White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue

"White Diamond" redirects here. For other uses, see White Diamond (disambiguation).

White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue
Official release cover
Directed by	William Baker
Produced by	Tom Colbourne Bill Lord, Terry Blamey (Executive Producers)
Starring	Kylie Minogue Dannii Minogue William Baker Oliver Martinez Bono
Music by	Steve Anderson
Cinematography	Justin Murphy (as D.o.P.)
Editing by	Reg Wrench Dan Swimer
Distributed by	EMI Records Ltd.
Release date(s)	16 October 2007 19 October 16 November 22 November
Running time	118 min (approx.) (Director's Cut) 5 min (approx.) (Extras)
Country	United Kingdom Australia
Language	English

White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue is a 2007 documentary film directed and produced by William Baker and chronicling the life of Australian singer Kylie Minogue during her Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour. White Diamond was filmed between August 2006 and March 2007 in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Intended as a document of Minogue's return to the stage following her treatment and recovery from cancer, the film also features on-stage and back-stage footage and interviews with a number of Minogue's tour crew, including Baker himself. Sister Dannii and U2 lead Bono also feature. "For most people, Neighbours, "I Should Be So Lucky", Michael Hutchence, gold hot pants, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and cancer equals Kylie," Baker suggests at the beginning of White Diamond. "I want to rip that surface away."

The film had a one-night premiere in each country, starting in the UK on 16 December 2007 and ending on 16 November 2008 in New Zealand, mostly receiving negative reviews. It was later released on DVD in two editions; the European/UK edition and the Australian/New Zealand edition. This was later followed by a 2-disc edition with a bonus disc featuring a Showgirl: Homecoming concert filmed in Melbourne, Australia.

White Diamond is eponymously named after a Minogue track written by Scissor Sisters, also the sole new song performed by her on the Showgirl: Homecoming tour. The film opens with a reworked ballad version of the song. Two new recorded tracks, "I'm Hip" and "You Are There", and a previously-unheard 2002 Madonna-penned track given to Minogue (by co-writer Rick Nowels) to record, "Alone Again", are also featured on the soundtrack of the documentary.

Documentary

On 17th of May, 2005, Kylie Minogue was forced to cancel the Australian leg of her Showgirl tour after being diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the story of her homecoming. – Introductory pre-credits text from White Diamond.

White Diamond started out as Minogue's creative director and close friend William Baker filming her for a personal record, to be used as backstage bonus footage for the Showgirl: Homecoming tour DVD. They had so much footage by the end of the tour, they decided it would be better suited to a feature-length documentary format. The original plan was to release it direct-to-DVD, but it was eventually given a single-day cinema release in each territory it was released.

Minogue stated that White Diamond was "a good way to thank the fans for their support and see where all their good wishes went. This started as quite a humble little project, and in many ways it still is." She had written on her website earlier in 2007: "I have to admit I was a little nervous to work on such a revealing project and I did pull the plug several times, but due to Willie's persistence it is now almost finished. It gives a great insight into the world of touring and the touring family."

Cast

Main roles

• Kylie Minogue (or The Showgirl) – Star of the film
• William Baker – Director, photographer and best friend (known as Dear) of Minogue's
• Dannii Minogue – Kylie's sister, made an appearance in the film for the duet of "Kids"
• Bono – U2 lead singer who made an appearance for the duet of "Kids"
• Oliver Martinez – Kylie's former boyfriend who made an appearance in short scenes

Dancers

• Jason Beitel, Marco da Silva, Jamie Karitzis, Alan Lambie, Claire Meehan, Welly Lacoh-Donau, Jason Piper, Nikoletta Rafaelisova, Andile Sotiya, Nikki Trow, Anoulka Yanminchey, Rachel Yau and Terry Kvasnik.

Production

Filming

White Diamond was shot during August 2007 in London, England, where Minogue had been living for 20 years at that point. Ideally, Baker and Minogue had described the filming as "uncomfortable" due to it being shot in HD format. Kylie had travelled to Sadler's Wells studios for her dancing and choreography preparation for the Showgirl: Homecoming Tour. Ruary McPhie filmed the England section of the film, as noted in the end credits, as Baker could not film there. While in Sadler's Wells, Baker did say in the film that the trips and tour would become a "bumpy ride" and be emotional for everyone. Following this, the entourage travelled to Ealing, London for musical rehearsals of the tour and to hold a promotional photo shoot.

