D.C. Dancer Duets with Winslet in Romance & Cigarettes
After a long wait, CityDance Ensemble Rehearsal Director Christopher K. Morgan finally gets to see his face on the silver screen. In December of 2003, Morgan was cast as a dancer in John Turturro’s film Romance & Cigarettes. After filming in 2004, the movie faced some setbacks and became what the Associated Press referred to as “the luckless orphan of corporate shuffling.”
More than two years after its original release date, Romance & Cigarettes is receiving rave reviews, and according to The New York Times, things are looking up for the musical comedy after its long struggle to be seen.
Morgan couldn’t be happier. The dancer, who splits his time between D.C. and New York, worked on four scenes for the movie and can be seen on film in two of them. He said he has received tremendous support from friends and colleagues in the D.C. area, many of whom have organized "watching parties" to go see the film.
The movie is not short on big name stars — James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, and Christopher Walken are only a few of the recognizable faces in the film. In one of the scenes that Morgan appears in, he dances a short duet with Winslet, playing Gandolfini's mistriss, in a a fire-filled fantasy sequence.
“She was the person that I got to interact and spend the most time with,” Morgan said a recent interview. “She’d just had a baby a few months before but she still really went for it. It was a really great experience.” A highlight for Morgan was teaching Winslet how to spin fire, a skill he learned through Polynesian dancing as a child in Hawaii, though the trick didn’t make the film out of concern for the starlet’s safety.
Director John Turturro created an atmosphere that was “really organic and connected, a dynamic where everyone felt comfortable” simply by “involving a lot of artists that he was close with, including big stars.” Choreographer Tricia Brouk made an effort to assemble a diverse cast of dancers to compliment the eclectic cast, drawing from both the modern and contemporary dance communities in New York City.
As about what he personally thinks of the creatively offbeat film, Morgan surmised, “It ranges from quirky, odd, and funny to poignant and beautiful. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was very well done. It’s funny, interesting… I just feel really fortunate to have been a part of the project.”
Morgan’s career on screen before Romance & Cigarettes consisted of a few television commercials and a short film. He is currently working on a work of his own to present at the next CityDance Ensemble FilmWORKS event.
Romance & Cigarettes is currently playing at The Avalon Theater and may appear at other D.C. theaters in the near future.