Catherine Zeta-Jones got to the film that led her to the Oscar thanks to a Christmas party. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Catherine Zeta-Jones He had one of his biggest achievements in 2003, when his role in Chicago led her to win the Oscar. This musical, which presented a crime story in the show business of the ’20s and also featured Renee Zellweger y Richard Gereemerged as the great winner of that edition with six statuettes, beating heavyweights such as Gangs of New York by Martin Scorsese, The pianist de Roman Polanski, The hours de Stephen Daldry o The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers de Peter Jackson.
Among all the torrent of awards, the Best Film stood out, as is logical, but also the recognition of the musical talent that the actress of The mask of Zorro o Merlin demonstrated in this title directed by Rob Marshall. Of course, his career in London’s West End prior to his Hollywood debut in the late ’90s was key to standing out in this genre, but the curious thing is that before Chicago many people in the industry had no idea about it.
In fact, Catherine Zeta-Jones ended up in the role almost by chance, when in the middle of a Christmas evening, and thanks to his passion for these dates, he caught the attention of one of the film’s producers making him discover his vocal ability on stage.
He told it in an interview with PlayBill in December 2002, in the middle of the Oscar campaign. In her words, the friends of Michael Douglas – whom she had married two years earlier – They allowed him to meet producer Marty Richards when he was working on transferring the adaptation of Chicago to the big screen. Thanks to the relationship, this Hollywood mogul, who was also behind other renowned works such as The glowwas invited to a Christmas party organized by Zeta-Jones and Douglas at their house where he was able to discover more closely the talent that the actress was hiding.
On that evening, she She was sitting at the piano singing Christmas carols, radiating a Christmas spirit that she loves to bring out on these dates.. It was then that Richards, who had no idea that Catherine Zeta-Jones could sing, became fascinated and the strings for his promotion to the Oscar stage began to move.
Continue reading the story
“I knew Marty Richards, who was actually related to my husband, and somehow I knew that he had always been trying to film Chicago,” the actress began by stating to PlayBill. “About four years ago, we were at our house, at a Christmas party, and I was at the piano full of Christmas spirit, and I was surprised that he mentioned it to me at that time.”.
Catherine Zeta-Jones won her only Oscar with ‘Chicago’. (Photo by Bob Riha Jr/WireImage via Getty Images)
“He said, ‘God, I didn’t know you could sing. Well, you know about my connection to Chicago and that we’re trying to turn it into a movie, and you know, you’d be great for the movie.’”, continued Zeta-Jones, who immediately jumped on the bandwagon of wanting to participate. “Well, if it ever comes to fruition, you have to give me the opportunity, you have to call me and have me meet the director, whoever it is,” she recalled his response to the producer.
The project went from strength to strength and Miramax, the producer of the controversial Harvey Weinstein, teamed up with Marty Richards to finally film Chicago. With the memory of Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Christmas passion in mind, the actress’s name was present during the pre-production process, the only thing missing was for the film’s director, Rob Marshall, to agree to the signing. Fortunately, Marshall was well aware of the actress’s musical abilities. In fact, he even witnessed one of her performances on the London stage, when he saw her perform an English opera.
“Harvey told me, ‘Look, I think we’ve found someone to bring this to life, who’s completely figured it out.’ Then he introduced me to Rob [Marshall]who had seen me when years ago I did an English national opera by Kurt Weill called Street Scene. At an awards ceremony I did this number as a duet, singing and dancing, and I had a videotape of it. So I went to meet Rob and he told me the vision of him. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible.'”
It is curious to think that without that Christmas party and without that passion of the actress performing Christmas carols, the destiny could have been very different, but all the pieces came together. Catherine Zeta-Jones filmed the musical with Zellweger and Gere, the film won the admiration of critics, academics fell in love with her work and closed this story in style, going on stage at the Dolby Theater to lift the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which It is still remembered as one of the most admired film musicals of this century.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED | ON VIDEO
Catherine Zeta-Jones’ biggest regret is not being able to be a Bond girl
The criticized Tom Hanks film for which he had to return the money to the public
Tom Cruise’s defeat at the Oscars that almost canceled one of his first classics
The Julia Roberts film that inadvertently fueled a war between soccer teams
2023-12-25 01:57:23
#Catherine #ZetaJones #Christmas #passion #led #win #Oscar
