman, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh
Released: 07 September 2001 [UK], 01 June 2001 [USA]
Genre: Musical / Drama / Romance / Tragedy
Budget: $52,500,000 (estimated)
Filming Dates: 9 November 1999 – 13 May 2000
Worldwide Gross: $179,213,434
More Information: Internet Movie Database
Synopsis
Christian, a young writer with a magical gift for poetry, defies his bourgeois father by moving to the bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. He is taken in by the absinthe-soaked artist Toulouse Lautrec, whose party-hard life centers aound the Moulin Rouge, a world of sex, drugs, electricity and the shocking Can-Can. Christian falls into a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with Satine, the Sparkling Diamond, the most beautiful courtesan in Paris and star of the Moulin Rouge.
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Trivia
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Heath Ledger were contenders to play Satine and Christian. Other possible Christians included Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ronan Keating.
The movie was shot largely at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, with no location filming at all.
Both Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor wore harnesses for the scenes on the elephant as they were standing 60ft off the ground.
According to an interview with Craig Pearce on the DVD extras, an early draft of the script had the Count seducing both Satine and Christian and then hooking them on morphine.
The word “love” and its variations (loved, loves, loving, lover and lovers) appears in this film 143 times.
Quotes
Christian: The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
Satine: Besides, I can’t fall in love with anyone
Christian: Can’t… fall… in love? But, a life without love, that’s terrible!
Satine: No, being on the street, that’s terrible.
Christian: No! Love is like oxygen!
Satine: What?
Christian: Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!
Christian: The Moulin Rouge. A night club, a dance hall and a bordello. Ruled over by Harold Zidler. A kingdom of night time pleasures. Where the rich and powerful came to play with the young and beautiful creatures of the underworld. The most beautiful of these was the one I loved. Satine. A courtesan. She sold her love to men. They called her the “Sparkling Diamond”, and she was the star… of the Moulin rouge. The woman I loved is… dead.
Christian: I owe you nothing. And you are nothing to me. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.
Satine: I can’t believe it. I’m in love. I’m in love with a young, handsome, talented duke.
Christian: Duke?
Satine: Not that the title’s important, of course.
Christian: I’m not a duke.
Satine: Not a duke?
Christian: I’m a writer.
Satine: A writer?
Christian: Then I’ll write a song and we’ll put it in the show and whenever you sing it or hear it. Or whistle or hum it then you’ll know. It’ll mean that we love one another.
Christian: Wait. No, please wait. Before, when we were… when you thought I was the Duke, you said that you loved me, a- and I wondered if…
Satine: It was just an act?
Christian: Yes.
Satine: Of course.
Christian: Oh. It just felt real.
Satine: Christian, I’m a courtesan. I’m paid to make men believe what they want to believe.
Christian: Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The End.
Awards & Nominations
Won – Empire Award for Best British Actor
Won – London Film Critics’ Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Won – MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Sequence (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Won – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – IF Award for Best Actor
Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
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