After seeing O'Connor in Chicago, Baz Luhrmann offered her her first film role in Moulin Rouge, and she has literally just stepped out of her cancan girl froufrou to rehearse Piaf. In Luhrmann's Rouge, cancan tunes segue into a contemporary nightclub beat. Ewan McGregor plays a poet and Nicole Kidman plays Paris' most famous courtesan. Luhrmann recently said the demands of singing, dancing and acting were proving traumatising for his two leads. I wondered whether O'Connor might allow herself a small smile at this.
Film is very different from theatre.
You don't have to have the stamina - you can spend all day doing four bars of music. But she did find the absence of audience feedback disconcerting. It was also the first time she saw herself performing. I sat there with my hands over my eyes. But it was one of the best times I've ever had in my life.