50 Fun Facts About Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge! is the final film in Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy. What are the other two?

Luhrmann's 1993 Sydney Opera House production of La bohème was a key source for the plot.

In which year is the main story of the film set?

The framing device has Christian typing the story in 1900, a year after Satine's death.

What is the name of the play the Bohemians are writing when Christian meets them?

The tune of Offenbach's can-can, the Galop Infernal, is used for its theme.

Whom does Satine mistake Christian for on the night they meet?

The Duke of Monroth is the investor Zidler hopes will turn the club into a theatre.

In the Bohemians' improvised story for the Duke, a courtesan falls for a poor musician playing what instrument?

The Duke later demands the ending be changed so the courtesan marries the maharaja.

What fatal illness is Satine diagnosed with?

Consumption is the old name for tuberculosis, the same disease that kills Mimì in La bohème.

Which dancer saves Satine from the Duke's attempt to rape her?

It is Nini, the can-can dancer, who tips the Duke off that the play mirrors real life.

Who cries from the rafters that 'the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return'?

The line comes from Nat King Cole's 'Nature Boy', which opens the film in David Bowie's version.

How much time passes between Satine's death and Christian finishing their story?

By then the cabaret has closed and fallen into disrepair.

Which real can-can dancer was the character of Satine based on?

Avril was nicknamed La Mélinite after an explosive because of her jerky, contorting style.

The proprietor character in the film shares his surname with whom?

Charles Zidler opened the cabaret with Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia.

Which star of Luhrmann's previous film auditioned unsuccessfully for Christian?

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were also considered before Ewan McGregor won the part.

Which rock star auditioned for Satine and approved the use of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in the film?

The Nirvana song turns up in the Zidler-led 'Because We Can' medley.

Where was Moulin Rouge! filmed?

Filming ran from November 1999 to May 2000.

What injury did Nicole Kidman suffer twice while being lifted in the dance sequences?

She also tore knee cartilage in a fall during 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend', which forced her out of Panic Room.

Which two acts refused to let Luhrmann use their songs in the film?

'Nature Boy' replaced Stevens's 'Father and Son', which he withheld on religious grounds.

The Police's 'Roxanne' is performed in the film in what musical style?

'El Tango de Roxanne' is sung by the Argentinean, Christian and the Duke.

Which Elton John number does Christian sing to Satine, with Alessandro Safina adding Italian lyrics?

Entertainment Weekly called the film 'an aesthetically arresting ode to poetry, passion, and Elton John'.

'Come What May' was ineligible for the Oscar because it had been written for which earlier Luhrmann film?

It was written by David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert and lost the Golden Globe to Sting's 'Until'.

Which four singers recorded the film's hit cover of 'Lady Marmalade'?

Labelle's 1974 original spent a week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

'Lady Marmalade' was originally a 1974 number one for which group?

All Saints also took a cover to UK number one in 1998.

Which Bollywood song, from the film China Gate, is sampled in the 'Hindi Sad Diamonds' number?

Luhrmann's love of Bollywood began on a research trip to India for a production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Which Queen song is arranged in operatic style for Zidler and Satine near the end?

Bowie's version of 'Nature Boy' and T. Rex's 'Children of the Revolution' also feature.

At which festival did Moulin Rouge! premiere as the opening film in May 2001?

It competed for the Palme d'Or and opened in Australia later that month.

How much did Moulin Rouge! gross worldwide, against a $50M budget?

The UK alone contributed $26 million.

How many Academy Award nominations did Moulin Rouge! receive?

It was the first musical nominated for Best Picture since Beauty and the Beast a decade earlier.

Which two Oscars did the film win?

Both went to Luhrmann's wife and collaborator Catherine Martin's teams.

Which Oscar host quipped the film 'just directed itself' when Baz Luhrmann missed the Best Director shortlist?

The film tied with The Fellowship of the Ring for a leading twelve BAFTA nominations.

Jim Broadbent won a BAFTA for playing which character?

The same year he won an Oscar for Iris.

How many Golden Globes did the film win, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy?

It tied A Beautiful Mind with six nominations.

How many Tony Awards did the Broadway adaptation win in 2020, including Best Musical?

It had premiered in Boston in 2018 before opening at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in 2019.

Which two actors originated Satine and Christian in the musical's workshop and Broadway cast?

The stage version portrays Zidler as gay and directs under Alex Timbers.

In what year did the real Moulin Rouge open in Paris?

It opened as the Jardin de Paris, an outdoor garden café-concert with a giant elephant.

The Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of which dance?

The venue sits in the Pigalle district on Boulevard de Clichy, with a red windmill on the roof.

What destroyed the original Moulin Rouge in 1915?

Mistinguett and Maurice Chevalier were among the stars of the rebuilt cabaret.

Which future British king was greeted by La Goulue with 'Hey, Wales, the champagne's on you!' in 1890?

La Goulue, 'the Glutton', earned her name by draining customers' glasses as she danced past.

La Goulue was the stage name of which dancer?

She was also known as the Queen of Montmartre.

When the Moulin Rouge opened, which post-Impressionist artist was commissioned to produce its posters?

He broke both legs in adolescence and stopped growing at 1.52 metres.

Which actor played the diminutive painter at the centre of John Huston's 1952 film Moulin Rouge?

Producers John and James Woolf, fresh from The African Queen, suggested Ferrer to Huston.

Baz Luhrmann was born with what first name?

He is Australia's most commercially successful home-grown director.

Which Puccini opera, staged by Luhrmann in Sydney in 1993, was a key source for the plot?

Luhrmann has said the story is Orphean in shape but borrows its character types from that opera and from Camille, patterns audiences recognise even unnamed.

'Nature Boy' replaced which song after its writer objected to the film on religious grounds?

The replacement, a Nat King Cole standard, is sung by David Bowie on the soundtrack in a Massive Attack remix and bookends the whole film.

The overrunning shoot had to vacate its sound stages to make way for which film?

Ewan McGregor simply walked from one to the other, since he was starring in both, while the Moulin Rouge! crew finished pick-ups in Madrid.

Its Best Picture nod made it the first musical nominated since which 1991 film?

A decade passed between the two, and the animated fairy tale had itself been the first animated feature ever nominated for the top prize.

In the Muppet parody 'Moulin Scrooge', who plays Christian?

Miss Piggy is Saltine, Gonzo takes the painter's part and Fozzie runs the club in the 2002 TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

Which Canadian ice dancers won 2018 Olympic gold skating to the film's songs?

Their free dance stitched together 'El Tango de Roxanne' and 'Come What May', and the wins made them the most decorated figure skaters ever.

Who wrote 'Come What May', the only original song in the film?

Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman sing it themselves, and the American Film Institute later placed it at number 85 on its list of 100 greatest movie songs.

Which artist covered David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs' for the soundtrack?

Bowie himself appears on the album singing 'Nature Boy', while Fatboy Slim's contribution was the original track 'Because We Can'.

A knee injury from the shoot forced Nicole Kidman out of the lead in which thriller?

Jodie Foster stepped into the David Fincher film; Kidman had torn knee cartilage in a fall during the 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' number.

Whose audition for Christian did Luhrmann call 'really extraordinary' but 'a bit too young'?

Luhrmann said in 2026 that the footage of that audition opposite Nicole Kidman is 'really beautiful' and something the pair still talk about.