Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor Share ‘Moulin Rouge’ Memories 

Ewan McGregor revealed that he knew “Moulin Rouge!” was going to be a success before the film even came out.

“I don’t think you do work unless you think it’s going to be great,” McGregor said. “I’ve never approached anything thinking, ‘Well, this might be a bit crap but…\'”

Sixteen years after the musical rom-com’s release, “Moulin Rouge” stars McGregor and Nicole Kidman sat down to discuss working on the Baz Luhrmann movie for 

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Six months before they started shooting, the cast participated in a two-week singing and dancing workshop. Kidman admitted she had a harder time with it than McGregor did.

“I just remember you having this exquisite voice and me going, ‘I’m never going to be able to hit these notes,\'” she said.

“No, that’s not true,” McGregor said. “We were all in the same boat.”

Kidman disagreed. “You were so much better than me.”

Still, Kidman had some scene-stealing moments. She added some improvisation for “Elephant Love Medley,” which became a particularly funny bit to shoot, McGregor recalled.

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“All those workshops we did, we’d work on a scene and then a week later the work that we’d done on it as actors would have been incorporated in the writing. And that never happens. That’s very rare,” he said.

Kidman agreed, saying, “It’s just gorgeous. It’s such a great thing to share. I always say this: when you get to share something like that together, it’s yours forever. It’s something we all created together and it bonds you in a very particular way, doesn’t it?”

Between filming, the actors discussed having some wild nights involving dancing on tables.

“We’d have great parties,” Kidman recalled. “Remember those Friday nights, those Saturday nights?”

“Not all of them,” McGregor laughed. “Don’t remember all of them.”

“Exactly,” Kidman said. “I remember absinthe being passed out at some point and me going, ‘Is this safe?’ I was so naive.”

s “Actors on Actors” Season 6, presented by Shutterstock, which premieres June 13 on PBS SoCal.

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Associate Director, YouTuber & Gamer Partnerships

This is the first time I’ve watched an Actors on Actors session and think it’s totally brilliant! I can’t tell if it’s because these two are people of substance who really enjoy each other, or the ambiance, set, camera work, and editing is that darn good! Either way Variety; run with this! I am looking for the next Actors on Actors video now to compare! A+ work!!

Moulin Rouge is in no way a “rom-com.” It is a musical love story with some humerous bits, and a tragic finale. Come on, guys, exercise some sense of nuance.

With a new low for originality and creativity swirling around Hollywood and a small screen audience that’s infatuated with scripted “reality”, it’s no wonder actors are left to sit and review glory days. Shows like this do have their benefit. Fans can get so much more information from an in-person interview than can be had in written form. But this is definitely a bellwether as to La La Land’s current state of the union. Hopefully soon reality TV will die like disco!