Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Richard Roxburgh: The Duke

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Duke : I don't like this ending...

  Zidler : Don't like the ending, my dear Duke?

  The Duke : Why should the courtesan chose the penniless sitar player over the maharajah who is offering her a lifetime of security? That's real love. Once the sitar player has satisfied his lust he will leave her with nothing. I suggest that the courtesan chose the maharajah.

  Toulouse-Lautrec : But, but tell me, that ending does not uphold the Bohemian ideals of truth, beauty, freedom, and...

  The Duke : [shouts]  I don't care about your ridiculous dogma! Why shouldn't the courtesan chose the maharajah?

  Christian : [shouts]  Because she doesn't love you!... Him... Hi-him, she doesn't love... she doesn't love him.

  The Duke : Oh, I see... Monsieur Zidler, the play will be rewritten with the courtesan choosing the maharajah and without the lovers' secret song. It will be rehearsed in the morning, ready for the opening tomorrow night...

  Zidler : But, my dear Duke, that will be quite impossible.

  Satine : Harold, the Duke is being treated appallingly. These silly writers let their imaginations run away with themselves. Why don't you and I have a little supper, and then we can tell Monsieur Zidler how we would like the story to end.

• The Duke : It's not that I'm not a jealous man. I just don't like other people touching my things.

• The Duke : You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside an elephant you were rehearsing?

• Christian : Mademaiselle Satine, I haven't quite finished writing that new scene. The "Will The Lovers Be Meeting at the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene. And I wondered if I could work on it with you later tonight.

  The Duke : But, my dear, I've arranged a magnificent supper for us in the Gothic Tower.

  Christian : It's not important. We could work on it tomorrow.

  Satine : Oh, how dare you! It cannot wait until tomorrow. The "Lovers Will Be Meeting in the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene is the most important in the production. We will work on it tonight until I am completely satisfied.

  The Duke : B-But my dear...

  Satine : Dear Duke. Excuse me.

  Christian : [smiles]  I'm sorry.

• Cast of Spectacular, Spectacular : [singing]  So exciting, we'll make them laugh, we'll make them cry. So delighting...

  The Duke : And in the end, should someone die?

• Zidler : She said you make her feel "like a virgin."

  The Duke : Virgin?

  Zidler : You know, touched for the very first time.

• The Duke : Why shouldn't the courtesan go for the maharajah?

  Christian : Because she doesn't love you. Him... hi... him... sh... she doesn't love... him...

• Zidler : She is mine.

  The Duke : She is mine.

• Christian : [singing]  The courtesan and sitar man are pulled apart by an evil plan...

  Satine : [singing]  but in the end she hears his song...

  Christian : [singing]  and their love is just too strong.

  The Duke : [singing]  It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.

• The Duke : ...a little frog

• The Duke : Generally I like it.

• The Duke : Conversion of the Moulin Rouge into a theatre will cost a fantastic sum of money, Zidler. So, in return, I would require a contract that, um... binds Satine to me, exclusively.

  [Zidler raises his eyebrows] 

  The Duke : Naturally, I shall require some security. I shall require the deeds to the Moulin Rouge.

  Zidler : My dear Duke, I...

  The Duke : Please! Don't think that I'm naive, Zidler. I shall hold the deeds to the Moulin Rouge. And if there are any shenanigans...

  Zidler : I...

  The Duke : My manservant, Warner, will deal with it in the only language that you underworld showfolk understand. Satine will be mine. It's not that I'm a jealous man...

  [suddenly irate] 

  The Duke : I JUST DON'T... LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TOUCHING MY THINGS!

  [calms down] 

  Zidler : I... understand completely... Duke.