That's right. Adrian had started shooting his new movie in February 2001. It was the musical film "Moulin Rouge". That's why he had asked Nicole to start dancing and singing early on. That was why he had sent the script to Baz Luhrmann and invited him over to discuss it when he was in England. All these were for the smooth start of shooting today.
Of course, the preparation work was far more than that. As a musical film about the events that took place in the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris, of course, the movie was just a name, but the necessary preparation work could not be less. The costumes, the environment, and the stage had to be restored one by one. For this reason, Adriaan asked people to fully restore the interior scenes of the Moulin Rouge in the studio.
Fortunately, this was a musical film, so there was no need for too many outdoor scenes. Occasionally, there would be one or two places where they could use CG. Therefore, they didn't even need to do any actual shooting because there was too much information about Paris and the Moulin Rouge.
In addition, they also needed to train the actors. After all, musical films were not Broadway stage plays, so they had much higher requirements for acting skills. So it was impossible to let stage actors act in a movie. However, the high requirement for acting skills meant that the requirements for dancing skills were low. Movies could be edited, shot transitions, and montage techniques to show the actors' dancing skills. It was not like a stage actor, who had to dance from beginning to end without making any mistakes once they started.
Even the dancers in front of the camera were more vivid and appealing, and they could give people a sense of versatility. That was why musical films were very popular. However, times were changing, and so were the tastes of the audience. Film shooting techniques were also changing, and musical films inevitably declined. In recent years, they even disappeared in various award ceremonies. The only thing that didn't change was that in order to win an award with a musical film, the actors had to dance and sing in person.
That was why Adriaan asked Nicole to practice for a year. When he persuaded Naomi to practice like Nicole, he used Audrey Hepburn's "My Fair Lady" as an example. This movie should have gotten her another nomination for Best Actress, but the problem was that almost all the dancers and the songs were sung by someone else. So the Film school didn't give her a nomination.
Even for the earlier "Breakfast at Tiffany's", many people said that it was precisely because the theme song that lasted for a few minutes was sung by someone else that Audrey missed out on the second Little Golden Statue.
Since Adrian had decided to use 'Moulin Rouge' to promote Nicole, he had to do his best. These were the most crucial aspects that he could not afford to lose. Of course, the others didn't need to work so hard. Two or three months were enough for them to prepare and practice. After all, this was not a stage play.
"After all, this isn't a stage play. We don't have to perform the dance perfectly every time. If we do, both the actors and the film crew won't be able to take it," Adrian said to the assistant director after a few test shots.
Although he "plagiarized" a lot of movies and accumulated enough experience, it was his first time directing a musical film. So, he found a pretty good stage director to be his assistant. However, although the director named Aubrey Sherpa was good at directing stage plays, he had never tried a movie before. It was inevitable that the details of the movie were handled in the style of a stage play, which made Adriaan quite depressed. If he knew this would happen, he would have asked Sam Mendes to be his assistant.
This was really a good idea. Although Mendes became famous after he won the Best Director Award for "American Beauty," he didn't just accept the endless invitations. Not only was he careful when choosing the script, but he would also occasionally be asked by some troupes to be a guest director of a stage play. In addition, his Oscar for Best Director was brought up by Adriaan. If Miracle Director asked him to be his assistant, he would definitely not refuse.
However, Mendes was now famous. Although he could attract some attention as an assistant, after the movie was released, it was inevitable that some people with ulterior motives would point fingers at him. Besides, not all stage plays required singing and dancing. Whether he could be a good assistant or not, he would only know after he tried. In addition, Sherpa generally did a decent job, and Adriaan was not the kind of person who would turn his back on people, so he just thought about it.
"Okay, guys, let's do it again. Everyone, do your best!" Adriaan clapped his hands and shouted. Then, he reminded the three actors one by one.
"Ivan, remember the feeling of your second shoot. That was the best."
"Richard, you have to show some gentlemanly demeanor. Although this duke is a b * stard, at least on the surface, he is still a duke."
"Nicole, I only have one request. Although you have done a good job, I hope you can do better!"
At present, the shooting was Sha Ting's first appearance in the Moulin Rouge. Everyone sang and danced to show her beauty perfectly. Then, because the duke fell in love with Sha Ting and wanted to get to know her, the theater manager made a series of mistakes during the arrangement. Sha Ting mistakenly thought that Christian was the duke, so the whole story began.
Adriaan basically used the "original" cast. Needless to say, Nicole played the role of Sha Ting. The role of Christian was still played by Ewan McGregor. Some people changed their fate because of the butterfly effect, but some people always followed the fixed trajectory. McGregor still played the role of Obi-Wan in Star Wars Prequel, so he successfully entered Hollywood. In this case, Adriaan simply asked him to play the male lead.
