Trivia for
All That Jazz (1979) More at IMDbPro »

• Many of the characters in the film are based on real-life characters from the New York theater world. Aside from Roy Scheider, Leland Palmer's character was based on his wife/frequent star Gwen Verdon. 'John Lithgow''s character was also based somewhat on the New York theater director Michael Bennett, director of "Dreamgirls" with whom Bob Fosse had a longstanding rivalry. The character of producer Jonesy Hecht was based upon his fellow longtime rival Harold Prince. Ann Reinking was more or less playing herself. The character of songwriter "Paul Dann" is a swipe at Stephen Schwartz, with whom he had unhappily worked on "Pippin." Jules Fisher, the lighting designer on many of Fosse's shows, and later the producer of his show "Dancin'", makes an appearance as a lighting designer in the scene with 'John Lithgow'. The film is based on Fosse's real-life heart attack while directing the original 1975 Broadway production of Chicago.
  
  
• Richard Dreyfuss was originally cast in the role of Joe Gideon but left the production during the rehearsal stage.
  
  
• Ann Reinking, who played a part based on herself, had to audition several times before she was cast.
  
  
• The part played by 'Cliff Gorman (I)' was based on Lenny Bruce as played by Dustin Hoffman in Fosse's film Lenny (1974). Gorman had originated the role on Broadway.
  
  
• The address on the Dexedrine pill bottle that Joe Gideon used every morning was "61 West 58th Street". Bob Fosse actually lived in apartment 26B at 58 West 58th Street.
  
  
• The mustachioed editor (called, "Eddie") of the film-within-a-film, "The Stand-Up" is played by Alan Heim, the actual editor of this film.
  
  
• Bob Fosse's 16-year-old daughter, Nicole Fosse, appears briefly as a dancer, doing stretches in front of a vending machine, who is asked, "Can't you do that somewhere else?" while Joe Gideon is introducing his new idea for the Air-otica number.
  
  
• According to Shirley MacLaine in her autobiography "My Lucky Stars," the idea for this film was hatched when Fosse was hospitalized for a heart attack. MacLaine claims she was the one who gave Fosse the idea to do "a musical about his death" though she said Fosse seemed to not remember this later. Fosse did, however, offer her the role of Audrey Paris, she wrote.
  
  
• When first released on video, it was the first such videocassette to have a stereo soundtrack.
  
  
• The film takes its title from the song "All That Jazz" from Bob Fosse's 1975 Broadway musical "Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville."
  
  
• When Kate calls Joe at the hospital from backstage, the song playing in background is "We Reached For The Gun" from the musical Chicago.
  
  
• One of the first lines, "To be on the wire is life; the rest is waiting," is spoken voice-over as we see a man falling from a high wire into a net (and the speaker then admits he didn't make it up). The quote is generally attributed to Karl Wallenda, who had died the year before the film came out, when he fell from a high wire without a net.
  
  
• Julie Hagerty was once romantically involved with director/choreographer Bob Fosse, she was cast in a small role in this film. Her role ended up on the cutting room floor.
  
  

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