Baz the Great! - A Baz Luhrmann Fansite

"Moulin Rouge at 10: A Spectacular Spectacular MTV News Event" was held on Monday, 2 May 2011, at 3:00pm (US EST), which celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Moulin Rouge!.

The webcast can be watched at MTV.com right here. The footage has been divided into 10 parts, so sit back, get comfortable and enjoy! :)

Well done to MTV and Bazmark for making this happen! It's always wonderful to hear Luhrmann reminisce, and as well as all the discussion of Moulin Rouge!, I particularly loved segment 7, where he talked about writing and workshopping a stage version of Strictly Ballroom "to start in Australia", and also the possibility of bringing Moulin Rouge! to the stage; segment 5, where Luhrmann talked about his 'mystery' New York project; and segment 6, where Luhrmann discussed The Great Gatsby.

Over the following days, MTV.com posted various articles regarding their 'Spectacular' broadcast, each one revealing different information that was revealed during the event accompanied by a relevant piece of video footage. I have featured a selection here - click on the links below to view the articles and video snippets:

- 'Moulin Rouge' Could Have Starred Heath Ledger, Baz Luhrmann Reveals (2 May)

- 'Moulin Rouge' 10 Years Later: Baz Luhrmann Talks Heath Ledger's Audition (4 May)

- Ewan McGregor Recalls Pressure To Sing On 'Moulin Rouge At 10' (2 May)

- 'Moulin Rouge' Alternate Opening Scene Features Ewan McGregor Singing Cat Stevens' 'Father & Son' (5 May)

- Blake Lively Calls 'Moulin Rouge' Director 'Inspiring' (2 May)

- Celebrities Love 'Moulin Rouge' (5 February, but featured in the Event introduction)

Unfortunately, the MTV footage posted on their website was condensed down significantly. I was not able to watch the live footage, but the way the video clips that were posted online have been edited indicates that quite a bit was cut. Apparently, the webcast went for an hour, but the clips on the MTV website do not cover this. For example, we do not hear at all from Catherine Martin, even though she is sitting next to Luhrmann in three clips. Also, the fan questions submitted through Twitter were cut down to just one for Luhrmann, even though there must have been more asked. I found this disappointing, as I was really looking forward to this fan interaction...

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In early June 2011, I was kindly provided with a copy of the entire MTV webcast by a fellow fan, so I was finally able to watch the entire MTV footage. And I am happy to report that yes, Catherine Martin was asked my Twitter question! While MTV did post most of the webcast highlights on their website, I do think that this segment should also have been featured, as CM actually mentioned The Great Gatsby as her "biggest challenge to date"!

At around 45 minutes into the webcast, while CM was talking about the costumes in Moulin Rouge!, the host asked my question. My Twitter handle, 'bazthegreat', appeared onscreen and the host read outloud my question. CM then answered in detail, which I have transcribed below:

My Question: "Catherine - The costumes in Moulin Rouge! were brilliant, but complex. Was this your most challenging film to work on?"

Host: "I would suspect they're all challenging, but is this the most challenging would you say?"

CM: "Look, every time you start a new film, you swing between kind of arrogant cockiness that you're going to blitz it and total and utter abject fear that grips your very entrails. And I remember when Baz told me we were going to make Moulin Rouge!, I went "A can-can movie? You're kidding me! How are we going to make that work?" And I was like "Oh my God, I don't know how to do that." But every movie that I've made, and I think that's another gift, is that Baz is always going to unchartered territories so there are always challenges that I've never met before. In Moulin Rouge!, one of the most interesting parts of the challenges was actually getting the can-can skirts technically to work because they are a bit of an engineering feat. And we tried lots of different manufacturing ways of doing them but they are very heavy and they used to hurt the dancer's hips so we had to work out a way of making them very light and very moveable. So, what is my ... I'll tell you, it's the movie I'm working on right now is my biggest challenge to date! (points at Baz) We were only just having a discussion about it an hour or so ago..."

Baz: "What movie is that?"

Host: (laughing) "Does it rhyme with Bait Batsby?"

Baz: "Ok, ok..."

Host: "We'll get to that in a second. I'm going to ask a couple of questions about that one."

I love how Luhrmann was caught off guard by CM's comments about The Great Gatsby and interrupted her to stop her talking about it! Obviously, Luhrmann wanted the making of The Great Gatsby to remain as mysterious as possible. But I thought this was a great moment in the webcast, and I'm glad it was my question that led to it! :)