sign in sign up
<<
Home , Baz Luhrmann, Blue Skies Again, Craig Pearce, Down with Love, Jane Got a Gun, Jill Bilcock

December 3: 2019 (XXXIX: 15) : (2001, 128m) The version of this Goldenrod Handout sent out in our Monday mailing, and the one online, has hot links. Spelling and Style—use of italics, quotation marks or nothing at all for titles, e.g.—follows the form of the sources.

DIRECTOR Baz Luhrmann WRITING Baz Luhrmann and PRODUCERS Fred Baron Martin Brown Baz Luhrmann MUSIC Craig Armstrong Donald McAlpine EDITING

In 2002, the film won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (), Best Cinematography (Donald McAlpine), Best (Jill Bilcock), Best Makeup, and Best Sound. In 2001, it was nominated for the Palme d'Or at . theatre, music, and recording industries. On the screen he is CAST best known for his , comprising his Nicole Kidman...Satine (based on Jane Avril) romantic comedy film ** (1992), for Ewan McGregor...Christian which he won the Award of the Youth at Cannes, the ...Harold Zidler romantic tragedy William Shakespeare's Romeo + ...The Duke of Monroth *** (1996), and Moulin Rouge!**** (2001), for John Leguizamo...Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which he was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and the Jacek Koman...The Narcoleptic Argentinean Palm d’Or. Following the trilogy, projects included Caroline O'Connor...Nini Australia**** (2008), ** (2013), and his Kerry Walker...Marie television period drama for . Lara Mulcahy...Môme Fromage Luhrmann is equally known for his Grammy-nominated Garry McDonald...The Doctor soundtracks for Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, as Matt Whittet...Satie well as his House of Iona, a co-venture with Keith Robinson...Le Pétomane RCA Records. Serving as producer on all of his musical David Wenham...Audrey soundtracks, he also holds writing credits on many of the Kiruna Stamell...La Petite Princesse individual tracks. His Something For Everybody DeObia Oparei...Le Chocolat features music from many of his films and also includes his ...The Green Fairy hit "Everybody's Free (To )". Luhrmann's Peter Whitford...The Stage Manager influence has extended outside the traditional realm of Linal Haft...Warner media and entertainment. Luhrmann works closely with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Anna Wintour Costume BAZ LUHRMANN (b. September 17, 1962 in New South Center, having chaired its famous annual gala. He has also Wales, Australia) is an Australian writer (15 credits), directed these shorts: N°5: The Film***** (2004), director (18 credits), and producer (8 credits) with projects Waist Up/Waist Down (2012), Ugly Chic* (2012), The spanning film directing (18 credits), television, opera, Surreal Body* (2012), The Exotic Body* (2012), The Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—2

Classical Body* (2012), Schiaparelli & : Impossible JILL BILCOCK (b. 1948 in , Victoria, Conversations (2012), Naïf Chic* (2012), and Hard Chic* Australia) is an Australian film editor (40 credits), (2012). nominated for an Oscar for her work on Moulin Rouge! *Writer (2001). These are some other films she has worked on: **Writer and Music Strikebound (1984), A Cry in the Dark (1988), Till There ***Writer and Producer Was You (1991), Erotique (1994), How to Make an ****Writer, Music, and Producer American Quilt (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Head On *****Producer (1998), Elizabeth (1998), The Dish (2000), Road to Perdition (2002), The Libertine (2004), Elizabeth: The CRAIG ARMSTRONG (b. April 29, 1959 in Glasgow, Golden Age (2007), The Young Victoria (2009), Don't Be Scotland, UK) is a Scottish composer of modern orchestral Afraid of the Dark (2010), Red Dog (2011), Mental (2012), music, electronica and film scores. He graduated from the My Mistress (2014), The Dressmaker (2015), and Ride Like Royal Academy of Music in 1981, and has since written a Girl (2019). music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. These are some of the films he has composed for: Orphans (1998), Best Laid Plans (1999), The Bone Collector (1999), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Kiss of the Dragon (2001), The Quiet American (2002), Hide & Seek (Vogue) (2003), Love Actually (2003), Chanel N°5: The Film (Short) (2004), Fever Pitch (2005), Must Love Dogs (2005), World Trade Center (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), Neds (2010), In Time (2011), The Untold History of the United States (TV Series documentary) (2012-13), The Great Gatsby (2013), Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), Victor Frankenstein (2015), Snowden (2016), Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), Mrs. Lowry and Son (2019), The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019), and Dirt NICOLE KIDMAN (b. June 20, 1967 in Honolulu, Music (2019). Hawaii) is an Australian and American actress (84 credits) and producer (8 credits). She began her acting career in DONALD McALPINE (Born: 1934 in Quandialla, New Australia with the 1983 films Bush Christmas and BMX South Wales, Australia) is an Australian cinematographer Bandits. In 1990, she made her Hollywood debut in the (66 credits) who began his career in the late 1960s and was racing film Days of Thunder, opposite Tom Cruise. She nominated for an Oscar for his work on Moulin Rouge! went on to achieve wider recognition with leading roles in (2001). These are some of the other films he has worked Far and Away (1992), Batman Forever (1995), To Die For on: Leonard French's Stained Glass Screens (Short) (1995), and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). She received two (1969), Or Forever Hold Your Peace (1970), The consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972), Gentle Strangers Actress for playing a courtesan in the musical Moulin (1972), The Getting of Wisdom (1977), My Brilliant Career Rouge! (2001) and the writer Virginia Woolf in the drama (1979), Breaker Morant (1980), The Club (1980), Puberty film The Hours (2002). In 2012, she received her first Blues (1981), Now and Forever (1983), Blue Skies Again Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead (1983), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Down and Out in Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the HBO Beverly Hills (1986), Predator (1987), Orphans (1987), film Hemingway & Gellhorn and returned to television in Moon Over Parador (1988), Stanley & Iris (1990), The 2017, co-producing and starring in the HBO drama series Hard Way (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire Big Little Lies, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Nine Months Outstanding Lead Actress as well as Outstanding Limited (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Time Machine (2002), Series. These are some of the other films she has acted in: Anger Management (2003), Peter Pan (2003), The Wills & Burke (1985), Windrider (1986), Emerald City Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the (1988), Billy Bathgate (1991), Malice (1993), The Portrait Wardrobe (2005), Main Street (2010), The Dressmaker of a Lady (1996), The Peacemaker (1997), Panic Room (2015), Kapoor & Sons (2016), and Ali's Wedding (2017). (2002), Dogville (2003), The Human Stain (2003), Cold Mountain (2003), The Stepford Wives (2004), The Interpreter (2005), Bewitched (2005), Fur: An Imaginary Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—3

Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006), The Golden Compass Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). He joined the cast of the (2007), Australia (2008), Rabbit Hole (2010), Just Go with television series Game of Thrones, playing a role of It (2011), Stoker (2013), Grace of Monaco (2014), Archmaester Ebrose, in the seventh season (2017). These Paddington (2014), Strangerland (2015), Secret in Their are some of his other appearances in film and television: Eyes (2015), Brothers (2016), The Killing of The Go-Between (1971), The Shout (1978), The Life Story a Sacred Deer (2017), Top of the Lake (TV Series) (2017), of Baal (1978), The Passage (1979), Breaking Glass The Beguiled (2017), The Upside (2017), Destroyer (2018), (1980), The Dogs of War (1980), Time Bandits (1981), The (2018), and Aquaman (2018). Hit (1984), Brazil (1985), The Good Father (1985), Silas Marner (TV Movie) (1985), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), Vroom (1988), Life Is Sweet (1990), The Crying Game (1992), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Widows' Peak (1994), Richard III (1995), The Secret Agent (1996), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), The Avengers (1998), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Gangs of New York (2002), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Vanity Fair (2004), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), The Young Victoria (2009), Perrier's Bounty (2009), Another Year (2010), The EWAN McGREGOR (b. March 31, 1971 in Perth, Iron Lady (2011), Cloud Atlas (2012), Closed Circuit Perthshire, Scotland, UK) is a Scottish film actor (85 (2013), The Harry Hill Movie (2013), Paddington (2014), credits) who also directed and starred in the 2016 film Asterix and Obelix: Mansion of the Gods (2014), Get Santa adaptation of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1997 (2014), Brooklyn (2015), The Weather Inside (2015), The novel American Pastoral. Some of his best-known roles Legend of Tarzan (2016), Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), The include heroin addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting (1996), Sense of an Ending (2017), Black '47 (2018), and King of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999– Thieves (2018). 2005), poet Christian in Moulin Rouge! (2001), Edward Bloom in (2003), and James Joyce in Nora RICHARD ROXBURGH (b. January 23, 1962 in Albury, (2000), which he co-produced. These are some of the other , Australia) is an Australian film actor films he has appeared in: Being Human (1994), Blue Juice who has appeared in such films as: The Riddle of the (1995), The Pillow Book (1996), Emma (1996), Nightwatch Stinson (TV Movie) (1988), Dead to the World (1991), (1997), The Serpent's Kiss (1997), Welcome to Hollywood Tracks of Glory (TV Mini-Series) (1992), Talk (1994), (1998), Rogue Trader (1999), Eye of the Beholder (1999), Children of the Revolution (1996), The Wedding Party Black Hawk Down (2001), Down with Love (2003), Scenes (1997), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), A Little Bit of Soul of a Sexual Nature (2006), (2006), Cassandra's (1998), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Moulin Rouge! Dream (2007), Incendiary (2008), Deception (2008), (2001), The Touch (2002), The One and Only (2002), The Angels & Demons (2009), The Men Who Stare at Goats League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Van Helsing (2009), Amelia (2009), The Ghost Writer (2010), Nanny (2004), Like Minds (2006), The Diplomat (TV Movie) McPhee Returns (2010), Beginners (2010), Perfect Sense (2009), Sanctum (2011), The Turning (2013), Maya the (2011), The Corrections (TV Movie) (2012), Jack the Bee Movie (2014), Blinky Bill (2015), Looking for Grace Giant Slayer (2013), A Million Ways to Die in the West (2015), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Swinging Safari (2018), (2014), Jane Got a Gun (2015), T2 Trainspotting (2017), Danger Close (2019), H Is for Happiness (2019), and Beauty and the Beast (2017), Christopher Robin (2018), Angel of Mine (2019). and Doctor Sleep (2019). JOHN LEGUIZAMO (b. July 22, 1964 in Bogotá, JIM BROADBENT (b. May 24, 1949 in Lincoln, Colombia) is an American film and television actor (146 Lincolnshire, England, UK) is an English film and credits), stand-up comedian, producer (21 credits), television actor (162 credits). He won an Academy Award playwright and writer (14 credits). He began his acting and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John career in the music video for Madonna’s 1984 hit Bayley in the feature film Iris (2001). Broadbent played “Borderline.” As his career took off in the early 1990s, he Horace Slughorn in the fantasy films Harry Potter and the made notable appearances in features like Die Hard 2 Half-Blood Prince (2009) and Harry Potter and the (1990), Carlito’s Way (1993), and To Wong Foo Thanks Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—4 for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995). Before appearing in behind Luhrmann's red curtain is always on 10, and it Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (2001), he appeared in demands that the audience be anything but passive. In a Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996). In 2017, he debuted Luhrmann film, you know you're watching a movie, but it Latin History for Morons, a show about the participation of sometimes feels more like a live performance. So much, in Latin Americans throughout US history. The show fact, that audiences at the Cannes Film Festival this year premiered at the Public Theater before moving to Studio were applauding at the end of each of the songs in 54. Latin History for Morons was nominated for the 2018 Luhrmann's newest feature film, Moulin Rouge, as if they Tony Award for Best Play and was filmed for a Netflix were at a Broadway show. special that premiered the same year. These are some of his Moulin Rouge takes place in turn of the (last) film appearances: Mixed Blood (1984), Casualties of War century Paris and tells the story of a young musical (1989), Revenge (1990), Poison (1991), Hangin' with the playwright, Christian (Ewan McGregor), who falls in love Homeboys (1991), Regarding Henry (1991), Executive with Satine (Nicole Kidman), the star of the decadently Decision (1996), The Fan (1996), Body Count (1998), infamous Moulin Rouge nightclub. Satine also happens to Doctor Dolittle (1998), Joe the King (1999), Summer of be the city's most famous courtesan, and this is where Sam (1999), King of the Jungle (2000), Collateral Damage trouble comes into paradise. Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the (2002), Zig Zag (2002), Ice Age (2002), Assault on Moulin Rouge's P.T. Barnum-like impresario, has Precinct 13 (2005), Lies and Alibis (2006), The promised the hand of Satine to the Duke of Worchester (a Groomsmen (2006), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), delightfully evil Richard Roxburgh). In exchange, the The Happening (2008), Righteous Kill (2008), Repo Men Duke will finance a renovation of the Moulin Rouge into a (2010), One for the Money (2012), The Counsellor (2013), legitimate theater, where Satine can become a true actress. John Wick (2014), Stealing Cars (2015), The Hollow Point It's a tale of love vs. money. Did we mention that it's also a (2016), The Infiltrator (2016), The Crash (2017), John musical? A musical in which McGregor and Kidman sing Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Nancy (2018), and Playing with everything from the title track of The Sound of Music to Fire (2019). David Bowie's "Heroes." With Moulin Rouge, Luhrmann reinvents the movie musical by delving into the past. It's almost as if he took all the music videos, studio musicals, pop , and stage productions of the last 100 years, stuck them into a Cuisinart, and proceeded to shape Moulin Rouge out of the mixture. There are so many pop culture references in Moulin Rouge that there are references within the references -- such as the scene in which Nicole Kidman croons Madonna's "Material Girl" while a bunch of tuxedoed male suitors chase her around with gifts, the imagery of which references the 1985 video for the Madonna song. But wait, that video was itself an homage to Marilyn Monroe's scene from the film Gentlemen Prefer Terry Keefe: “The Man Behind the Red Curtain: Blondes (1953) in which she sings "Diamonds Are a Girl's Director Baz Lurhmann Reveals the Secrets of Moulin Best Friend," which, incidentally, Kidman also sings Rouge” (Venice Magazine). here. Moulin Rouge showcases the Red Curtain style at its The "Red Curtain" is a descriptive phrase coined most full-blown yet. It even opens with a shot of a red by filmmaker Baz Luhrmann to describe his style of curtain which pulls back to reveal one of the most dazzling filmmaking, and it is apt - cinema which is also so highly opening sequences in recent cinematic memory, as theatrical that it feels like it was birthed from the stage. Luhrmann's camera flies over a recreation of the cityscape Think of the fevered final dance competition of his debut of Paris, zips into various apartments to introduce some of feature, Strictly Ballroom (1992) which was so colorful and the lead characters, then rockets into the Moulin Rouge high-octane that it almost seemed to be an animated film nightclub for the opening number. come to life. Or the swirling camera and dazzling The roots of Luhrmann's groundbreaking cinema production design which breathed new life into the oft-told can be traced back to his extensive theatrical background in story of Romeo + Juliet (1996). Luhrmann's films take his home country of Australia. While studying to be an place in a world that can best be described as heightened actor at 's National Institute of Dramatic Arts, reality, and they combine elements of theater, opera, Luhrmann co-wrote, staged, and directed a play which he traditional cinema, and numerous elements of pop culture would develop into his film Strictly Ballroom. But before to create an almost completely new genre. The universe he made the jump to film, Luhrmann would produce his Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—5 first opera, "Lake Lost," which is where he began his long do. We found it much easier when we were doing collaboration with his wife and production designer, naturalistic work, because when you're revealing plot as Catherine Martin. During subsequent opera productions of you go along, you've got something to hang it on. Whereas, "La Boheme" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," when people know the plot, it's about the execution. What Luhrmann and Martin would develop their signature style we had to do, for example, is you're writing the scene and which would eventually be you've got the boy going, brought to the world of "Love is everything," and cinema. she's going, "No, I'm a career We caught up with girl. I can't fall in love." Baz Luhrmann on the eve of Then you have to convert the nationwide opening that into musical form. And of Moulin Rouge, which had we've already set up the rule, already completed a highly which is an old rule, that the successful limited release in audience had to have a New York and Los Angeles. familiar relationship with the In both cities, audiences were music and that the music had lining up around the block to to be of our vernacular. So it get a glimpse of what's behind the red curtain. was incredibly labor-intensive. But really, that's true of all musical work. No opera and no musical has been a quick When you were at the conceptual stages job. I mean, "Cats" when it opened did not have of Moulin Rouge, did you know that you'd basically be "Memories" in it, for example. re-inventing the movie musical by the time you were A lot of the rehearsal for Moulin done? Rouge occurred at a place of yours in Australia called Baz Luhrmann: Yes, that was what we set out to "The House of Iona," described in the production notes do. Apart from the other things that feed the process of as a "sprawling Victorian mansion." Tell us about that. deciding what to make, it's always been a desire of mine. I The key actors would come down for four weeks, grew up in the middle of nowhere and we got lots of old It's a production facility but we also live there. The same television and my dad ran a cinema for a while, so I loved thing happened on Romeo + Juliet - Leonardo DiCaprio musicals as a kid. You know, music cinema, all this came and lived with us for a while as we developed it. And artificiality making you feel things, I've done a lot of opera we take very seriously working with the actors in the sense and theater, and I just thought that somebody's got to get that they do their work and we redraft based on what around to making that work in the cinema again. And so happens in the rehearsals and the workshopping. that was the project. What was the casting process for the leads like? With all the songs, dance, and production Was it always a mandate that they could sing, or did design you had to try out, this couldn't have been a you ever consider casting non-singing stars that you traditional scripting process. could dub? You know, this is the third in this kind of film They had to be able to sing. I cherish the fact that I we've done. We set out to make a cinematic form which is know of many, many famous actors and I know that they the antithesis of the current cinema vernacular. Where the can sing beautifully. But both Ewan and Nicole I had had audience participate. Where they are awakened. Where some contact with before, because I shot Nicole they are alive in the cinema. Where they are actually for Vogue which I was the editor of for an issue, and I uniting with the rest of the people in the cinema and knew she was very funny and warm and unlike the Nicole participating. Now, the film's played in both New York and that most people know about. And Ewan I almost cast as Los Angeles, in just two cinemas, but the audiences are Mercutio (in Romeo + Juliet). I went through the process clapping in exactly the same places during the movie in of finding out what actors could fulfill the roles and then every single session. And that's good news for us, because convey emotion through voice. They didn't have to be big that's why the film is different. I mention this because we singers, but they had to be able to move you emotionally. built Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and this film in the They had to be able to act through voice. Basically, Ewan same manner. And it's very, very labor-intensive. We and Nicole were the best for the job. That's the bottom line spend a lot of time doing very detailed academic research, of it. then we build the plot line. And the difficult thing is to Is it true you weren't able to screen-test Ewan build a very simple plot. They all require simple, and Nicole together before making the final casting recognizable stories that the audience knows the ending of decision? when it begins. They require that. And that's very hard to Yes, Nicole was on stage on Broadway in "The Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—6

