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The Birdcage. (1996) A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing, conservative parents...
Sep 23, 2024 · Discover 30 intriguing facts and trivia about the iconic film The Birdcage, including its star-studded cast and behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
It debuted at the top of the North American box office and stayed there for the following three weeks, grossing $185.3 million on a $31 million budget. It is seen as groundbreaking because it was one of few films from a major studio to feature LGBT characters at its center.
- Steve Martin Was Originally Set to Star in The Birdcage as Armand.
- Mike Nichols Cast Broadway Actors in The Birdcage.
- Hank Azaria Was Cast in The Birdcage Because of His Work on Quiz Show.
- Hank Azaria Was Shooting Heat at The Same Time He Was Shooting The Birdcage.
- David Alan Grier Was Originally Set to Play The Butler.
- Agador Was Partly Based on Judy Garland's Dresser.
- The Birdcage Features Original Music by Stephen Sondheim.
- The Birdcage's Success Was A Personal Victory For Mike Nichols.
- Paul Thomas Anderson Loves The Birdcage.
Steve Martin was set to play Armand, with Robin Williams playing his partner Albert, but there were scheduling conflicts on Martin's end. Williams said he didn't want to play Albert anyway, believing he had already dressed in drag enough with Mrs. Doubtfire(1993).
Nichols offered Nathan Lane the part of Albert while he was starring in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor on Broadway. Lane said it was a "dream come true." Nichols also cast a pre-Ally McBeal Calista Flockhart, despite her having minimal Hollywood experience, after seeing her in an Off-Broadway production of The Loop.
Nichols liked what he saw in Hank Azaria, who played a TV producer in Quiz Show (1994). Azaria's role was expandedfrom initially playing Albert's dresser to Agador Spartacus, the couple's Guatemalan maid.
On his 30th birthday, Azaria worked on Michael Mann's Heat (1995) until 6 a.m., then headed to The Birdcageset. When Nichols found out it was his birthday, and that he had been working for 18 hours straight, he sent Azaria home.
Azaria told The A.V. Club that expanding his role in The Birdcagewas Robin Williams's idea. "That first scene where I’m dressing Nathan Lane, getting him all dressed up? The maid/houseman was supposed to be a whole other character, who was supposed to be a black character like it is in the French version, and … I think he was going to be played by ...
When Azaria couldn't figure out how to play a scene where Agador had to calm an anxious Albert down before a show, Nichols gave him some background to help. "Your character is partially based on Judy Garland’s dresser," Nichols said. "Judy would panic before every performance and her dresser would panic with her and he would panic more than her so ...
Stephen Sondheim said it was fun to write "It Takes All Kinds." The song was meant to play over the opening titles, but when Nichols heard "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge, he changed his mind.
After he showed the final cut of The Birdcage to his editing team in Martha's Vineyard, they all had a celebratory meal. “I was very emotional and very angry: I couldn’t speak all through lunch,” Nichols said of that day. “The film was so good, so strong. I realized I’d had no inkling of my anger at the people who had written me off. My reaction, i...
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) wrote in 2009 that there are two films "that without fail or question will make me stop dead in my tracks and watch all the way to the very end, no matter what else is happening or needs to get done." One was The Shining (1980). The other was The Birdcage. This story has been updated for 2021.
- Roger Cormier
Feb 25, 2021 · When Mike Nichols’s The Birdcage was released in 1996, it made $185 million worldwide, a truly astonishing fact. There are so many reasons why The Birdcage would never ever be made today, let alone make so much money. We’re talking about an R-rated comedy with no gross-out or potty humor.
Mar 8, 2021 · 24. "The Birdcage" made a few bucks "The Birdcage" reportedly cost $31 million to make.
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Mar 8, 2016 · The Birdcage made $18.3 million dollars in its opening weekend. That made it the highest-grossing weekend opening of a movie with openly gay lead characters until Sascha Baron Cohen’s Bruno...
