Public Servant Lifestyle

We chat to cast and crew as the Chicago movie comes to DVD.

Chicago

It’s blockbuster musical extravaganza time, the place is Chicago, the date is 1929, there’s murder, passion, fame and sex and all that jazz...

The Broadway and West End musical spectacular makes it to the silver screen to much critical and public acclaim. We take a look behind the scenes at the people who made this astonishing stage-to-screen transformation happen.

The Windy City’s promise of adventure and opportunity dazzle Roxie Hart, an outwardly innocent performer who dreams of singing and dancing her way out of her ho-hum life. Roxie’s one wish is to follow in the golden footsteps of vaudeville performer Velma Kelly.

Showbiz

Roxie gets her wish when some very wrong steps land both the star and starlet in prison for separate murder charges.

Under the crooked care of prison matron Morton, Roxie meets up with legendary lawyer Billy Flynn. He agrees to take Roxie’s case for an immodest fee. Roxie’s career explodes, to the chagrin of her mentor. But the clever Miss Kelly has a few surprises left for her second act...

Based on the award-winning musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, Chicago is a stunning spectacle full of intrigue, love, betrayal, rivalry and friendship, a pageant of music and dance that adroitly shifts between reality and fantasy, as Roxie’s world moves from the prison to the courtroom to the stage.

"I’m amazed by how enduring this little story has turned out to be," screenwriter Bill Condon says of Chicago’s enduring cultural relevance. "Maurine Dallas Watkins’s original play ushered in a generation of cynical, wise-cracking newspaper comedies. It actually opened a few months before the front page. In 1975, Bob Fosse cast a darker light on the material. The corruption of the legal system became a metaphor for the hollowness of all American institutions.

"Like so much popular art of the time, it was informed by the twin traumas of Vietnam and Watergate. Then Chicago was revived in 1996, on the heels of the O.J. Simpson case, and the show business metaphor really came into focus. People connected to it in a completely new way. As for the movie, I suspect that the blurring of the line between notoriety and celebrity will make a lot of sense in our post-Monica age."

"It’s fun and it’s a great ride, but what it says is rather dark," director Rob Marshall agrees. "It’s about the perversity of celebrity, and who we choose to celebrate."

Inspired by the highly sensationalized trials of cook county, Chicago Tribune court reporter Maurine Watkins penned the first incarnation of Chicago.

The Brave Little Woman

The play, originally titled The Brave Little Woman, opened to rave reviews when it was produced in 1926. Two film adaptations followed: Chicago, a silent film released in 1927, and Roxie Hart starring Ginger Rogers, which was released in 1942 by Twentieth Century Fox. Though the satire was specific to a certain time and place, Watkins’s tale of murder and media manipulation would prove both prophetic and timeless.

In 1975, Broadway veterans John Kander, Fred Ebb and bob fosse adapted Chicago as an acclaimed Broadway musical. Stage legends Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera originated the roles of Roxie and Velma, respectively. The production was a great success, once again punctuating the consistent popularity of seduction and murder.

He Had it Coming

But Chicago’s story isn’t its only timeless element. The lyrics and melodies provided by Kander and Ebb enhanced the universality of Watkins’s clever play. The choreography by fosse added a trademark sensuality. "John Kander and Fred Ebb are American heroes when it comes to the theater," executive producer Neil Meron explains of the importance of the trio’s contribution to Chicago.


"A good song, a good lyric, a good melody withstands the test of time. I think that’s really true of the words and music of Chicago. They’re fun, they’re sharp, they’re sarcastic, they’re sexy, they’re biting. They hold up now, they’ll hold up in the future, they’ll hold up when we’re long gone, and they’ll hold up in interplanetary video distribution."

Rights

Miramax films optioned the rights to the Kander, Ebb and Fosse musical in 1994 from producer Marty Richards and began the arduous process of transforming the lauded stage production into a film. Despite the popularity and success of the adapting and casting the musical proved more difficult than anticipated. "The whole stage production was created as a vaudeville. That was one of the hardest things about bringing it to film, because no one sings to each other," Marshall explains.

