The Producers/Trivia

""Oh, that dreadful picture. I can't bear to watch it, even on a small television. I must have needed the money - living in Hollywood weakens one's motives. It reminds me of the saying that nobody ever went broke underestimating the American public's taste.""
 * Acclaimed Flop: The original film only played in art cinemas and barely made its money back. That didn't stop it from winning an Academy Award for "Best Original Screenplay".
 * Actor Allusion: In the 2005 film, Will Ferrell's character breaks one leg, then later breaks the other. Mustafa, who Will played in Austin Powers 2, had the same misfortune.
 * Creator Backlash: The subject of sort of a meta-example (in addition to the obvious in-universe example). In Season 4 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mel casts Larry David as Max on Broadway, knowing he's a terrible actor, in the hopes that The Producers will finally die because he's sick of it (see?). The season finale covers the debut performance with Larry in the role, and he starts to falter but manages to turn it around, ensuring the show's continued longevity.
 * Dawson Casting:
 * Lorenzo St. DuBois seems to be a 50 year old hippie, not recent college graduate (of course, that could be the point).
 * Estelle Winwood lied about her age to get cast in the film. She was 85, portraying a 70 year old woman.
 * Executive Meddling:
 * The original film was so offbeat and provocative it almost didn't get released - until Peter Sellers saw an early cut at a private gathering and pressured Avco-Embassy to support it, taking out an ad in Variety (ironically, Brooks had initially wanted Sellers for a role in the film, but he turned it down).
 * In a looser sense, this is the entire plot of the film--Bialystock and Bloom are meddling with their product, albeit to make it fail rather than succeed.
 * Fake Nationality: Franz Liebkind and Ulla; even though Uma Thurman has distant Swedish ancestry, she makes Ulla sound about as Swedish as, well, Hitler.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: In the 2005 movie, Captain Jack Harkness sings "Springtime for Hitler."
 * Timon and Simba are the main characters with Ron Burgundy and The Bride as Liebkind and Ulla respectively.
 * In a deleted scene, Pumbaa joins in.
 * George is Carmen Ghia!
 * The original film features a much thinner Mr. Belvedere wearing a dress!
 * The original Bialystock and Bloom are Kehaar and Willy Wonka.
 * Estelle Winwood in the original.
 * Old Shame/Money, Dear Boy: Estelle Winwood.

"Max: We open in Leavenworth Saturday night!"
 * Zero Mostel was thoroughly embarrassed by how fat he was during the filming and lamented how, for all he'd done, he'd be forever remembered as "That fat guy in The Producers."
 * Recursive Adaptation: The 2005 film is based on the musical based on the 1968 original.
 * Brooks himself Lampshaded this during an interview, saying "It hasn't been done in claymation yet!"
 * Throw It In: Gene Wilder's "Whom Has He Hurt" speech was completely improvised. Kenneth Mars also made up some lines on the spot (“Churchill . . . and his rotten paintings. The Fuhrer. Here was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in von afternoon—two coats!”).
 * Trope Namer: Of Springtime for Hitler, obviously. Unique in that The Producers has two of them if you include the closing "Prisoners of Love".


 * What Could Have Been: Dustin Hoffman was initially cast as Franz Liebkind in the original film until Mike Nichols cast him as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate instead.
 * According to Mel Brooks, he only let Hoffman audition for The Graduate because Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft, was playing Mrs. Robinson in that film. Also, since Benjamin was a blond jock in the book, Brooks thought he'd never get the role.
 * Write Who You Know: Mel Brooks used to work for a similarly unscrupulous producer who would court older women into giving him money for his new show, the title of which was usually Cash.


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