“Nathan Lane is a once-in-a-generation Broadway performer,” says co-author Meehan. “He’s in that rare class, someone who comes out on a stage and just mesmerizes you. He has this incredible energy and excitement and great comedy timing.”
“Matthew Broderick, on the other hand,” he continues, “is a kind of a sly humorist who really makes you care about Leo Bloom.”
“What Matthew is able to do is imbue this mousy guy with not only great comic timing but a sense of pathos as well,” says producer Sanger.
“Because the actors are so familiar with the material and the characters, it’s given me the freedom to add layers to what they already know,” Stroman explains. “Matthew and Nathan are natural stage actors, and they’re also natural on film. They know what it’s like to perform for 1,500 people, and they know what it’s like to perform for one camera. I’m very lucky to have them on board.”
Prior to teaming for the Broadway version of The Producers, both Lane and Broderick, having started their careers in the theater, managed to carve highly successful careers alternating between stage and screen. The pair had even worked together once before doing the voices for Disney’s animated classic The Lion King. Lane was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Nathan Detroit in Jerry Zaks’ revival of Guys and Dolls and starred in Terrence McNally’s plays The Lisbon Traviata and Love! Valour! Compassion! before winning the Tony for the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He has appeared in such films as Ironweed, Stand by Me, Frankie and Johnny, Addams Family Values, Mousehunt and, perhaps most memorably, opposite Robin Williams in The Birdcage.
Broderick won his first Tony Award for his Broadway debut in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, and went on to win a Tony for his stage musical debut in Jack O’Brien’s revival of Frank Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Broderick starred in the John Hughes smash Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and subsequently appeared in such films as Biloxi Blues, Family Business, Glory, Addicted to Love, Inspector Gadget, Election, You Can Count on Me and Frank Oz’s recent comedy remake of The Stepford Wives.
From the actors’ perspective, the transition from performing their roles in The Producers on stage to screen was initially a bit startling. For years, Lane and Broderick had shared the musical’s phenomenal success with wildly enthusiastic, applauding audiences whose laughter often exploded over their lines of dialogue. They had learned to adapt or “put air” between certain sentences as needed for the audience response. Once in front of the cameras, however, that audience of 1,500 people had shrunk to approximately 60 or 70 crew people on set with them.
Lane jokes, “Matthew said that shooting this on film can be like doing a very quiet Wednesday matinee. We were so used to an audience being there, and they can be an active part of the process with a certain rhythm. But you have to let go of all that—to go back to what it is your character wants and needs.”
Movie Database
In Theaters
