Synopsis
Set against Argentina's turbulent political landscape, Evita follows Eva Duarte from an impoverished childhood and provincial ambitions to Buenos Aires stardom, marriage to military leader Juan Peron, and a powerful public role as first lady. Told almost entirely through song and framed by the skeptical narrator Che, the film traces her ascent, populist influence, controversial reputation, and battle with illness before her death.
Factoids & Trivia
- Evita adapts the stage musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, which began as a 1976 concept album before reaching the London stage in 1978 and Broadway in 1979.
- The film is almost completely sung-through, with little conventional dialogue. Its screenplay substantially reworked the stage material and restored "The Lady's Got Potential," a song omitted from the stage production.
- "You Must Love Me" was written specifically for the film. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 69th Academy Awards.
- The production recorded much of the music before filming. More than 400 hours of recording sessions were used to prepare 49 musical sections for playback on set.
- Permission to film at the Casa Rosada, Argentina's government house, was granted shortly before the company left Buenos Aires. The production used 4,000 extras for the famous balcony sequence featuring "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."
- Filming took place in Argentina, Hungary, and at Shepperton Studios in England. Budapest doubled for several Buenos Aires locations, including scenes depicting Eva Peron's funeral.
- The production faced protests from Peronist groups in Argentina, who objected to the project and feared that the film would misrepresent or diminish Eva Peron's legacy.
- The narrator is called Che, but he is not intended to be Ernesto Che Guevara. The character is a fictionalized everyman figure; Guevara was unlikely to have met Eva Peron.
- The costume department created 85 costume changes for Madonna, along with 39 hats, 45 pairs of shoes, and 56 pairs of earrings. The number of changes was recognized by Guinness World Records at the time.
- Principal photography lasted 84 days and involved 320 sets, more than 600 crew members, and approximately 40,000 extras dressed in period clothing.