“MOULIN ROUGE!” (BAZ LURHMANN, 2001)

BY KERRY COSTELLO

HOW WAS THE FILM DEVISED, FINANCED AND PRODUCED?

• The film follows a poet (Ewan McGregor) who falls in love with a courtesan already promised to a jealous duke, during his stay at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

• It was directed by Baz Lurhman (“Romeo and Juliet”, “Strictly Ballroom”), who also produced and wrote the film

• Filming locations include Madrid and Fox Studios in Australia though production of the film overran its original shooting schedule- beginning in November 1999 and finishing in May 2000

• It had a budget of $52.5 million and was financed by 20th Century Fox (“Jennifer’s Body”, “Australia”, “X-Men Origins”) and Bazmark Films

• 20th Century Fox were also involved in Lurhmann’s adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”

HOW WAS THE FILM PROMOTED?• The film had a poster campaign that included

teaser/character posters and a trailer

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtEgAx80NC4&safe=active

HOW WAS THE FILM PROMOTED?• Adverts were also shown automatically on the websites of VH1 and MTV

that featured an interactive movie poster that played quotes and songs from the movie and linked to the film’s website “clubmoulinrouge.com”

• The website featured behind the scenes footage, recipes for drinks featured in the film, and pictures/videos from the film

• This use of technology to promote the film and give an insight to the themes/moods was relatively new at the time of the film’s release

HOW FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL WAS THE FILM?

• The film was released worldwide, including the USA, UK, Canada and Australia

• Opening Weekend: $167,540

• Gross: $179,213,434 (Worldwide)

• The film was released in May, rather than in the summer

• It also won 2 Oscars (Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, but was nominated for eight, including Best Actress)