Blue Room" and Ewan was in the West End in a play as digitally put it out of focus. well. So I really had to take a punt on that chemistry and I What are some of your favorite movie musicals? must say Ronna Kress, my casting director, really held my I think that I have tastes that range from "Top Hat" hand and said, "Look, you've got to take the leap of faith." to "Bandwagon" to "Cabaret." I love the early Elvis And we did and it really is a chemical reaction between the musicals, but I also love "West Side Story," which is a two of them. tragedy. How was the on- You're willing to take a camera singing filmed? lot of risks that most We used all the directors would never hang techniques. There's the their career on. Can you traditional technique of even allow yourself to get playback, which is your scared or can you put it out basic one: They record and of your mind completely we do playback (on the set). when you're starting a But we did use a very project like this? groundbreaking technique It's a paradox. I'm which is where they sing live paradoxical about it in a and then you replace the really big sense. Because voice later with digital technology. It's a program which people say to me, "My God, you're so brave," and all that. locks what you've sung to lip-sync. And then the other And I'm just thinking, "What are you talking about?" I'm thing is that for a few moments in the film they're actually sort of like, "Well, gee, somebody's got to make the singing live. musical work now. I guess I'll have to do that job," you I have to ask you how you created the fantastic know? On the other hand, it would be a lie not to say that opening where you're zipping in and out of all those every morning I wake up with a sort of sick feeling in my buildings and all over the city of Paris. stomach as I go towards what we're doing. But it's usually It's a combination of very old techniques and very just about making the day work. It's like, "Oh my god, I've new techniques. The illusion that it's black and white film got 300 shots. I'll never get there." I have no question mark and then we zoom in -- that is all model work, they're old- whatsoever that whether a billion people go off to see this fashioned models that are built. And then we used digital movie or only the crowds that are now lining up in L.A. or technology to put in boats and water and sky and people. New York, there's no question that the genie is out of the We shot hundreds of little extras. There's tiny little people bottle (in terms of bringing back the musical). And there's walking on the bridge and things to make it real. And so it's no question in my mind that the genie was going to get out a combination of old and new. We spent all of our digital of the bottle. If it wasn't me, it was going to be someone money, and we didn't have a lot of it, making things not else. So I'm like, "What's the big deal?" How many good but BAD. Basically stopping it from looking digitally absolutely monolithic heads of monolithic companies in perfect, to make it look "cinematically imperfect." the last four days are going, "You know, this is a billion- What types of techniques were used to make it dollar idea. We own music companies. We own film look imperfect? companies. You bring the two together and they work? You can equate this with the difference between Hmmmm." [laughs] It's not rocket science to work out that digital sound and analog. They're like CDs vs. vinyl the world goes around in circles and this, at some point, records. Because life in digital is absolutely mathematically was going to come around again. perfect. Unfortunately, real life is nothing like that. In fact, Given the fact that the movie musical had been it's the imperfections between individual violin strings that considered a dead genre by the major studios for so make an orchestra warm. They're all slightly out of tune. long, did it take a lot of convincing on your part to get That's why when you get a digital sample of a violin and the green light from Fox? you put hundreds of them together, they sound nothing like No. In the old days maybe, but just think -- I've the real thing. Because it's the imperfection that makes made a film about ballroom dancing and a film about something warm. And we've done that a lot on Moulin Shakespeare. Nobody was knocking on my door going, Rouge. For example, when we have our camera sweeping "Please, we really need somebody to make a ballroom through buildings over Paris (in the opening), we had to dancing film. We know it's going to be huge." or actually program in digitally the imperfections of bumps "Shakespeare! That's a great idea!" So after the first two -- and shakes. At first you really do believe you might be in a they made a lot of money and won a lot of awards. I have a bit of black and white footage, and that's because it shakes. deal anyway at Fox where I'm about making new culture. Also, if you look at the shot it goes out of focus. We had to My company is Bazmark Films, and you either want the Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—7