"In most musicals, you see people sing songs to each other. They don’t sing to an audience. There is no audience. There’s the fourth wall." But Marshall thought of a way to obliterate the fourth wall. No stranger to musicals, Marshall had collaborated with Chicago’s executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan on their highly acclaimed, award winning television productions of Cinderella and Annie, for which Marshall won an Emmy. Marshall also co-directed and choreographed the Tony award winning Broadway revival of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret with American Beauty director Sam Mendes.

Following this string of achievements, Marshall met Meryl Poster, Miramax’s co-president of production, to discuss the possibility of working with the studio on a proposed screen adaptation of Rent. But the bold director/choreographer took the opportunity to express his ideas about Chicago.

Poster remembers, "He was confident in our first meeting; he was just so engaging." After hearing his concept for the film, poster whisked Marshall into Harvey Weinstein’s office for what became a two-hour meeting. Poster says, "I thought he had cracked it. We’d met with so many writers and directors, but we kept running into the same problems. In an instant, Ron cracked it."

Prohibition-Era

Simultaneously, Marshall met with producer Mary Richards who had been a strong supporter of his throughout his theatrical career and pitched his concept. Marshall’s solution involved transforming the musical numbers into imaginary projections of the protagonist, Roxie Hart. The film would exist on two planes: the reality of prohibition-era Chicago, and what Marshall calls the 'surreality' of Roxie Hart’s interpretation of that world.

"We had to figure out a way to involve the audience in a similar way without breaking the fourth wall, the way one can on stage. Roxie is the dreamer in the movie. She’s the ‘wannabe.’ She desperately wants to be on stage. She sees her life in these musical sequences. It becomes one linear story that jumps back and forth between these two realities. It embraces the fact that all these numbers take place on stage instead of trying to disguise it," Marshall says.

Theatre

Impressed with his ingenuity, Weinstein and Richards gave him the go-ahead. Miramax and Marshall began the difficult search for the best writer to re-envision Chicago. "We met with many people from theater, television and film." Marshall says. "The second I met Bill Condon, I knew I’d met a kindred spirit who loves musical theatre. He loved Chicago and knew instinctively how to make it work as a film."

Ultimately, it was very clear that bill was the writer for Chicago, says Meryl Poster, "He really enhanced Rob’s idea while making it his own. The concept was so inventive. This isn’t your old fashioned, traditional musical."

"It was appealing in every way, and the most fun I’ve ever had writing a script," Condon recalls of the experience. "Not only to write a movie musical, but also to work with Rob, who has had an incredibly successful career in the theatre. He’s worked with giants like Jerome Robbins and Harold Prince. You learn so much on every script, and this was a chance to learn from someone who had learned from the masters, and become a master himself."

Condon was intrigued by the idea of completely redesigning the Broadway adaptation, but realized that the project required a delicate touch. "Once we decided to create these two worlds," Condon says, "The challenge was to imbue the character of Roxie Hart with a level of psychological complexity, without softening her or betraying who she was. She is an ambitious, self-absorbed character, but there is something sympathetic about her."

Innovation

The innovation also afforded the writer the opportunity to enhance the supporting characters and to infuse the musical with excitingly creative and visually breathtaking touches. "The harsh flashlight of an aggressive detective becomes a soothing stage spotlight. Shouting reporters at a press conference become dancing marionettes, manipulated by Roxie’s slick attorney," Condon states. "It’s a simple concept, but it could have gone terribly wrong, if rob hadn’t executed it so deftly."

For those involved, Chicago is a triumph of love, almost eighty years in the making. "Because I’m a theatre lover and rob is a theatre professional," Condon says, "I think this isn’t going to feel like a Hollywood-ization of a great theatrical property. It was done with such respect and love of what works in the theatre."

