Moulin Rouge Trivia
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50 free Moulin Rouge trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Moulin Rouge trivia questions with answers. Moulin Rouge! (2001) mashed up Elton John, Nirvana and Puccini into a Bollywood-flavoured Paris of 1899 and became one of the most loved musicals of its era. This Moulin Rouge trivia quiz covers the film in depth: Satine, Christian, Zidler and the Duke, Spectacular Spectacular, the songs Baz Luhrmann borrowed and the one he wrote, the Oscars, the Cannes premiere and Nicole Kidman's broken ribs. It also covers the Broadway musical that swept the Tonys, the 1952 John Huston film about Toulouse-Lautrec, and the real Moulin Rouge in Pigalle, from its 1889 opening and the birth of the can-can to La Goulue, Jane Avril and the fire that destroyed the original. It suits a movie musical night, a theatre-lovers' quiz or a Paris-themed party. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia and cited on the question, so you can see where each fact comes from.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which two films join Moulin Rouge! in Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy?
Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet
Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet. The three share no plot or characters: Luhrmann grouped them for their openly theatrical style, built on dance in the first, Shakespeare's verse in the second and song in the third.
Q 02In Moulin Rouge!, Christian joins the Bohemians in which Paris district?
Montmartre
Montmartre. Low rents and rowdy cabarets had made the hilltop village the home of Paris's painters and performers, and the real Moulin Rouge opened at its foot.
Q 03In the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, what is the play the Bohemians are writing when Christian meets them?
Spectacular Spectacular
Spectacular Spectacular. Christian gets the job of writing it when a narcoleptic Argentinean crashes through his ceiling in mid-rehearsal and the troupe asks him to stand in.
Q 04In Moulin Rouge!, Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke and receives him in her boudoir inside a giant what?
An elephant
An elephant. The real Moulin Rouge had a giant elephant in its garden too, and the film's designers copied it at three storeys, with Satine's bedroom inside.
Q 05In the show the Bohemians pitch in Moulin Rouge!, a courtesan falls for a penniless musician who plays what?
A sitar
A sitar. When the Duke realises the plot mirrors Satine's real romance, he demands a new ending in which the courtesan marries the maharajah and not the penniless sitar player.
Q 06In Moulin Rouge!, which fatal illness is Satine diagnosed with?
Consumption
Consumption, the old name for tuberculosis. Zidler keeps the diagnosis from her and reveals it only when she is packing to run away with Christian.
Q 07Which Marilyn Monroe number does Satine sing from a trapeze in Moulin Rouge!?
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. Satine's entrance splices it with Madonna's 'Material Girl', and Nicole Kidman tore knee cartilage in a fall while filming the number.
Q 08In Moulin Rouge!, Christian wins over the Bohemians by singing the first line of which famous title song?
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music. In the film's 1899 Paris the tune hasn't been written yet, so its famous first line makes Christian look like a genius and lands him the job of writing the Bohemians' show.
Q 09Which pop star appears as the Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge!?
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue. She appears when the Bohemians' absinthe kicks in and sings the part, but the fairy's other voice belongs to Ozzy Osbourne.
Q 10Which Madonna hit does Zidler sing to the Duke in Moulin Rouge! to excuse Satine's absence?
Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin. Satine has collapsed and missed their dinner, so Zidler improvises the excuse that she is confessing her sins to a priest in order to come to the Duke pure.
Q 11In Moulin Rouge!, Harold Zidler shares his surname with which real figure?
A co-founder of the real Moulin Rouge
A co-founder of the real Moulin Rouge. Charles Zidler opened the cabaret with Joseph Oller; by the cabaret's own account, the pair billed it as the first palace of women and promised a temple of music and dance.
Q 12Which actor says his 'atrocious' singing voice cost him the role of Christian in Moulin Rouge!?
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio. He recalls trying what he thinks was 'Lean on Me' with Baz Luhrmann and a pianist, and says the director's reaction to his high note ended the conversation.
Q 13Which rock frontwoman auditioned to play Satine in Moulin Rouge!?
Q 21'Lady Marmalade', covered for Moulin Rouge!, was first a US number-one hit for which group?
Labelle
Labelle. Lead singer Patti LaBelle has said she had no idea what the French chorus was proposing until a nun's complaint about the song set her straight.