Similarly, the role of Duke was still played by Australian actor Richard Rausberg. Speaking of this, there was another interesting thing. During the preparation, Adriaan couldn't remember the name of the actor who played the role of Duke, so he wanted Gary Oldman to try. But when he asked other people to test him in private without using his name, Oldman refused without hesitation.
"Duke? Are you kidding me? How do I look like a duke? A duke who wants to sing and dance, "he said.
This was very in line with Oldman's character. Although this guy was British, he had always scoffed at gentlemanly demeanor and hated academic performance types. This was also why when Adriaan asked others to contact him, he neither used his own name nor made it too clear. If the other party only agreed because the person who invited him was him, it was easy to ignore the compatibility between the role and oneself — McGregor was like this. As soon as he heard that it was a movie directed by Director Miracle, he agreed without asking what kind of genre it was.
Since Oldman said so, and Adriaan then remembered the name of the original actor, the role of Duke finally fell to Rausberg.
"No problem, Eide, I will try my best." After Adriaan's reminder, McGregor was the first to express his stance.
"Then I will try my best to use facial expressions to express the heart of the Duke, and use body language to express the bearing of the Duke, how about that?" Rausberg asked after thinking for a while.
Only Nicole walked to the side and did her warm-up exercises before the dance. When Adriaan arranged everything, she walked back and shrugged, indicating that she could start.
But she still could not help but ask, "Are you sure that the song and dance film will be popular?"
"Of course." Adriaan laughed, "How can I make such a movie without full confidence? Don't worry, sweetheart. "
After saying that in a low voice, he suddenly reached his hand under the fur and pinched her perky buttocks. Nicole rolled her eyes at him.
Indeed, since the middle and late 1990s, the major award ceremony basically did not see any song and dance films. After everything hit the bottom, there would be a rebound, even if it was very small. So now it was time for the song and dance film. Besides, as a song and dance film, "Moulin Rouge" was nothing new. To put it simply, it was the story of a traditional Hollywood "backstage song and dance film." The so-called "backstage song and dance film" referred to the performance of a song and dance program on a real stage, with backstage love story as filler. It was very popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
The love story was simple and cliché. An actress, or rather a prostitute, and a gifted scholar fell in love after a wrong encounter. Then, the evil Duke came out and wanted to steal the woman. After a series of trials and tribulations, the actress finally chose the gifted scholar. The evil Duke tried to stop her, but in the end, he was beaten to the ground and despised by everyone.
Of course, the script of "Moulin Rouge" was not innovative. At least, the male and female leads did not end up together. Although the female lead soon died of tuberculosis after getting rid of the evil Duke, the male lead was left to write their story into the script. However, this did not help the overall story much. Most of the plot was still arranged according to the typical backstage song and dance film.
However, this was just right for Adriaan. Previously, he said that he had no experience in directing a song and dance film. So, this kind of work was just right for him. Moreover, a song and dance film did not necessarily need to be innovative. As long as you put more effort into the content, you would be able to get a lot of applause. For example, "Moulin Rouge" used the decadent, extravagant, and promiscuous carnival scenes in the Moulin Rouge to create a utopian atmosphere to guide the audience forward. Then, the love story between the male and female leads was shown through a collage and fragmented montage. At the same time, there were saturated color blocks, caricature performances, and freely changing camera points of view to add a little "post-modern" narrative characteristics. This was another way to break the standard and stereotype of a traditional song and dance film.
Therefore, Adriaan only needed to hand over the song and dance part to the assistant director. Then, just like before, he would make minor adjustments according to his memory.
"I never knew … that you could also direct a song and dance film …" Nicole gasped.
"If I let you know everything about me, would I still be me?" Adriaan laughed and kept changing the rhythm. If she wanted to ask this kind of question, she would have asked Nicole when she got the script. Now, she was just trying to distract her so that she would not tremble under the huge stimulation. Because, through the thick curtain, a large group of people were dancing to the music outside.
Since Adriaan said that he would try to violate her behind the curtain, of course, he would do it. As for the safety issue, oh, don't worry, most of the crew knew or guessed the relationship between him and Nicole. Before he pulled her in, he deliberately let some smart people see it, so he believed that no one would disturb him.
"Don't worry, there is still some time before the song and dance outside. During this time, they won't hear your moans, Nicole." Adriaan nibbled the girl's ear and did not stop for a moment.
What was being filmed outside were some scattered dance scenes, and it had nothing to do with the three leads. So, he could grab Nicole, who was still in costume, and run here.
