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American Morning
Showbiz Today Reports: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll at "Moulin Rouge"
Aired May 31, 2001 - 10:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, everyone. I'm Michael Okwu in New York.
The sultry stars of "Sex and the City" strutted their stuff at the season premiere for the show last night here in New York. The fashionable Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays sex writer Carrie Bradshaw in the hit HBO series, glammed it up along with her co-stars at the premiere of the show's fourth season.
Parker says the series about dating and mating in the "concrete jungle" will not disappoint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: Carrie turns 35. It's a little bit of a landmark age for women. I think it's provocative. It makes her think about the choices she made and what she might want to see in her future and what she doesn't want to repeat. There's a lot of unexpected things to happen this season to other characters, as well to Carrie. She ignites an old flame. And I won't say who or what or when.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: While Parker is igniting old flames on the small screen, Nicole Kidman is heating up the big screen in "Moulin Rouge." She stars with Ewan McGregor in the musical drama which delves into the world of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and the scandalous dance known as the can-can.
CNN's Sherri Sylvester has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Moulin Rouge" marries turn-of-the-century traditional dance with modern-day music. Director Baz Luhrmann transports moviegoers back in time. And the picture he paints is oil and water, old-fashioned French can-can dancing to the beat of Studio 54.
BAZ LUHRMANN, DIRECTOR: If you could set this story in Studio 54, you know, a world where a dance craze is taken from the streets; it's put into a palace of pleasure, where the rich and the powerful meet with the young and the beautiful and the penniless.
There's an artist, Andy Warhol in the Factory could be Toulouse- Lautrec. You know what I mean? You can make the parallels.
NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: High risk, but also kind of celebratory. Baz Luhrmann, who did "Romeo & Juliet" and "Strictly Ballroom" and stuff, is so unique as a filmmaker and creates this wild, crazy world, but still has this heart at the middle of it.
JOHN LEGUIZAMO, ACTOR: He's also not afraid of theatricality in his movies. You can be as broad and -- but have passion underneath it. It's like doing theater.
SYLVESTER: Yes, it's a musical, but not the Rogers and Hammerstein variety -- rather Beck, Bowie, Fatboy Slim and Sting.
LUHRMANN: If we were just to put the can-can with a whole lot of funny costumes -- da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da -- you know, bam bah, buh duh duh, you know, you've got Fatboy Slim. You go: Oh, I get. It's a really wild, sexy nightclub.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MOULIN ROUGE")
KIDMAN (singing): A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVESTER: In this nightclub, Nicole Kidman sings the songs of Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, with a nod to Ann-Margret.
(on camera): It's a tough sell, because it's difficult...
(CROSSTALK)
KIDMAN: It's a tough sell because you can't put it in two sentences. But in terms of people actually going and seeing it and responding to it and telling their friends to go see it and saying, "I have never seen anything like this..."
SYLVESTER (voice-over): Kidman and the rest of the cast -- Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo and Ewan McGregor -- spent several months rehearsing the music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MOULIN ROUGE")
EWAN MCGREGOR, ACTOR (singing): How wonderful life is now you're in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVESTER: The soundtrack release preceded the film's opening and shot up the charts. Getting audiences to take the cinematic trip requires good word of mouth.
KIDMAN: For people to be embracing it, that's when you go: Gosh, yes, it is all worth it. It really is.
SYLVESTER: Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU: "Moulin Rouge" opens nationwide tomorrow.
We're out of time for now, but join us in one hour for a very special musical performance. Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard plays from his new album. That's at 11:35 Eastern.
In New York, I'm Michael Okwu.
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