Bazmark thing or you don't. I went in and I Baz Luhrmann:A Letter from Baz just basically outlined in words the basic Luhrmann” (Broadway Direct) notion of [Moulin Rouge] and they said, Moulin Rouge! the movie was an attempt "Not a cent over 45 million. Come back to reinvent the movie musical. It’s not a when it's ready." And to be really honest, stretch that my desire to do this germinated as much as I'd like to go into a kind of in the tiny country town where I grew up. horror story about the studio, the real truth There, we had a gas station, a farm, but we is that they've been unbelievably, also had a local cinema and a small black- relentlessly supportive, like at a ludicrous and-white television with only one channel, level. People lose their jobs over onto which they dumped old movies and squandering 50 million on having a crack musicals. I grew up on these films, and at the musical. And they were the ones though many of them are now considered who said, "Hey, we think this is a summer classics, at that time in the 1970s, they were picture." I was a little bit more like, "Art sort of disregarded and disrespected. Later, house September looks good to me." as I grew up in the theater and in film, I They're the ones who have gone, "This is studied realism, Brecht and Artaud; I was a something for everybody. This can play broad." And you great devotee of Coppola, Scorsese, Fellini, and Bergman; know, if they believe in my commitment, I've got to but still I never lost my love for the musical form. What I believe in their commitment. We're very family-orientated, found so interesting was that each epoch or era had its own in the sense that we work with the same people over a long musical language. period of time, and I know it sounds corny but I feel really Once I started to make movies, I became obsessed great that all the people at that studio feel really proud with finding a musical language that could work for now. about the achievement of this film. It gives the studio a As someone who had loved musicals from childhood, I great sense of higher morale that there are actually people wanted to see them live again. So in making Moulin saying, "Oh, you're doing something edgy. Must be great to Rouge!, I set out with my collaborators to reinvent an old work there." It makes Fox an interesting place to be. form. What I found was fundamental to all these films is Let's talk a little about your early work. Your that they aren’t psychological dramas. They’re not trying to first film Strictly Ballroom actually started as a play. hide the plot; it’s obvious. The art form is how you reveal Yes, we developed it as a play when I was at that plot, heightening emotion through visual language drama school. And then I further developed it in my theater devices and, most of all, the music. Once I started to company and we toured Czechoslovakia; this was before collaborate with Craig Pearce on the story, we took a the Wall came down. It won a lot of awards as a play. Then primary myth, that of Orpheus, which the audience could I set out to make it into a film. I realized that if I instinctively recognize, and set this myth in the 1890s Belle naturalized it, and this is not to demean Dirty Dancing, it Époque, in the Bohemian environment of Montmartre, a would become like a naturalistic Dirty Dancing. So one period that reflected our own, full of invention, massive had to find a cinematic language that kept the irony, that change, and on the eve of a whole new epoch. Throughout kept the sense that it had a resonating comment about the journey, there were moments when people in the artistic oppression. That's when I began developing this industry who I genuinely respect truly believed that the idea of theatricalized cinema. And it's not brand-new, you musical could never be popular again. Now it’s uplifting know. It's looking back to the movies of the '30s and the that more than 15 years later, the movie-musical is an '40s which have a contract with the audience. I was also important part of the cinema-going experience again. very influenced by movies, or Hindi movies. When it came to bringing Moulin Rouge! the Cinema where the audience participates in a movie. Where movie to the stage, I knew I wasn’t the right person to they know they're watching a movie at all times. reinterpret something I made years ago. Because, in fact, While you were working in theater, was it there’s now a whole generation of younger artists who always a goal to cross over into films? have a purer relationship with the work than I do. I feared I You know, I made movies as a kid and I made might be inclined to protect every choice that was made in plays. It's never been any different for me. I've always the original work as if it were somehow sacred, but that is made little movies and I've acted in movies and I've acted the antithesis of art. Any good story needs to be interpreted in plays and I've made records. We come from a small in different places, in different ways, for different times. country, Australia, so everybody does a little bit of Recoded, if you like. So I made the conscious decision to everything. You've got to. [laughs] hand the work over and, instead of being the birther, to become something of an uncle to the project. Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—8