"You damn bastard." In the midst of heavy breathing, Nicole, who was listening to the singing and music outside, squeezed her legs on Adriaan's waist even tighter.
The same sentence, said by different people, naturally had different effects.
"Miracle Director Directing a Song and Dance Film?" After this title was published in the "Los Angeles Times", it immediately caused a lot of waves. Everyone knew that the energetic Adriaan had begun to produce a new film. This kind of thing, no matter how low-key it was, couldn't be hidden for long in the entertainment industry. After all, he was the Miracle Director. There were a lot of people staring at him.
However, most people did not know what kind of film Adriaan was going to produce, so when the media revealed it, all kinds of surprised voices rang out. This was very normal. With Woody Allen's "Everybody Says I Love You" as a watershed, after the 1995's, there was almost no place for musical films in the film market. Now, Adriaan actually wanted to produce a musical film. Should one say that the Miracle Director was too arrogant? Or was it that he had incomparable confidence? Moreover, he had never directed this type of film before.
Therefore, how could the people in the industry not talk about it? But interestingly, most of the topics were focused on the first aspect, and not many people mentioned the second, which should have been a big point of attack. In fact, if you think about it carefully, it is not surprising. In the past, Adriaan had shot so many films, including plots, sci-fi, evil films, and black comedies. This year, he even made two of the same theme in a completely different style, so it was definitely not difficult for him to produce a musical film.
Because of this, people's discussions were focused on how far Adriaan could go, and how likely it was to be very ordinary.
"The Miracle Director always seems to come up with some surprising ideas, and he can always put these ideas into reality and get a lot of applause. Now that he has set his sights on a new film genre that has never been tried before, it makes people very excited to see how far he can go in the end," someone wrote on the forum of the IMDB website.
Basically, unless it was a particularly stubborn person who objected from the start for the sake of objecting, no one would be so sure of themselves when making a prediction like 'it won't be good'. The reason was simple: those who did were slapped hard by Adrian. The British said that he could not make a British style of "Howard Manor", but in the end? Some said that it was impossible to guarantee the quality of three films a year, but in the end? Some said that he could not make a film like Kubrick's, but in the end? After so many examples, if he still did not know how to face the same situation, then he must be born a fool.
However, compared to discussing what the Miracle Director was thinking and why the new film was a song and dance genre, some things undoubtedly spread faster. That's right, gossip, gossip about Adriaan and Nicole.
As early as when Nicole and Cruise divorced, there was a lot of gossip about her and Adriaan, especially Nicole's large-scale performance in "Eye Opener, Warning", and the director was Adriaan. But at that time, the divorce itself was more interesting than these rumors, and Adriaan's reputation as a playboy was not so well-known in the public at that time. In addition, he had scandals with many women at that time, so although there were many such speculations, it did not cause too much of a reaction.
But with the development of time, such speculations not only did not disappear, but spread more and more widely. When "Mulholland Pass" was released, it caused many people to discuss it. Fortunately, Naomi was a little more dazzling at that time, and with the title of the Seventh Miracle Girl, such discussions were not too intense.
Now it was different. Although the public did not know how heavy his title as a playboy was, the seven Miracle Girls were enough to explain some things, not to mention the rumors circulating in Hollywood. Listen, the fastest way to become famous was to make the Miracle Director comfortable in bed! Obviously, any actress who had played the female lead in the film directed by him had a probability of more than 90% of sleeping with him.
Now that Nicole Kidman was the unique female lead in Adriaan's new film, coupled with the previous rumors, the title of the Eighth Miracle Girl was definitely on her head. Previously, the reporters wanted to put this title on Natalie's head, but due to a series of reasons, they did not mention it again. However, Nicole definitely could not escape.
More importantly, some guy on the Internet actually took screenshots of Nicole and the Marine officer's passionate scenes for dozens of seconds in "Eyes Wide, Warning" for observation and analysis, and then concluded that the Marine officer was likely to be Adriaan himself. This immediately ignited the gossipy soul of countless people. Everyone expressed their opinions on this. Some refuted it, but in general, most agreed with it.
Although these dozens of seconds of scenes were handled very well, the Marine officer did not even have a slight angle on his side, only his ears, the back of his head, or the top of his head, a group of people forcibly took screenshots from Adriaan's cameos in other movies to compare. In addition, some people deliberately spent time to search through various authoritative movie websites and found that the name of the Marine officer actor was not on the cast list of "Eyes Wide, Warning", which immediately confirmed this statement, so the Internet was bustling.
It had to be said that the netizens were both f * cking and powerful.
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