Yet despite its several incarnations and modifications, Chicago’s original themes will ring true for today’s audiences. One only has to look at the slew of recent celebrity trials to see that Roxie, Billy, and Velma are a very real part of our contemporary legal climate. "The corruption of our legal institutions, the pathology of celebrity worship," Condon says. "These themes find their ideal expression in the desperation, and joy, of seducing an audience."

Do that Jazz

With Condon’s ingenious script in place, the search for Roxie began. Though Condon and Marshall’s clever alterations enhanced Chicago’s fluidity, the changes also expanded the role’s complexity. Roxie’s desires, daydreams and interior monologues were laid bare. "The great thing was that we had Renée Zellweger to play her," Condon says. "She filled Roxie out in so many different ways."

In her impressively diverse career, Renee Zellweger has portrayed: a lonely single mother in Jerry Maguire, a troubled would-be singer in Empire Records, a soap opera-obsessed waitress in Nurse Betty a journalist-turned-caregiver in One True Thing a suicidal foster mother in White Oleander and quirky single Brit.

In perhaps her most famous role in Bridget Jones’s Diary. Zellweger has made a point of defying categorization. Chicago’s producers and director were not surprised, then, to discover that the petite Texan had a powerful singing voice and remarkable dancing skills.

The Only Choice

"Renee was the only choice. Period," says Poster, "I have a strong relationship with her and knew that she could sing and dance. I already knew she was a brilliant actress. I had to get her into the movie".

"This is a lady who loves a challenge, who loves to work really hard, and loves to attain something that she hasn’t yet before. That’s just who she is. She’s very brave in that way," Marshall says. "She’s an athlete. She has a great sense of her body, and she moves beautifully. The vocabulary of dance was a little new to her, but the style, sensibility and coordination–she had all that."

"I thought there would never be another Roxie Hart," Marty Richards says. "There’s never been anyone that has ever matched Gwen Verdon until Renée, and now she gives it a whole different dimension as an actress as well. I’m thrilled to death. I really am."

Billy Flynn

Richard Gere, who plays slick attorney Billy Flynn in the film, believes that the part wouldn’t have come together without Zellweger. Though so much of the character lives in fantasy, it’s Zellweger’s infusion of humanity that gives Roxie her heart. "Renee brings something incredibly moving to this piece," Gere says. "She’s doing something with her part that’s unexplainable. She’ll break your heart."

"I didn’t really grow up around musical theatre," a modest Zellweger says. "I didn’t have any reason to sing, except for in the shower, while my brother was down the hall screaming for me to ‘please shut up.’" Nevertheless, Zellweger jumped at the chance to don Roxie’s garters.

"She’s so earnest in a way, and so desperate and tragic in another. She’s so desperate for fame because of what she thinks it will bring – self esteem, self-respect, self-worth, love. All the things she doesn’t have a lot of. She feels that if she is lionized by the masses like Velma, she’ll be more whole as a person. The sad reality is that it’s a fallacy."

Zellweger is nothing short of effusive when it comes to praising her director. "His passion was contagious," she says. "He was so encouraging, so positive, and had such a good spirit. His kindness elicited such good will on the set from everybody. You really wanted to try as hard as you possibly could for him."

Broadway

First cast in the production was Broadway enthusiast Catherine Zeta-Jones as the devilishly conniving Velma Kelly. Being the first ‘Chicagoan’ afforded the actress an opportunity to share in her director’s unyielding enthusiasm for assembling a talented and diverse group of actors. "It was fantastic to be the first one cast in the movie," she remembers. "Robby would call up and say, ‘guess who we think we’ve got: Renee Zellweger!’ ‘Oh my God!’ ‘guess who we think we’ve got: Richard Gere!’ ‘Oh my God!’ ‘guess who we think we’ve got: Queen Latifah!’ ‘Oh my God!’ it’s a fabulous cast."

