Call Him Begging Baz But He Landed 'Moulin Rouge' Music Free

Posted Monday, September 24, 2001 at 3:23 PM Central

by Heather Koehler

Moulin Rouge Director Baz Luhrmann "begged, borrowed and pleaded" so that Ewan and Nicole could sing songs like 'Sparkling Diamonds' and the soundtrack could have songs like 'Lady Marmalade' for FREE.

That's right. Baz sweet talked his way into paying no royalties to the artists, which would have hit his budget at more than $7 million. He must be something special as musicians gave way and Nicole Kidman couldn't stop talking about how wonderful he is during her Oprah Winfrey interview months ago.

Baz says, "I turned up on their doorsteps and just begged. No way could we have afforded it otherwise."