![]() ![]() As Amos confesses, Roxie fantasizes a musical number devoted to her husband ("Funny Honey"). She convinces her gullible husband, Amos, to take the blame, telling him she killed a burglar in self-defense. After the show, Velma is arrested for killing her husband Charlie and sister Veronica, after catching them in bed together.Ī month later, Casely admits that he lied in order to sleep with her. Seeking stardom, Roxie begins an affair with furniture salesman Fred Casely, who claims to know the manager. In 1924, chorus girl Roxie Hart watches lead Velma Kelly perform ("Overture/ All That Jazz") at The Onyx, a Chicago theater. Zellweger won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, and Gere won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For her performance, Zeta-Jones won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the British Academy Film Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film went on to win six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture, making it the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1968. ![]() The film marks the directorial debut of Rob Marshall, who also choreographed the film, and was adapted by screenwriter Bill Condon, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.Ĭhicago was critically acclaimed, with particular praise given to the performances of the cast. Roxie, a housewife, and Velma, a vaudevillian, fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows. Chicago centers on Roxie Hart (Zellweger) and Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones), two murderers who find themselves in jail together awaiting trial in 1920s Chicago. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere. It explores the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Chicago during the Jazz Age. In the musical adaptation, his style is based upon Ted Lewis.Chicago is a 2002 American musical black comedy crime film based on the 1975 stage musical of the same name which in turn originated in the 1926 play of the same name. "All I Care About (is Love)" serves as Flynn's jingle, in which the crooner claims not to care about wealth or materialism and works for his love of women (later revealed to be a complete lie), "They Both Reached For The Gun (The Press Conference Rag)" serves as a ventriloquist act with a call-and-response between Billy's "dummy" Roxie and the press, and "Razzle Dazzle" (a champagnesque piece with what Jerry Orbach described as " Brechtian subtlety" ) serves as the explanation of Flynn's modus operandi: make the case a distraction so that the jury loses attention.įlynn is a composite character based on real-life Chicago attorneys of the era, William Scott Stewart and W. He considers his profession to be akin to the entertainment industry, with himself as an A-list star in the field. He will often turn trials into a media circus and public spectacle, regularly manipulates witnesses to fit his narratives (which usually have no resemblance to the truth), and keeps a tabloid sob sister, Mary Sunshine, on retainer to ensure positive press coverage for his clients. Most of Billy Flynn's clients actually did commit the murder they are accused of therefore he usually attempts to conjure a defense of self-defense or insanity. In the play, he defends Hart and her rival Velma Kelly, winning both cases. In rare cases, such as Roxie Hart's, he will take a discount rate in exchange for a cut of proceeds from selling ephemera and media rights fees related to the case. ![]() He has never lost a case involving a female defendant in his whole career, but in turn charges high fees for his services ($5,000), demands payment in full up-front, and never takes pro bono work. William Flynn is a fictional character from the 1926 play Chicago, written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, and its various derivative works and remakes.īilly Flynn is one of the city of Chicago's most effective criminal defense lawyers he can win any trial and usually represents women who have murdered their lovers. Billy Flynn (at right) as portrayed by Jerry Orbach in the Broadway adaptation, 1976 ![]()
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