I saw a show done by the very talented Alex When you're thinking "musical stars," chances are, Timbers, and in it, I saw a little bit of influence in the way I Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman aren't the first two was telling stories on film, both ironic and heartfelt, actors that loom large in the brain. challenging to the audience in its rhythms, outrageous, and But in Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge," they're yet at the same time, very respectful of we funny old easy, heck, even charming, on the ear. humans. From the get-go, They continue the Alex — along with a team growing tradition of musicals that included book writer (such as "Everyone Says I John Logan, choreographer Love You"), in which people Sonya Tayeh, set designer sing in their own, Derek McLane, costume unapologetic voices, rather designer Catherine Zuber, than with false Broadway and a musical crew headed brassiness. Of course, neither by Justin Levine — wanted performer would be wise to to go way, way out on a limb pursue a professional singing in terms of the interpretation career after this, but they and started to make choices that some people might guess acquit themselves wonderfully. that I, and some fans of the original, would find They're more than carried along, anyway, by sacrilegious, adding new songs alongside many of the Luhrmann's postmodern bohemian rhapsody of a musical. original hits from the movie, and rearranging plot. In its It's a brilliant tribute to many things: Paris's bohemian era, original, cinematic form, we had been careful to the evolution of pop music from Gilbert & Sullivan to heighten Moulin Rouge! in its plotting and visual language, Nirvana and musicals from "Gold Diggers of 1933" to Lars to give it a theatricality that could counteract the film von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark." medium’s inherent movement toward realism. Whereas in McGregor plays Christian, the archetypal penniless the theatre, of course, it’s already theatrical! And so the writer come to Gay Paree, circa 1899. Kidman – choice that Alex, John, and the rest of the team made to conspicuously cast against prim type – is Satine, the ground the story more, to perhaps find more psychological Moulin's biggest attraction and a successful courtesan. depth, was really kind of daring. It made me think back to Satine gets her shot at the big time (she wants to be when I wanted to take a beloved work, something a classy actress à la Sarah Bernhardt) when club owner Shakespearean or a classic opera, and make strong choices Zidler (Jim Broadbent) offers her services to a repressed, with it, only to have people rail against what I was trying to psychologically twisted financier, the Duke of Worcester do. So all I could do is have faith in these gifted creatives. (Richard Roxburgh). In turn, he agrees to finance Moulin's It was one of the more thrilling things in my recent latest ambitious show. experiences to discover that the preposterous conceit Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), a club of Moulin Rouge! had not only survived, but flourished! regular and social observer, helps Christian get a job Once more, a Bohemian poet made his way to the writing songs for the show. He pleases everyone with his underworld, and when he opened his mouth to convey his first idea, a song that begins with, "The hills are alive with genius through poetry, all manner of popular music poured the sound of music." forth in remixes and mash-ups of songs we all know. This Christian falls in love with Satine, who mistakenly new theatrical production absolutely honors the movie, but thinks he's the Duke. By the time the Duke rears his ugly finds a new life that is exciting and vital for this audience head, Satine's already in love with Christian. While Satine in this time. What was so uplifting was that in the end, rehearses for the show and keeps the Duke at bay, she audiences connected with the show in such an electrifying meets surreptitiously with Christian. way. I’d never had that experience before. Something that Things are obviously going to get stickier. I’d been intimately involved in creating was now living McGregor's appealing as always. He's a great sport new and fresh without me at the center of its process. I of an actor, who's always game for a new challenge. He personally can’t wait for summer to come, so that I can makes a truly sweet-natured character. Kidman's cool enjoy the show purely as an audience member, and take all screen presence warms up considerably. She'll never be hot my friends and family along to the Moulin Rouge! to the touch, but she's likable enough here. But the great star, of course, is behind the red Desson Howe: “Vive ‘Moulin Rouge’!’” (Washington curtain. That's Luhrmann, who also made the inspired Post) "Strictly Ballroom" and "Romeo + Juliet." Working with music director Marius DeVries and many of his regular collaborators (including cinematographer Donald M. Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—9