The group then travelled to Milan, Italy for the designing of Kylie's outfits and costumes. Kylie also visited the fashion design company Dolce & Gabbana, who designed a catsuit with minigloves featuring "KM" on each hand, and also visited Chanel. They had travelled to Paris to get her custom-made Chanel Red Disc Dress designed for her. She had also had been invited to Paris Fashion Week. Kylie commented in the film that she was "blown away" and that she "loved it".

In November 2006, Kylie travelled to Sydney, Australia. She had Baker film the rest of the tour of Australia, however, but he did not film in Melbourne, as he instructed Minogue, and had to help out while another dancer was late, as well as with wardrobe set-ups and other features. They had also done several shots of the live tour, mostly from the Showgirl DVD, back in 2005/6, at the Sydney SuperDome, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and other different locations.

While in Sydney during the production of her tour, Kylie launched her perfume Darling with over 100 guests to celebrate the launch. She later toured in Brisbane, Australia, where she visited the Cancer Council. She said that the people there had "looked up to me and have been thinking about what I had been through", saying that all of them had been "very brave" fighting cancer. After the tour in Brisbane, she travelled to Byron Bay to have a two-day break, commenting that the trip there was "freedom at last".

Minogue then travelled back to London, England to Wembley Arena for New Year's Eve. She celebrated with the crew and the audience for the night. Bono, who had guest starred in the duet of "Kids", also said that he "admired Kylie" a lot. Dannii Minogue, sister of Kylie, also made an appearance. The last filming location was in Acapulco, Mexico, where Kylie did a commercial shoot and said that she would take a holiday there.

Music and soundtrack

All recordings were by Minogue, however, the soundtrack also featured English duo Pet Shop Boys, singing their song "Being Boring". The Cure had been featured on the credits of the film as they sung their song "Lovesong". Liza Minnelli also had two songs featured in the film: "Rent" and "Losing My Mind". "Kids" was alternately sung by Dannii Minogue and Bono with Kylie on different dates. The Bono version appeared on the tour's album, Showgirl Homecoming Live, while the version with Dannii appeared as a bonus feature on the DVD. Minogue covered songs like "Vogue", "Try Your Wings", "You Are There", "Alone Again" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"; the latter is featured as a promotional music video, but as a director's cut during the credits of the film. All songs were published by EMI Ltd.

Release

Initial screening

White Diamond premiered in the UK on 16 October 2007, at all Vue Cinema locations across the country in a one-night-only event. Minogue attended the premiere at the Leicester Square Vue Cinema. Minogue, arriving in a diamond-studded dress and wearing over $1,000,000 in jewellery, was joined by her sister Dannii and actor Rupert Everett. Similarly, in Australia there was a one-night only premiere of the film at Village Cinemas on 19 October and in New Zealand at SKYCITY Cinemas on 16 November. Everyone in New Zealand that appeared at SKYCITY Cinema for the screening of the film received a free copy of Minogue's then-new single "2 Hearts".

Critical reception

White Diamond received mixed reviews from film critics, with most critics making a comparison to Madonna's 1991 film Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna). The IMDb community rated the film 7.8 out of 10. The Evening Times gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, as they saw that Baker was too close to the subject as they quoted "We never see Minogue cry, shout, bitch, get tipsy or mauldin." Fans have said that Baker, the director and friend of Minogue's, put much of himself in the film compared to Kylie's actual screen time.

Other commercial releases

It was specified that no other releases of the film be made. It was not released in television format, and is was not featured on any Sky Movies channels, nor any pay-per-view channels. Bonus features of the film are exclusive to the DVD format.