For Zeta-Jones, Chicago was the realisation of a childhood dream. "When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be on stage, singing and dancing. I was obsessed with musicals from the golden years of Hollywood. I would have just loved that world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

"She’s so in her element here," Zellweger says of her co-star. "She’s so powerful as a singer and dancer. When we’d be learning the dances I’d step a few paces behind and watch her feet. I’d see what she was going to do next." "She has this vivacity," Zellweger continues. "She has this grand energy that elevates the energy in any room. She enters, and you just see it. It flashes all across the screen."

Formal Training

Zeta-Jones’s devotion to musical theatre – coupled with years of formal training – led her to London’s West End, where she had a role in 42nd Street at a young age. She was thankful to see that her love for musicals was infectious. "It was interesting to watch the crew when we filmed some of the numbers," she recalls. "I’d see the cameramen and the props department and the grips bobbing their heads, whistling and singing along. I think musicals can lift your spirits."

She warns, however, that Chicago is hardly akin to the musical confections loved as a child. "What’s great about Chicago is that it’s dangerous and sexy and darkly funny," Zeta-Jones says. "There is this idea that all musical comedy is fluffy and shallow. Chicago has longevity because of a certain wit and depth that makes it different." "The story stays current," she continues, "Because everyone craves those 15 minutes of fame. Everyone is fascinated by the cult of celebrity, how hungry certain people are for it, and to what lengths they’ll go to get it."

"We want Billy, give us Billy"

"I had just a terrible time sitting on Richard Gere’s lap for four days. I hated it," Zellweger jokes about filming musical number both reached for the gun with her co-star. "He sings, tap dances, he’s a fantastic actor, not hard to look at, and he plays piano," she continues. "The guy’s so talented it’s ridiculous."

Gere, like Zeta-Jones, was no stranger to musicals. He, too, was familiar with west end productions, having starred as Danny Zuko in a West End production of Grease. "I liked the work rob had done," Gere says of his decision to sign on to take part in Chicago.

"I was sent the script that Bill Condon had written, and I thought it was really smart. I thought the use of Roxie’s fantasy juxtaposed against the hard reality of a murder case in Chicago in the 20’s was interesting. And then there’s the great music. I think that the most interesting part of this, though, is the voyage of this girl," he continues. "She has achieved everything that she’s set out to do, but she’s all alone. That, to me, is the poignant part of the story. People deal with anger, greed, jealousy, and loneliness. These are timeless issues."

"I just trusted him," Marshall remembers. "He’s the perfect Billy Flynn,’ I thought. I was right. He really is. I lucked out. He was unbelievable. He loved it, too. He loved the joy and camaraderie of it." Poster agrees, "It’s such a unique role for Richard, and yet it’s such a perfect fit."

Cynthia Onrubia

Marshall employed the help of expert associate choreographer Cynthia Onrubia to help Gere learn Billy’s elaborate tap routine. Marshall had previously collaborated with Onrubia on productions of Damn Yankees, Victor/Victoria and Cabaret.

"Cynthia was a great teacher. She’s one of the great tap dancers of Broadway and has taught a lot of lame dancers like myself,” Gere says. "We started from scratch, and she was just fabulous. We had a lot of fun when we finally shot it. I’ve never seen anyone sweat like that in my entire life," Marshall jokes. "It was like Officer and a Gentleman more push-ups!"

"As a kid, I watched all those old musicals. I love The Sound of Music and a million other movies like it," Queen Latifah, who plays Matron Morton, says. "It was like going on a journey in filmmaking to another land. I think the last big movie musical that had any impact on me was the wiz. I played a lounge singer in living out loud, but I’d never been in a movie musical. When I heard they were making Chicago into a film and when i heard who was starring in it, I really wanted to try to earn the part. Initially, they didn’t have me in mind for matron mama, but I kept going for it."

Three auditions later, Latifah was cast in the role. "It’s all about reciprocity with mama," Latifah says of her character. "’If you want my gravy, pepper my ragu.’ She’s tough, but she gets what she wants.’" Though she had experience as a singer and dancer, the shoot was not without its challenges. "We had rehearsed her number When you’re good to Mama, Marshall remembers. "And the day before we shot it, I came to her and said, ‘you know what? I’m re-blocking the entire number. Instead of putting you on stage, I’m putting you in the house, so it can be bawdier, and so you can react with them.’"

