Trivia for
The Producers (2005) More at IMDbPro »

• This is a movie about a play based on a play about a play based on a movie about a play. In fact, however, Mel Brooks originally envisioned this as a Broadway play. Published accounts in 1966 reported that Brooks was working on a comedy play with the title "Springtime for Hitler," and his original choice for the part of Bloom was going to be Paul Anka.
  
  
• With the exception of Will Ferrell and Uma Thurman, all the lead actors originated their roles in the Broadway production.
  
  
• Nicole Kidman was originally considered as a possible Ulla. Matthew Broderick allegedly offered her the role while they were filming The Stepford Wives (2004) together, to which she immediately said yes without seeing so much as a first draft of the script. Kidman subsequently backed out of the project, feeling she was working too much.
  
  
• Originally, this was almost shot in Toronto, Canada. New York State tax incentives made it possible for the production to film in New York City at the new Steiner Studios in Brooklyn. Producer Mel Brooks also jokingly complained that the bagels in Toronto were "too mushy".
  
  
• A lot of the extras in the audience scenes are not actors. They're people who donated money through a charity. As part of their donation, they got to be extras in the movie.
  
  
• Mel Brooks originally wrote the music by humming the melodies to the songs into a tape recorder and having a friend who was musically literate write it down on staff paper.
  
  
• Being the first major film shot in the new Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, NY, the crew had to endure the completion of construction. The studio was only 90% complete when they moved in and there were still leaks in the roof. The crew made suggestions such as expanding make-up rooms. The suggestions were acted upon and the crew finished with resounding success in the new stage.
  
  
• The screech of the black cat who is thrown by Bialystock into the theater and voice the Stormtrooper who sings, "Don't be stupid, be a shmartie, come on join the Nazi Party" in the song "Springtime for Hitler" are provided by Mel Brooks, two roles he also prerecorded for the Broadway show and one (the Stormtrooper) that he did in the original movie. It's also a line from the 1983 single "To Be Or Not To Be - Hitler Rap")
  
  
• The byline for a terrible newspaper review for the show that Bialystock produces at the beginning of the film is by Addison DeWitt, the acerbic drama critic played in All About Eve (1950). The part was played by George Sanders in that movie.
  
  
• Uma Thurman was doubled during portions of the dances by Angie L. Schworer who was playing the part of Ulla in the Broadway version of "The Producers" during production of this film. 'Kathy Fitzgerald (I)' played the role of Shirley Markowitz both on stage and in the film version.
  
  
• Brad Oscar, who plays the taxi driver, was the original Franz Liebkind in the Broadway version. He also played Max Bialystock both on Broadway and London after Nathan Lane departed the role in both cities.
  
  
• Three songs from the Broadway show were cut: "King of Broadway," "In Old Bavaria" and "Where Did We Go Right?". The second act reprise of "Opening Night" was also cut, as were sections of "Along Came Bialy". Despite "Where Did We Go Right?" being cut, the reference to this song in the recap in "Betrayed" remains.
  
  
• The song "You'll Find Your Happiness In Rio" was written for the Broadway musical as part of an extended sequence that was dropped in favor of the song "Betrayed".
  
  
• Max Bialystock's lawyer is played by Thomas Meehan, the screenwriter of the film and the book writer of the musical as well.
  
  
• When Max is visiting the old ladies in their apartment buildings, he pushes lots of apartment call buttons. Among the list of names are A. Bancroft, a tribute to Anne Bancroft, director Mel Brooks' late wife; M. Kaminsky, which is Brooks' birth name; and J. Gatsby, the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's [i]The Great Gatsby[/i].
  
  
• Ernie Sabella, appeared in a number that was cut out where Bialystock and Bloom go to the bar during intermission to celebrate their flop: "Barkeep, drinks all around!" This would have the actors who played Simba, Timon and Pumbaa on screen together.
  