McAlpine and production manager/costume designer trailer to the film in class as part of my discussion, and I Catherine Martin), he has created a wonderful cutting-edge ended up getting an A. opera. Fast forward to my first year of college and Nicole He nods at cinema itself with glimpses of silent Kidman’s on the cover of Vogue, promoting Lurhmann’s movie irising techniques, a beaming man-in-the-moon latest film, Moulin Rouge. A test audience member (straight out of the turn-of-the-century films of Georges referenced in the article said it felt “like The Rocky Horror Melies), and salutations to great screen divas from Dietrich Picture Show meets Titanic.” I knew this movie was for to Minnelli. me. Musically, you can hear strains of almost I went on opening day. I was unprepared. Even everything, as the colorful bohos at the Moulin sing, dance though I had read tons of promotional materials and and vamp. There's a cafe waltz based on Marc Bolan's watched coverage I was still so very unprepared. It was all "Children of the Revolution." Another song segues from the holidays and your birthday at once. It was like a Disney Jule Styne and Leo Rubin's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best musical on steroids and absinthe. It was utterly insane Friend" to Madonna's "Material Girl." And here's my brilliance, and I left the theater only to return later that personal showstopper: "El de Roxanne," a darkly night with a friend in tow. (I ended up seeing it a total of voiced rendition of Sting's ethereal pop song, replete with eight times in the theater before it disappeared from the tango dancers and a scheme that might be called marquee for good.) "sepulchral gloom and doom." But first, the plot: In 1900, young, wide-eyed It's a wonderful postmodern hug of a movie, and Christian (Ewan McGregor) travels to Paris to learn about never once do you not know you're watching a movie. But the world, and ends up falling in love with Satine (Nicole that's the point: Not to lose yourself in the movie, but to be Kidman), the star courtesan of the Moulin Rouge. A writer, brightly aware of your participation as a viewer. In Christian has the gift of song, but, despite his pure heart Luhrmann's vision, that's what the movies are about. and love he cannot save Satine from the seedy underworld—or her hidden case of consumption. So it’s the Orpheus myth by way of La Boheme (which it’s worth mentioning Luhrmann directed productions in both Australia and New York). The film opens as if we are at the symphony, with a conductor. The lights go down, the red curtain parts, and the story unfolds to the strains of “”… The greatest thing You’ll ever learn Is just to love And be loved In return I always say if you can get through the first 15 Rachel Stewart: “Moulin Rouge: A musical minutes of a Luhrmann film, you’re clear for liftoff, Masterpiece, Come What May” (25YL) because there always seems to be a bit of turbulence as he Let me start by saying I hate when film reviews lays down the concept. For Romeo + Juliet, it was use words like “masterpiece” and “genius” but for me, Shakespearean language; for Moulin Rouge, it’s popular when I talk about Moulin Rouge and Baz Luhrmann there’s music as a means of communication. Christian literally simply no other way to start. Firstly, I can’t believe it’s gets recruited to help write a play when his upstairs been 18 years since it was first released. Second, in neighbors crash through his apartment ceiling. The play’s retrospect, it’s plain to see how ahead-of-its-time it really for Moulin Rouge owner Harry Zilder (John Broadbent). was and how pop culture has continued to reference or Inspired, Christian sings a little bit of “The Sound of borrow from it while never quite reaching the same Music,” then drinks absinthe with the other bohemians. heights. Boom! Next thing you know, Kylie Minogue’s the Green My introduction to Luhrmann’s work was in high Fairy and then boom! (again) we’re at the Moulin Rouge. school, and it was perfectly timed for my sophomore The can-can dancers, or Diamond Dogs, are strutting their English project. We were studying William stuff to “” while the thirsty clients start Shakespeare’s and I compared the use of jamming out to “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” This is language and adaptation between Zeffirelli’s lush and all before Satine descends from the ceiling singing sensual costumed spectacle and Luhrmann’s edgy Venice “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “Material Girl” in Beach revamp. I remember being thrilled I got to play the a Marilyn-meets-Madonna moment for the ages. Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—10