"She looked at me cross-eyed and said, ‘you’re serious, right?’". "And I said, ‘uh-huh,’" Marshall laughingly recalls. "She was a trooper, and she nailed it." "Queen Latifah is an amazing actress," Neil Meron says. "It’s putting a spin on the role, and reinventing it, and not disrupting the period. She’s incredibly believable, and she brings her own spirit, talent, and brilliance to the role of Mama Morton.”"

"He sent us his version of Mr. Cellophane, and bingo, he was cast. He was a perfect fit," Neil Meron says of the decision to cast John C. Reilly as Amos. Reilly, who is quick to point out that he is the only actor in the cast who is actually from Chicago, says that his affection for musicals stems from his childhood in the Windy City.

"There is something pure about telling a story by singing. I really love musicals and it feels like coming home to me because i learned to be an actor through musicals," Reilly says.

That said, Reilly was skeptical about portraying Amos. "It was a little scary because even though I’d done a lot of musicals as a kid, I’ve never done this professionally. It was a huge undertaking. You have to be skilled in so many different disciplines to pull it off."

Ultimately it was Marshall’s faith in Reilly that eased him into the role. "The great thing about rob was his unfailing confidence and his incredible good taste. He has a way of bringing out the best in people. He made us feel comfortable, which was important because some of us were not tried and true professionals, in terms of musicals. And because of his experience as a choreographer, he understood the language of dance and movement and music and actors, plus he has an extraordinary visual sense."

Press Conference Rag

Marshall tweaked the role of Mary Sunshine, played by longtime friend Christine Baranski, whom Marshall had directed in the stage production of Promises, Promises. Traditionally, in the theatrical versions of Chicago, a man in drag plays reporter 'Sunshine'. Marshall specifically cast a woman in this part, "Because Mary Sunshine has to credibly exist in the reality of the movie as well as in Roxie’s surreality. It wouldn’t work the same way it does on the stage.

"Plus," he adds, "Christine Baranski is fabulous and perfect for the part. Christine and I had to invent our way through it. She, bill and I created this savvy news lady who was a sob sister. But we worked at getting a sense that she was as corrupt as everybody else."

"Go to Hell!"

"They asked me if i would be open to doing a cameo, and I said ‘absolutely,’" Lucy Liu says of her decision to take a small role in Chicago. Liu plays 'Kitty', a socialite-turned-murderer whose actions threaten to steal Roxie and Velma’s publicity thunder. "I saw the stage show and i thought it was incredible. I was shocked at how sexual and current it was, even though it was written for that time. Murder, crime, love, fame. All those things are current," she continues. "Mix music with that, and you can’t go wrong!"

Rounding out the cast are Colm Feore, Dominic West, and Taye Diggs as the bandleader. In fall 2002, Diggs had the distinct pleasure of joining the Broadway cast of Chicago for a stint as Billy Flynn. Though Gere, Baranski and Zeta-Jones all had extensive experience in musical theatre, the entire cast willingly agreed to commit to an extensive rehearsal and training period.

In fact, the two months of rehearsals prior to filming was a bit like musical theater boot camp. "We had dance instructors to help us with the choreography. We’d go from dance rehearsals to voice rehearsals and then to the acting rehearsals," Latifah recalls. "It was a lot of work, initially, but it was great. It made it a lot smoother."

"It was like school," Zellweger explains. "There was first period, which was singing class. I would go meet with Elaine in the piano room while Richard was at tap, and while Catherine would be working on All That Jazz on the main floor. Then we’d rotate. It was fantastic. "We worked really hard in the rehearsal process. But they wanted to be worked hard. All of them," Marshall says.

