Nicole Kidman’s glamorous turn as Satine in Moulin Rouge! came at a much higher price than fans ever realized. The people who made the movie are finally talking about just how brutal the shoot was for her.
Looking Back at Moulin Rouge!
As the 2001 jukebox musical rom-com blockbuster marks its 25th anniversary, director Baz Luhrmann and his team looked back on the chaotic production for The Guardian, revealing that Kidman was injured so many times they lost count.
Luhrmann said he knew she was perfect for the role the moment he saw her on Broadway, even sending her a note that read: “She sings, she dances, she dies.”
Once she arrived to workshop the part, he said, “She owned the role. She worked so hard on her vocals and dancing.”
But that dedication came with consequences.
Injuries
Kidman’s very first major scene — the iconic swing entrance — immediately went sideways. Luhrmann recalled her insisting, “You need to believe that it’s me.” So they strapped her into a harness and sent her soaring. Moments later, she cracked a rib.
Catherine Martin, who served as associate producer and production designer, said no one even knows how the first break happened. But the second one was the corset.
She said, “When we were lacing her in tightly, we broke her rib again.”
And the injuries didn’t stop there. Luhrmann said Kidman later slipped on a staircase and “really busted her ankle,” forcing them to film scenes with her in a wheelchair. She also spent time on crutches. Through it all, he said, “It wasn’t easy but she is the definition of a trouper.”
The film’s wildest stunt — Kidman and Ewan McGregor singing atop a 60‑foot elephant — wasn’t any gentler. Both actors were strapped into harnesses, dangling in the air while belting out their lines. Luhrmann praised them for “fearlessly running around out there with this stunt.”
Kidman’s Experience
Kidman had previously opened up about the injuries in an interview with Entertainment Tonight on set.
She said, “I’d never broken a bone, so it was sort of a bit of a shock.”
Months of being lifted, thrown, and caught around the waist caused a repetitive‑stress break.
She didn’t even realise it at first, “I kept dancing… I thought I’d pulled a muscle.”
Then, with a laugh, she summed up the entire ordeal. “I’m doing things in a corset that no woman would ever have done in the 1890s.”
Two cracked ribs, a wrecked ankle, a wheelchair, crutches — and she still delivered one of the most iconic performances of her career.