  
• The King of Broadway, the second number following Opening Night, one of the most famous of the songs and the number that introduces the Bialystock character, was cut out. This song also includes the famous Mel Brooks line from History of the World: Part I (1981): "It's good to be the king!"
  
  
• Richard Kind, who played Max Bialystock on Broadway and on the national tour, makes a brief cameo as the jury foreman at the end.
  
  
• Early in the movie, sad-sack Leo Bloom complains, "When is it going to be Bloom's Day?" Beside him on the wall in Max's office is a calendar showing the date as June 16. This is a reference to the novel [i]Ulysses[/i] by James Joyce, which recounts the adventures of Dublin resident Leopold Bloom on June 16, 1904. Joyce fans continue to commemorate Blooms Day every year on that date.
  
  
• Gary Beach was playing the same character on both stage and screen at the same time; when the movie premiered, he was also starring as Roger De Bris on Broadway.
  
  
• There really was a Hamlet musical. And it really was a flop. It was called "Rockabye Hamlet", starring Larry Marshall as Hamlet and Beverly D'Angelo as Ophelia. Cliff Jones wrote book, lyrics and music; Gower Champion directed and choreographed. It lasted for seven performances at the Minskoff Theatre in 1976.
  
  
• When Max opens the cabinet with the pictures of his show contributors you can allegedly see pictures of the old ladies from the original movie version The Producers (1968) although the veracity of this is debatable.
  
  
• The costumes for the Girls in Pearls weighed 20 pounds. The largest of the pearls are plastic grapes painted white; they were chosen not to reduce the weight but to make it more comfortable for the dancers when they had to roll on the floor.
  
  
• In the final frame of the finale the camera pulls out for a wide shot of the theatres and their marquees displaying the titles of the shows that Max and Leo are to produce. On the far left is a portion of the marquee belonging the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The only letters that are visible are A-N-N-E for Mel Brooks' late wife Anne Bancroft who died prior to the film's completion.
  
  
• When Ulla walks into Max's office for the first time, on the King Leer poster (the poster on the right), the eyes start spinning.
  
  
• When Leo says that he was taken to Bialy Hoos of '42, the poster of it is right behind him in the background.
  
  
• When greeting Max and Leo at the door, Carmen Ghia's exaggerated "s" sound when saying the word "yes" lasts for 23 seconds.
  
  
• Fred Applegate had a run as Max Bialystock in the London production of the play.
  
  
• After Max and Leo do Der Guten Tag Hop Clop with Franz, Max tries to pull open the door. When it doesn't open, he shouts, "We're trapped!". This is an inside joke from the play's run in England. One night, a stage hand had locked the door. When Nathan Lane (Max) tried it, he realized it was locked and shouted out, "We're trapped! Trapped like rats with a crazy Nazi!" A stage hand then went up and unlocked the door and they got out.
  
  
• The character Carmen Ghia is a reference to the Karmann Ghia which was a sports car marketed by Volkswagen, designed by the Italian Carozzeria Ghia, and built by German coach builder Karmann. Karmann Ghias were produced between 1955 and 1974, and were based on the familiar Beetle chassis with its rear-engined, air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine.
  
  
• Jonathan Freeman makes a brief cameo as the ticket taker. He played Roger DeBris on Broadway.
  
  
• There are several tributes to Blazing Saddles (1974), a movie written and directed by Mel Brooks. One time is when Leo is alone with Ulla. While looking at some papers, he comments, "Work, work, work, work, work, " which were lines said by 'Mel Brooks (I)' in Blazing Saddles (1974). Another tribute comes in using David Huddleston as the Judge. He appeared in Blazing Saddles (1974) as Olson Johnson. Max saying "Hello boys" when looking at the money in the safe is not a reference to Blazing Saddles (1974). This same line was used by Zero Mostel in the 1968 version which came out 6 years before Blazing Saddles (1974). Finally, Will Ferrell is called a "teutonic twit," the same insult given by Harvey Korman to Madeline Kahn.
  
