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Getting inside the minds behind Moulin Rouge! has always been something of interest to members of the Spectacular! Spectacular! Messageboard. For years now a certain co-writer had been at the top of our list of people to gain insight from. For our fifth birthday we were lucky enough to have Craig Pearce agree to gift us with some of his incredibly vauluable time and answer some of our ponderings!

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Dear Craig,

It's hard to believe that five years have already passed since the release of Moulin Rouge! and even more bizarre to know that soon after viewing your creation a message board was created bringing together like minded strangers from around the world. Needless to say the members of Spectacular! Spectacular! are no longer strangers, in fact quite the opposite.

We'd all like to extend to you our heartfelt thanks for helping to create a piece of art that has brought us together, inspired each of us to reflect and create in our own individual ways.

We appreciate you giving us some of your valuable time to respond to questions from members of our message board.



Regards,
The Spectacular! Spectacular! Message Board

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#1) How easy was it for you to adapt to writing solo after so long spent co-writing, and what do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages of each of those methods? Any tips for our budding writers on how they can improve their skills?

There are many wonderful things about working with a collaborater ; not least of which is that when you are crying at 4am the morning, there is someone crying with you.

Writing on ones own also has its own rewards... when I think of some I'll get back to you....

TIPS ON WRITING: 1. Don't do it. 2. If you really have to do it, keep trying to get to the heart of the story.



#2) Increasingly the movie making process involves more demand for information, insight and documentation of behind the scenes processes. Did you find it difficult or distracting to reveal your work in progress through video diaries, early script treatments and commentaries such as those provided on the DVD? Whilst on the subject of DVDs, in 2004 Baz indicated to us that once enough time had passed perhaps the 'story behind making the story' could truly be told. Do you think a 10th anniversary special edition DVD will be considered?

A 10th anniversary edition... now there's a thought. Perhaps I'll finally get to play Satine...

The scriptwriting process always seems to involve Baz and myself spending a disturbing amount of time filming ourselves doing silly things - so no, I didn't find any of the backstage stuff distracting.



#3) Over the last few years we've heard your name being thrown around in regards to a few alleged projects such as Moulin Rouge! on stage, Carmen, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Third Witch. Have you written anything destined for production since Moulin Rouge! and will it be similar to the red curtain genre or is that well and truly purged from your creative mind?

Since Moulin Rouge, I've written three screenplays for Universal and I'm currently working on one for Paramount.

Carmen and Jesus Christ Superstar were two of the screenplays I wrote for Universal. The Third Witch is an example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read on the net - I don't know where that came from. The third screenplay I wrote for Universal is adapted from a novel called The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud. All the screenplays are in 'various stages of development' which is studio speak for 'we like the screenplays, and they may or may not get made depending on a range of circumstances including finding the right director, talent, being able to make it at the right budget, etc etc'.

Getting a film made is a long and difficult process, and studios only make around 10% of the screenplays they commission.

The screenplay I'm currently working on for Paramount is inspired by a documentary called Mad Hot Ballroom. I'll deliver the first draft toward the end of this year.



#4) In the DVD commentary the creation of back story for characters such as The Duke is mentioned. Was this thought extended to characters such as Marie and Zidler? If so, a question that we're often asked, but are only able to speculate upon is; in your mind what was the relationship between Zidler and Marie? Were they ever romantically linked?

Hmmm... It's a long time ago now... we did speak extensively about the back story of both Marie and Zidler, but we never envisaged that they were romantically involved (frankly it's a bit scary).

We did however think of their relationship as deeply codependent - they both make their living from Satin. Whatever affection they may have had for Satin, had to be tempered by the fact that ultimately she was of vital economic importance to both of them.

So while Zidler and Marie do operate as kind of de facto "parents" to Satine, I think their bond is more business than pleasure.



#5) As Moulin Rouge! admittedly references so many great works critics are quick to label it a mere rip off of other movies, musicals and plays. Many movies are forgotten soon after release, yet Moulin Rouge! has interactive screenings and is still continually mentioned in contemporary culture 5 years after its first screening. In your mind what makes Moulin Rouge! unique and takes it beyond being another
carbon copy film? How do you feel about writing something that still resonates deeply with so many people and to what do you attribute this?

I feel very priviliged to have co-written a film that is so loved by so many people. Not everyone 'gets' Moulin Rouge, but I think that when people do 'get' MR, they identify with the naked, almost embarrassing intensity of emotion in the film. This is a film that is not to afraid to speak directly to an audience. Indeed, as Baz has said many times before, one of the things that defines the Red Curtain style, is a very specific and active contract with the audience. This contract allows the audience in, and makes them partners in the storytelling. I also think it allows them to 'feel' the film makers; to share the film makers passion, joy, desperation, at times despair, but ultimately love, for what they were making.

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