Failed projects: 1976–1986 (1919–1952), whose life and political career inspired the musical
Evita and its film adaptation.|alt=Portrait of Eva Perón. Following the release of
Evita (1976), a
sung-through concept album by
Tim Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber detailing the life of Eva Perón, director
Alan Parker met with their manager
David Land, asking if Rice and Lloyd Webber had thought of making a film version. He understood that they were more interested in creating a stage version with the album's original lyrics. The original West End theatre production of
Evita opened at the
Prince Edward Theatre on June 21, 1978, and closed on February 18, 1986. The subsequent Broadway production opened at the
Broadway Theatre on September 25, 1979, and closed on June 26, 1983, after 1,567 performances and 17 previews.
Robert Stigwood, producer of the West End production, wanted Parker to direct
Evita as a film but, after completing work on the musical
Fame (1980), Parker turned down the opportunity to helm
Evita, telling Stigwood that he "didn't want to do back-to-back musicals". Stigwood sold the rights to
EMI Films for over $7.5 million. He also discussed the project with
Jon Peters, who promised that he would convince his girlfriend
Barbra Streisand to play the lead role if he were allowed to produce. Streisand, however, was not interested in the project because she saw the stage version in New York and did not like it. Stigwood turned down the offer, opting to stay involved as the film's sole producer. EMI ultimately dropped the project after merging with
Thorn Electrical Industries to form
Thorn EMI, as well as producing several box-office flops under the banner. In May 1981, Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights, with Stigwood attached as a producer. Paramount allocated a budget of $15 million, and the film was scheduled to go into production by year-end. To avoid higher production costs, Stigwood, Rice and Lloyd Webber each agreed to take a smaller salary but a higher percentage of the film's gross. As Paramount began scouting locations in Mexico, Stigwood began the search for a new director. He met with
Herbert Ross, who declined in favor of directing
Footloose (1984) for Paramount. Stigwood then met with
Richard Attenborough, who deemed the project impossible. She also campaigned briefly for
Francis Ford Coppola to helm the film.
Oliver Stone, a fan of the musical, expressed interest in the film adaptation and contacted Stigwood's production company
RSO Films to discuss the project. After he was confirmed as the film's writer and director in April 1988, Stone travelled to Argentina, where he visited Eva's birthplace and met with the newly elected President
Carlos Menem, who agreed to provide 50,000 extras for the production as well as allowing
freedom of speech. In November 1993, Stigwood sold the film rights to
Andrew G. Vajna's production company
Cinergi Pictures. Vajna later enlisted
Arnon Milchan of
Regency Enterprises as a co-financier, and Stone returned as the film's director after meeting with Dan Halsted, the senior vice president of Hollywood Pictures. Production was set to begin sometime in 1995 after Stone and Milchan concluded filming of
Noriega, a film chronicling the life of Panamanian general and dictator
Manuel Noriega. resulting in Stone leaving the project in July 1994. Parker's finished script included 146 changes to the concept album's music and lyrics. Parker had the film's production designer
Brian Morris take photographs of the Casa Rosada, so that the production could construct a replica at
Shepperton Studios in England. The director visited seven other countries before deciding to film on location in Buenos Aires and Budapest. and remained involved when Stone returned to the project. Before he left the project, Stone had considered casting
Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead role of Eva,
Jennifer Lopez also auditioned. In December 1994, Madonna sent Parker a copy of her "
Take a Bow" music video along with a four-page letter explaining that she was the best person to portray Eva and would be fully committed to the role. Parker insisted that if Madonna were to be his Evita, she must understand who was in charge. "The film is not a glorified Madonna video," said Parker. "I controlled it and she didn't." Rice believed that Madonna suited the title role since she could "act so beautifully through music". Lloyd Webber was wary about her singing. Since the film required the actors to sing their own parts, Madonna underwent vocal training with coach
Joan Lader to increase her own confidence in singing the unusual songs, and project her voice in a much more cohesive manner. Lader noted that the singer "had to use her voice in a way she's never used it before.
Evita is real musical theater — it's operatic, in a sense. Madonna developed an upper
register that she didn't know she had." In January 1996, Madonna travelled to Buenos Aires to research Eva's life, and met with several people who had known her before her death. and midway through production, she discovered she was pregnant. Her daughter Lourdes was born on October 14, 1996. Madonna published a diary of the film shoot in
Vanity Fair. She said of the experience, "This is the role I was born to play. I put everything of me into this because it was much more than a role in a movie. It was exhilarating and intimidating at the same time ... And I am prouder of
Evita than anything else I have done." Parker decided to keep Banderas in the supporting role of Ché after checking the actor's audition tape. "In the movie Ché tells the story of Eva", Banderas said. "He takes a very critical view of her and he's sometimes cynical and aggressive but funny, too. At the same time he creates this problem for himself because, for all his principles, he gets struck by the charm of the woman." In response to the controversy surrounding the project, the production held a press conference in Buenos Aires on February 6, 1996. Principal photography began on February 8, 1996, For
Evita, Madonna broke the
Guinness World Record for "Most Costume Changes in a Film". " was filmed at the
Casa Rosada at this balcony, with 4,000 extras below.|alt=Exterior shot of Casa Rosada. Filming began in Buenos Aires with scenes depicting Eva's childhood in 1936. Locations included Los Toldos, the town of Junín, where Eva was raised, and Chivilcoy, where her father's funeral was held. The cast and crew then moved to Budapest, Hungary, where 23 locations were used for scenes set in Buenos Aires. The production spent two days re-enacting Eva's state funeral, which required 4,000 extras to act as citizens, police officials and military personnel. For the musical numbers "Your Little Body's Slowly Breaking Down" and "Lament", Parker had Madonna and Pryce record the songs live on set, due to the emotional effort required from their performances. For the film's visual style, Khondji and Parker were influenced by the works of
American realist painter
George Bellows. Khondji shot
Evita using
Moviecam cameras, with
Cooke anamorphic lenses. He used Eastman
EXR 5245 film stock for exteriors in Argentina, 5293 for the Argentine interiors, and 5248 for any scenes shot during overcast days and combat sequences. Khondji employed large
tungsten lighting units, including 18K
HMIs, dino and Wendy lights. According to the film's music producer
Nigel Wright, the lead actors would first sing the numbers backed by a band and orchestra before working with Parker and music supervisor David Caddick "in a more intimate recording environment [to] perfect their vocals". More trouble arose as Madonna was not completely comfortable with "laying down a guide vocal simultaneously with an 84-piece orchestra" in the studio. She was used to singing over a pre-recorded track and not having musicians listen to her. Also, unlike her previous soundtrack releases, she had little to no creative control. "I'm used to writing my own songs and I go into a studio, choose the musicians and say what sounds good or doesn't ... To work on 46 songs with everyone involved and not have a big say was a big adjustment," she recalled. An emergency meeting was held among Parker, Lloyd Webber, and Madonna, where it was decided that the singer would record her part at Whitfield Street Studios, a contemporary studio, while the orchestration would take place elsewhere. She also had alternate days off from the recording to preserve and strengthen her voice. By the end of recording, Parker noticed that Rice and Lloyd Webber did not have a new song in place. They arranged a meeting at Lloyd Webber's county estate in Berkshire, where they began work on the music and lyrics for "
You Must Love Me". The soundtrack for
Evita was released in the United States on November 12, 1996. and
Evita: Music from the Motion Picture, a single-disc edition. AllMusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the soundtrack as "unengaging", while
Hartford Courants Greg Morago praised Madonna's singing abilities. The soundtrack was a commercial success, reaching number one in Austria, Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, as well as selling over seven million copies worldwide. ==Release==