Music credits

Song	Performer	Songwriter(s)
"White Diamond" (Film version)	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, Babydaddy and Jake Shears
"Jump"	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, and Rob Dougan
"Finer Feelings"	Kylie Minogue	Mike Stock and Pete Waterman
"Sometime Samurai"	Towa Tei and Kylie Minogue	Towa Tei and Kylie Minogue
"Tears"	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, Dave Ball and Ingo Vauk. Lyrics: Kylie Minogue
"I Believe in You"	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, Babydaddy and Jake Shears
"Burning Up"	Kylie Minogue	Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nicholls
"Vogue"	Kylie Minogue	Madonna Ciccone and Pettibone
"Being Boring"	Pet Shop Boys	Tennant and Lowe
"Rent"	Liza Minnelli	Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe
"Lovesong"	The Cure	Smith, Gallup, Thomson, Williams, Tolhurst and O'Donnell
"Made in Heaven" (Film version)	Kylie Minogue	Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman
"Kids"	Kylie Minogue and Bono	Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers
"Losing My Mind"	Liza Minnelli	Stephen Sondheim
"Try Your Wings"	Kylie Minogue	Michael Barr and Dion McGregor
"Je t'aime... moi non plus"	Kylie Minogue	Serge Gainsbourg
"Dreams"	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, Steve Anderson and David Seaman. Lyrics: Kylie Minogue
"Can't Get You Out of My Head"	Kylie Minogue and José González	Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis
"You Are There"	Kylie Minogue and Steve Anderson	Dave Frishberg and Johnny Mandel
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"	Kylie Minogue	Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg
"Come into My World"	Kylie Minogue	Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis
"Alone Again"	Kylie Minogue	Madonna Ciccone and Rick Nowels
"Light Years"	Kylie Minogue	Kylie Minogue, Julian Gallagher and Richard Stannard
"Turn It into Love"	Kylie Minogue	Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"	Kylie Minogue	Leo Robin and Jule Styne

Home media

White Diamond / Showgirl: Homecoming DVD

White Diamond / Showgirl: Homecoming
Video by Kylie Minogue
Released	10 December 2007 (Region 2) 28 April 2008 (Region 1)
Recorded	11 December 2006 in Melbourne, Australia
Genre	Pop music
Length	268:00
Label	EMI
Director	William Baker
Producer	Tom Colburne, Kylie Minogue
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. BBC News link The Daily Telegraph link IMDb (7.8/10) The Times Online link
Kylie Minogue video chronology
Kylie Showgirl (2005) White Diamond / Showgirl: Homecoming (2008) Kylie Live: X2008 (2008/9)

White Diamond was released on DVD, with a 15 rating, on 10 December 2007, in the UK in a 2-disc package backed with a two hour Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour concert filmed Minogue's hometown of Melbourne, Australia on 11 December 2006. The DVD also featured bonus footage of both Kylie and Dannii Minogue performing "Kids" in Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on 16 December 2006, and five extra songs filmed in London's Earls Court, on 6 May 2005 during the original Showgirl: Greatest Hits tour. White Diamond premiered on UK television on 25 November upfront of its DVD release. The DVD reached number three on the Mexican Top 10 Music DVD Chart, when it was released in February 2008. It was released on DVD in New Zealand on 16 March 2009 by Shock Records. It was rated General by the OFLC of New Zealand.

During the documentary, Kylie expressed her discomfort over the fact that documentary is being filmed in HD and the cinema showing was indeed in HD. However, there has been no Blu-ray release planned.

Showgirl: Homecoming concert DVD

Track listing

1. "Overture"
2. "Better the Devil You Know"
3. "In Your Eyes"
4. "White Diamond"
5. "On a Night Like This"
6. "Shocked" / "What Do I Have to Do?"
7. "Spinning Around"
8. "Confide in Me"
9. "Cowboy Style" / "Finer Feelings"
10. "Too Far"
11. "Butterfly" (Remix Interlude)
12. "Red Blooded Woman" / "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
13. "Slow"
14. "Kids"
15. "Over the Rainbow"
16. "Come into My World"
17. "Chocolate"
18. "I Believe in You"
19. "Dreams"
20. "Burning Up" / "Vogue"
21. "The Loco-Motion"
22. "I Should Be So Lucky"
23. "Hand on Your Heart"
24. "Can't Get You Out of My Head"
25. "Light Years" / "Turn It into Love"
26. "Especially for You"
27. "Love at First Sight"

Bonus features

Showgirl Live from Earl's Court Re-edits

• "In Denial"
• "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi"
• "Confide in Me"
• "Please Stay"
• "Your Disco Needs You"

ROM section:

• Weblinks
• Screensaver
• Wallpapers
• Gallery

External links

• Kylie.com; official website
• White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue at the Internet Movie Database