"Catherine wanted to get back to her roots," he continues. "She was completely at home in rehearsal in front of a mirror with dancers everywhere. She was in heaven." "It was all new to Renee, but she’s such a hard worker," Marshall recalls. "It was a crash course for her, and she was amazing. Richard was unbelievable. He loved it too. He loved the joy and camaraderie of it."

"What you get with a rehearsal of that nature for six weeks is a company. A company with Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski and all these wonderful dancers. We could have put it up on stage!"

The Music

"We recorded all the vocals for fifteen songs in a week, which is not a lot of time," says music supervisor Maureen Crowe of Chicago’s frenetically paced pre-recording session. "They all brought their own specific styles to the songs that came out of their individual characters and their experiences as actors. They were all just outstanding. To work with all these talented people was a music supervisor’s dream."

The cast mastered Marshall’s choreography during their exhausting fourteen hour days. Training didn’t end when principal photography began. Rehearsals extended to Saturdays during production, when the cast got together to work on the numbers that were to be shot the following week. Marshall meticulously choreographed each dance to fit the nature of the scene and to seamlessly connect it to the ‘reality’ that preceded it.

The Routines

"Each number had it’s own character and personality. We researched the period to incorporate dances of the 1920s. Also, some numbers were inspired by vaudeville performers and even movies," explains associate choreographer Joey Pizzi.

"For, instance, you’ll see the Charleston in Reach for the Gun, the tango, obviously, in Cell Block Tango, the Ziegfeld Follies in All he Cares About is Love, Sophie Tucker in Queen Latifah’s When You’re Good To Mama, Showboat in Renee’s number Funny Honey and King of Jazz in the finale between Catherine and Renee, Nowadays."

All the dances are Rob Marshall’s original compositions. Pizzi and his colleagues, assistant choreographer Denise Faye and associate choreographer Cynthia Onrubia, along with dance supervisor John Deluca, have collaborated with Marshall for many years.

Most of Roxie’s vaudeville, showbiz fantasies transpire on an imaginary stage called the onyx club. Production designer John Myhre created an original, richly detailed set to function as the film’s centerpiece.

Showbiz Fantasies

"We knew the onyx would be an important set, since it is the main setting for all the musical numbers. Rob has an absolutely fantastic knowledge of New York theatres," explains Myhre. "He sent me to a couple theatres and I noticed that quite a few of them had architectural similarities that rob and I liked. They had a tight feel, with balconies that almost overhang the stage. Rob showed me the work of an artist named Reginald Marsh, who did these beautiful paintings of New York’s theaters in the 1930's. There was this great compression to his paintings. Every level was very compact and full of details."

With the filigreed but chipped gilded boxes and proscenium, the gold-edged, crimson curtains, the worn black stage, and the flickering amber lights on teetering round ebony tables, Myhre created the perfect setting for Roxie’s imagination to play itself out. But the onyx was a practical set, with a stage broad enough to accommodate a troupe of dancers and with just enough open space for cinematographer Dion Beebe to have his camera crew to lay dolly tracks, trundle in a crane, or erect a riser.

"Because all the musical numbers reflect Roxie’s imagination, we had a means to overlap these two worlds," Beebe says. "We try to make them as seamless as possible. "The turn of a head or a lighting cue will take you into this other world. Roxie’s imagination is a bit like a dreamscape. She provided a unique opportunity to translate the director’s vision in a very free way."

Beebe’s camerawork is informed by a number of sources, from classic Hollywood films to vaudeville to experimental theater. He and Marshall deliberately tried to avoid the wide-screen format typical of traditional movie musicals. "There was much debate about whether it should be anamorphic or not," Beebe says.

"Ultimately, we decided against it. The sets were inspired by Reginald Marsh paintings, which are more vertical than horizontal. The sets were very compact and full of people. We wanted to maintain that crowded, condensed atmosphere. That feeling was reflected on stage too, the dancers’ limbs and bodies were so intertwined. We tried to capture that sexiness in the frame."