This is not your grandmother’s musical, nor your believable as she’s trying to fight off McGregor’s great-great-great grandmother’s Moulin Rouge. It’s also breathless attempts of getting her to submit to one night of not your typical costume film. There’s nothing stuffy here, love in the film’s “Elephant Love Medley,” a mishmash of with each Diamond Dog’s technicolor cancan shirts multiple pop songs from the 1970s and 1980s. She’s able reflecting their name and personality. Satine’s top hat and to hold off until the chorus of David Bowie’s “Heroes” that corset combo is another blends straight into Dolly Marilyn Monroe reference in Parton’s “I Will Always Love itself, recalling the corset You” and a blaze of fireworks from Bus Stop and a tiny bit and starlight. like a screen test That song alone is a tiny costume from Gentlemen snapshot of the behind-the- Prefer Blondes. scenes work Luhrmann did for Luhrmann also had this film. He literally discussed massive sets built, while song usage and rights with production direction and every . (No small costume direction were both thing, to sit with the likes of helmed by his wife and both Bowie and Parton, I’d creative partner, Catherine Martin. (She went on to win wager.) Additionally, “Elephant Love Medley” was two Oscars for Moulin Rouge, while Luhrmann wasn’t originally Christian singing “Higher Love” in response to even nominated—one of the many times award season got Satine’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” but they it wrong with this particular film.) So while everything couldn’t get the keys to work. (Eighteen years after the might feel style over substance, realize that these frantic fact, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” features in the frames have been discussed for hours on end. It might be Broadway stage show as a nod to that—one that made me high concept, but the ideas have been refined and polished very happy during Boston previews.) to the brash and bold final product, packing out every inch A Spectacular, Spectacular Mashup of Genres of the silver screen. Luhrmann films can feel a bit like emotional Of course, there’s a comical mix up to set up the whiplash. While Moulin Rouge could be called an operatic star-crossed lovers from the onset—Satine mistakes tragedy, it’s full of mad humor and campiness. I think it’s Christian for the Duke (Richard Roxburgh) who will be those qualities that make it easy for viewers to connect to financing the show that will make Satine a legitimate characters quickly—you sort of get a feel for what actress. While Satine’s busy trying to seduce Christian, he everyone’s about and will be over the course of the film. starts reciting the lyrics to Elton John’s “Your Song” The campiness also balances out the impending darkness before finally singing “My Gift is My Song” causing all the we’re spiraling towards. For example, the sequence where lights in Paris to go on—and every person watching this to Zidler and the Duke sing “Like a Virgin” is earmarked stop dead in their tracks and fall in love with Ewan between scenes where Zidler tells Satine to leave Christian McGregor (I speak from experience). Before you know it, (for the first of many times) and her diagnosis of Christian and Satine are dancing in the clouds above the consumption, which Zidler hides from her. Satine tries to Eiffel Tower, accompanied by an opera-singing moon. do right by her family and tries to end things with But when they come back down to earth, it’s Christian. Instead, he suggests he write a song to put in the revealed that Christian isn’t the Duke and they have to hide show. It’ll be their song—so they know they love one Christian from the Duke, with near-disastrous results that another, no matter what. ends in pitching Spectacular, Spectacular, the tale of a This is when the film finally slows a bit, letting the Hindu courtesan promised to an evil Maharaja but in love star crossed lovers display their love right in the open until with a poet with a magical sitar that only speaks the truth. Nini Legs-in-the-Air lets the cat out of the bag and The Duke bites, not realizing it’s a thinly veiled retelling of Christian lets his growing jealousy get the better of him. the events going around them (and what will play out for Satine’s still able to stitch it back together by casting the rest of the film.) Christian off and turning her eye back to the Duke, and For the first half of the film, Kidman is finally showing to supper with the Duke after months remarkable. She’s frothy and hilarious in the high comedy giving him the runaround. scenes but gives the depth needed for the impending Christian’s (and the Duke’s) jealousy for wanting tragedy we’ve been warned of from the film’s opening. She Satine for their own is crystallized in the Argentian’s “El has a beautiful solo moment singing “One Day I’ll Fly Tango De Roxanne” a spotlit tango of The Police’s Away” setting the caged bird motif that will follow her “Roxanne” that almost makes the whole picture take actual character the rest of the film. She’s well-paired and flight off the screen and into the stratosphere. From the Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—11 actual tango playing out on screen versus the emotional Moulin Rouge once more, no longer an epicenter of one Satine is trying to work out with the Duke, it all comes frivolity and excess but a darkened theater flooded in blue, to a halt when she sees Christian—she can’t lie—and it the Bollywood-inspired play churning out a darker version almost costs her dearly, had Le Chocolat (Deobia Oparei) of the bright “Sparkling Diamonds” medley we were first not slunk off into the shadows in case of danger. (A dancer greeted with. at the Moulin Rouge, he’s one of her constant protectors in Between scenes, Christian’s able to track down front of and behind the Satine, who is still trying to curtain.) put him off to save him – Today’s the Day however, as the frantic film When Dreaming Ends plays out, their last words Luhrmann’s films are will be played out on stage. full of dreamers, and in Christian throws money in Moulin Rouge, everyone has Satine’s face, saying he’s their own. Christian dreams of paid his whore and walks love but isn’t ready for the off stage, almost out of the pain and jealousy that comes underworld, once and for along with it. Satine dreams all. But Toulouse Lautrec of freedom but she’s (John Leguizamo) finally constantly caged by men’s remembers his line and empty desires and their reminds why we’ve all been overflowing pockets. The here from the start: bohemians want to share their ideals with the world—truth, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love beauty, freedom, and love—that seems full of people that and be loved in return.” never dream. So Satine sings their secret song once more, But dreams are dangerous, and when Satine begging “come back to me, and forgive everything” and escapes the Duke, Christian presses them to leave. But there, in front of all, she tells Christian what she should what about the show? “I don’t care about the show,” he have never denied: that she’ll love him, until the end of says simply. Such a simple knife-through-the-heart time. He turns, and replies—and it’s at that moment he’s moment. In a world where people only care about what found her (but will lose her come curtain