  
• The posters visible in Shubert Alley outside the theater are all for real Broadway shows from the 1950s and '60s. They include: Redhead (which played from February 1959 to March 1960) with Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley; My Fair Lady (March 1956-September 1962) with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison; The Sound of Music (November 1959-June 1963) with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel; Destry Rides Again (April 1959-June 1960) with Andy Griffith and Dolores Gray; and West Side Story (September 1957-June 1959) with Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence, and Chita Rivera.
  
  
• Some of little old ladies are actually men.
  
  
• Hitler's initial pose during the stage opening number is a clear reference to Dick Shawn's obscure take on the same role in the original film.
  
  
• The line about a 'banana-coconut suncream, number 15' was initially an improvisation by Matthew Broderick uttered in the court scene. It cracked everyone up, so the take was ruined, but evidently the film makers liked the line, as it was inserted into the postcard narration instead. (Source: DVD extras, bloopers section in particular)
  
  
• Th original Broadway production opened at the St. James Theater on April 19, 2001, ran for 2502 performances winning a record-breaking 12 Tonys including the 2001 Tony Awards for the best musical, book and score.
  
  
• Much of the lead singing was performed live on set during takes. (Source: DVD commentary)
  
  
• Matthew Broderick wore an earplug in one ear where Nathan Lane yells "Never put your own money in the show!" up close. (Source: DVD commentary)
  
  
• Nathan Lane actually shaved the top of his head in order to create a realistic comb-over. (Source: DVD commentary)
  
  
• Many portions of the song and dance number performed in the Prisoners of Love sequence near the end of the movie are almost step-for-step reproductions of the ones performed by Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle as Dr Frankenstein and his monster in Young Frankenstein (1974), another movie (and eventual Broadway play) by Mel Brooks.
  
  
• In both the musical and 2005 film adaptation of, Max Bialystock's musical [i]Funny Boyp[/i] closes on opening night. It is billed as a musical version of Hamlet.
  
  
• Other names on the doorbells rung by Max include famous names of New York's richest families: Gould, Fisk, Whitney, Woolworth, Astor, etc.
  
  
• There is an homage to another Mel Brooks movie, Blazing Saddles (1974), that takes place while Max and Leo are on the rooftop attempting to gain the rights to Franz Liebkind's play. After having the contract signed, Max and Leo close the rooftop door behind them, leaving Franz to remark happily: "What nice guys." This is nearly verbatim to the line spoken in Blazing Saddles by another German character created by Brooks called Lili Von Shtupp, played by the late Madeline Kahn.
  
  
• Stay after the credits for a special number and appearance.
  
  
• Roger Bart was nominated for the 2001 Tony Award for supporting or featured actor in a musical and reprised his role in this production.
  
  
• Nathan Lane won the 2001 Tony Award for best actor in a musical beating out his partner Matthew Broderick. Both recreated their roles in the film. Other actors that were included in the film from the stage production are Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Brad Oscar, Madeline Doherty, Bryn Dowling, Kathy Fitzgerald, Rob Fowler and Naomi Kakuk. Three actors were nominated for the 2001 Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical: Gary Beach who won, Roger Bart and Brad Oscar.
  
  
• Nathan Lane exclaims "Wow!" after gargling with Listerine mouthwash, but the "Wow!" after gargling actually stems from a TV commercial by Listerine competitor Lavoris.
  
  
• During the song 'Springtime For Hitler', 'Roger Debis' as Hitler (Gary Beach) mouths 'I love you all' and sits on the edge of the stage to sing the next part of the song. From this moment onward, 'DeBris' performs with a distinct similarity to Judy Garland's performances in both her concerts and her TV specials.
  
  
• When Ulla offers to audition, Bialystockal interrupts Bloom's "That won't be nessa..." by arguing, "Yes it is Nessa! Extremely nessa!" This is a reference to the same "nessa" joke from Mel Brooks' High Anxiety (1977) between characters Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) and Dr. Vicktor Lillolman (Howard Morris).
  
  

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