Broadway

"Dion Beebe was my right arm. He’s a true artist. He has an amazing sense of colour and lighting. He knows how to flatter, but he also knows how to tell a story," Marshall says. Marshall called on his colleagues from the stage world, famed lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer to collaborate with Beebe on the onyx’s 'stage' lighting.

Fisher’s work has illuminated over 150 Broadway and off-Broadway shows. He has received seven Tony awards for his work. Among his credits is the original Broadway production of Chicago. His partner Peggy Eisenhauer collaborated with Marshall on the revival of Cabaret and both lent their magic to Chicago.

Costume designer Colleen Atwood researched the art and style of the 1920s, culling from fashion, art deco, Bauhaus and Cubism to create Chicago’s sexy and stunning costumes. "Although it is a period film, it is also theatrical. We interpreted the era with a modern sensibility," she explains.

Atwood also had the peculiar challenge of designing both 'real' and 'imaginary' costumes and each number required wardrobe in sync with the corresponding routine’s theme. "After talking with Rob, I understood that the main goal was to separate the world of the imagination from the world in which the characters lived. My initial direction and inspiration came from watching each dance number play out in rehearsal, so that I could see so what kind of movement went with each song. The thing that’s interesting about Chicago and what makes it fun, as a designer, is that each number is an entity unto itself."

Lavish

But the costumes were not only specific to each musical number: each outfit also mirrored the corresponding character’s individual personality. "Each actor’s character in the story is revealed and exposed in different ways," Atwood says. "Roxie’s character was the most complex because we see her in a real world, and then we see everyone else through her eyes in the fantasies. For her real world, I used an almost skin-toned palette. But her fantasy colours were stronger and more vibrant."

"Velma opens the movie as a very strong character and she remains that way; her colours are black and bold," she continues. "She has a complete fearlessness."

"Colleen Atwood did amazing costume designs," Marshall says. "She has a great, unique vision, and that’s really what I wanted. She understood the freedom of that era, and the sexuality of that era. She knew how much skin needed to be there."

The Players

Renee Zellweger’s (Roxie Hart) amazing performance as Bridget in 2001’s smash hit Bridget Jones’s Diary garnered international acclaim. It was for this role that she was nominated for a 2002 academy award for ‘best actress in a leading role’, a BAFTA award for ‘best performance by an actress in a leading role’, a Golden Globe award for ‘best performance by an actress in a musical or comedy’, a golden satellite award, an empire award, an MTV movie award and a screen actor’s guild award. She starred opposite Hugh Grant in this tongue-in-cheek comedy about a British woman’s determination to improve herself as she looks for love while filling her personal diary with her quirky thoughts and experiences.

Apart from Chicago, she can currently be seen in Warner Bros.’s white oleander, based on the best selling novel by Janet Fitch about a teenage girl’s journey through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison. Zellweger recently finished production on 20th century fox’s film Down With Love a satirical homage to the 1960s sex comedies that starred Rock Hudson and Dorris Day. She stars opposite Ewan Mcgregor as the best-selling advice author Barbara Novak. The film is set for release in late spring 2003.

Traffic

Co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones (Velma) earned a golden globe nomination for her portrayal as the wife of a drug-runner confronted with her husband’s illegal ties, and must fight to save her family in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. The cast of the critically praised film received a sag award for ‘outstanding performance by the cast of a theatrical motion picture.’ She will next star opposite George Clooney in the Coen brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty, playing a gold-digging Beverly Hills divorcee. Zeta-Jones recently starred as a diva movie star in Sony’s comedy, America’s Sweethearts.

Richard Gere (Billy Flynn) is one of the most well known actors of his generation. Known worldwide for his roles in films such as An Officer and a Gentleman, Days of Heaven American Gigilo, Pretty Woman, First Knight and in Paramount’s highly successful courtroom drama Primal Fear.

Though best known as a screen actor, Chicago is a bit of a return to home territory for Gere, who originally got his major breaks in show business on the boards. His career was established with performances in the Broadway rock opera Soon and the New York production of the British farce Habeas Corpus.

Chicago is available on DVD now.

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