call). There are Satine can do for them, Christian just cares about her. no words for this scene, the way the actors voices mesh, As she packs her things, she’s intercepted by the way the camera follows Christian back up on stage and Zidler, once again telling her to push Christian away, now Satine’s relief in knowing she didn’t lose him in the last for his own safety as the Duke means to kill him. She moments of her life. I can still remember people gasping almost makes it out the door and to freedom when Zidler and sobbing in the theater. I was one of them. hits her with the truth she’s known all along but couldn’t Closing the Red Curtain admit: she’s dying. It’s then that Zidler is able to convince So the lovers and bohemians prevail and get their Satine to do her worst: make Christian believe she never on-stage happy ending thanks to Zidler’s last-minute Duke loved him. punch-out. But as soon as the curtain and rose petals fall, “We’re creatures of the underworld, we can’t Satine succumbs to her illness and that’s when everything afford to love,” he reminds her. goes still. Long, slow shots capture the shadows against Frozen and defeated, Satine concedes that Christian holding Satine’s lifeless body in a sea of white this “today’s the day that dreaming ends.” This moment is and red rose petals. a nice call back to the first time Zidler instructed Satine to While Kidman nabbed the Oscar nomination, it call things off with Christian. Then she was lost in her was McGregor that was cruelly overlooked and after a dreams —now her dreams are dead. This isn’t just a whole film of being a wide-eyed prince charming in musical now, it’s reaching deep into the emotional depths pauper’s clothing, it breaks down and he lets out a sob so of opera. guttural, so real, it makes me shudder thinking about it, As the sun rises, so do last-minute preparations for much less rewatching it. the show’s premiere alongside the operatic reworking of Luhrmann often immerses his actors in workshops Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” which feels tailor-made weeks before actual shooting begins and it shows in the for the film. Satine appears ready to battle and give up the work. His coaxing allowed Kidman to let loose and break only thing that ever mattered to her. He words work and through the “ice queen” persona she was slated with at the wound Christian, causing him to go mad, convinced he time and be goofy in the early moments of the film. But must pay her for services rendered. He returns to the here at the end, he allows McGregor to go to the darkest of Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—12 spaces and finally come out on the healing side of grief, • "The Sound of Music" – Mary Martin (and later with Christian realizing their love will last forever now that by Julie Andrews) (from the Rodgers & he’d written their story, as he promised Satine. Hammerstein musical of the same name, featuring The red curtain from the beginning returns, as well overdubbed theremin played by Bruce Woolley) as the conductor, to play us out. All goes dark. • "The Lonely Goatherd" – also from The Sound of In 2001, I was unprepared for such a lush, sonic Music (but heard as instrumental) journey. I think audiences might still be, although consider • "Children of the Revolution" – T. Rex the things that grew in popularity or were inspired • "Lady Marmalade" – Labelle, covered for the film, by Moulin Rouge since 2001: an Olympic Gold- (by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, Missy winning ice skating performance, uncountable episodes of Elliott, and Pink) Glee, showgirl-influenced fashion, its own Broadway • "Because We Can" – Fatboy Slim musical, and musical remakes in general, • "Complainte de la Butte" – Georges Van Parys including Chicago, which became the first musical to win and Jean Renoir covered by Rufus Wainwright Best Picture in a long time—a win I’ll always be sad • "Rhythm of the Night" – DeBarge about. Chicago is great for what it is, but it’s also too safe • "Material Girl" – Madonna (and borrowed the concept that Dancer in the • "Smells Like Teen Spirit" – Nirvana Dark employed to a much better and emotional end). • "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" – Introduced There’s nothing safe about Moulin Rouge—it’s dark, it’s by Carol Channing, made popular by Marilyn dangerous, it’s absolutely too much. And it never ever Monroe. apologizes for it. • "Diamond Dogs" – David Bowie covered for the For that reason, it’s why we as viewers continue to film by Beck. return. In a way, I think Luhrmann also returned when he • "Galop Infernal (Can-can)" – Jacques made his version of The Great Gatsby which was a Offenbach (tune for Spectacular, Spectacular) spectacle of language, music and high fashion aesthetic. • "One Day I'll Fly Away" – The Crusaders, Why do I return? Often, I think it’s to lose myself later Randy Crawford in its wonder. To remember how it feels to be in love that • "Children of the Revolution" – T.Rex (Covered first time. But as an older, wiser person, deep down it’s to by , , Violent Femmes, remind myself of the bohemian ideals I clung to in my and ) youth. They are what truly make life worth living: truth, • "Gorecki" – Lamb beauty, freedom, and love. Thank you, Baz Luhrmann. • "Come What May" – Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (written by David Baerwald) • "Roxanne" – The Police (Title in film: "El Tango de Roxanne", combined with music "Tanguera" by Mariano Mores) • "Tanguera" – Mariano Mores (Title in film: "El Tango de Roxanne", combined with music "Roxanne" by The Police) • "The Show Must Go On" – Queen • "Like a Virgin" – Madonna • "Your Song" – Elton John • "Chamma Chamma" – Alka Yagnik (Incorporated From Wikipedia: The following is a partial list of songs in the film song titled "Hindi Sad Diamonds"; featured in the film along with the artist that originally performed by Alka Yagnik in the 1998 popularized them. Hindi film China Gate, composed by Anu Malik). • "Nature Boy" – Nat King Cole, covered by David Bowie and remixed by Massive Attack for the soundtrack.

Lurhmann—MOULIN ROUGE—13

THAT’S IT FOR THE FALL 2019 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS (SERIES 39)

BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS SPRING 2020, SERIES 40

Jan 28 Chaplin City Lights 1931 Feb 4 Lloyd Bacon 42nd Street 1933 Feb 11 Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Feb 18 Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard 1950 Feb 25 Henri-Georges Clouzot Wages of Fear 1953 Mar 3 Lucino Visconti, The Leopard 1963 Mar 10 Maskaki Kobayashi Kwaidan 1965 Mar 24 Midnight Cowboy 1969 Mar 31 Alan Pakula Klute 1971 Apr 7 McCabe and Mrs Miller 1971 Apr 14 King of Comedy 1983 Apr 21 Land of Plenty 2004 Apr 28 Wes Anderson Isle of Dogs 2018 May 5 Pedro Almodóvar Pain and Glory 2019

CONTACTS: email Diane Christian: [email protected]…email Bruce Jackson [email protected]... for the series schedule, annotations, links and updates: http: //buffalofilmseminars.com... to subscribe to the weekly email informational notes, send an email to [email protected].... for cast and crew info on any film: http://imdb.com/

The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Dipson Amherst Theatre, with support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation and the Buffalo News.