Q 22Which Bollywood song from the film China Gate is sampled in Moulin Rouge!?
Chamma Chamma
Chamma Chamma. Luhrmann fell for Bollywood on an opera research trip to India, where a Hindi film swinging from low comedy to tragedy to song held 2,000 people rapt, and he set out to try the same in the West.
Q 23Which Queen song do Zidler and Satine sing in operatic style near the end of Moulin Rouge!?
The Show Must Go On
Courtney Love
Courtney Love. Baz Luhrmann has said she tried out before Nicole Kidman was cast and that, as Kurt Cobain's widow, she still had to approve Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', so he went to show her the whole piece.
Q 14Where was Moulin Rouge! filmed?
Fox Studios in Sydney
Fox Studios in Sydney. No scene was shot in Paris: the city's streets were built as scale miniatures, and when the shoot overran, the last shots were picked up in Madrid.
Q 15Which injury did Nicole Kidman suffer twice while filming Moulin Rouge!?
Broken ribs
Broken ribs. Reports from the set blamed the lifts in the dance routines, and Kidman later said one break came from being laced into a corset to reach an 18-inch waist.
Q 16Which Beatles song does Christian quote in the love-song medley he trades with Satine in Moulin Rouge!?
All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love. It opens a duel of about ten borrowed love songs, from Kiss to U2 to Dolly Parton, that ends with Satine giving in and the two of them kissing.
Q 17In Moulin Rouge!, The Police's 'Roxanne' is performed in which dance style?
A tango
A tango. The film welds Sting's song to 'Tanguera', an Argentine tango, and hands the lead vocal to its narcoleptic Argentinean.
Q 18Which Elton John number does Christian sing to win over Satine in Moulin Rouge!?
Your Song
Your Song. In the film's 1899 Paris its lyric passes as Christian's own poetry, proof that he writes like no one else in his world.
Q 19Why was Moulin Rouge!'s 'Come What May' ineligible for the Best Original Song Oscar?
Written for an earlier film
Written for an earlier film. The duet had been composed for one of Luhrmann's previous pictures and gone unused, and Academy rules say a nominated song must be written for the film it appears in.
Q 20Which four singers covered 'Lady Marmalade' for Moulin Rouge!?
Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mýa and Lil' Kim
Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mýa and Lil' Kim. Missy Elliott produced their cover, which spent five weeks at number one in the US even though the film itself tucks the song inside one of Zidler's medleys.
The Show Must Go On. Zidler sings it to send the dying Satine back on stage for opening night, after persuading her that giving up Christian is the only way to save his life.
Q 24At which film festival did Moulin Rouge! have its premiere as the opening-night film?
Cannes
Cannes. Fox had planned a Christmas 2000 release but gave Luhrmann extra months to finish a complicated film, so its debut became the festival's opening night the following spring.
Q 25Made for about $50M, Moulin Rouge! grossed roughly how much worldwide?
$180M
$180M, near enough. North America supplied only $57M of it; the rest of the world paid more than twice that, which is how the film came to more than triple its budget.
Q 26Who beat Moulin Rouge!'s Nicole Kidman to the Oscar?
Halle Berry
Halle Berry, for Monster's Ball. The first Black woman to win Best Actress, she wept as she dedicated it to the actresses who came before her; Kidman's was one of eight nominations for the film, and her first.
Q 27Which two Oscars did Moulin Rouge! win in 2002?
Production Design and Costume Design
Production Design and Costume Design. Catherine Martin, Baz Luhrmann's wife, shared both awards, the first then called Art Direction, on a night when her husband wasn't even nominated for directing.
Q 28Which Oscars host opened the 2002 ceremony by descending from the ceiling dressed in the style of Moulin Rouge!?
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg. She was lowered from the rafters in a top hat, copying Satine's entrance in the film, which went on to win two of its eight nominations that night.
Q 29Which actor plays impresario Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge!?
Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent. He won a BAFTA for the part, and a month later took the Oscar for best supporting actor, though for a different film, Iris.
Q 30Moulin Rouge! won Golden Globes for Musical or Comedy, Actress and which other award?
Best Original Score
Best Original Score. Craig Armstrong took the Globe, yet at the Oscars two months later his score was not among the film's eight nominations.