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SUSAN STROMAN on 'THE PRODUCERS'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
December 2, 2005
Based on the critically acclaimed musical of the same name (which in turn is based on Mel Brooks' 1968 movie), The Producers reunites Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the roles they made famous on Broadway. As shady producer Max Bialystock and mousy accountant Leo Bloom, respectively, they conspire to put on the biggest flop in the history of theatre in the hopes of bilking the play's financial backers out of millions of dollars. Armed with a joyously upbeat musical about Hitler, a psychotic playwright, and a flamboyantly gay director, they believe they have all the ingredients for a disaster. But when their intended bomb is taken as brilliant parody and subsequently becomes a gigantic hit, they are completely unprepared for the fallout of legitimate success.
In this interview, Tony award winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman talks about bringing the story of Bialystock and Bloom back to the big screen.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: What was one of the biggest challenges in adapting the musical into a movie?
SUSAN: Well, it was trying to find a way to take the proscenium show and give it four walls and a sky, and open it up, give it breath, make it more fantastical. For example, on Broadway, I only have six girls that dance with Matthew Broderick. But in the movie, I have twelve beautiful girls wearing nothing but pearls surrounding Matthew Broderick, or I'm able to go out to Central Park and dance with 100 little old ladies with walkers. So it was finding a way to give it breath, but still always letting the audience feel that they were in some sort of theatre heaven, some sort of theatre set. The usherettes run out at the beginning and they look right into the camera, and they say, "Let's see how Max Bialystock's show is going. Is it going to be a flop or is it going to be a hit? Let's listen to the audience." So right off the bat, you break the fourth wall and sort of let the movie audience into the theatre.
How did having a camera to work with affect your ability to tell the story?
The camera actually was a wonderful tool for me because in the theatre, everybody watches the show in a wide shot. But now I had the camera to do close-ups, to get close up on these very humorous faces...And it would heighten the comedy. Also, the camera almost became like a dancer to me, because if the actors had to move from left to right in a certain amount of music, that camera had to move in the exact same count of music musically...And I have to say that I think the camera guys, by the end of the movie, loved being able to shoot to music.
What's the big difference between theatre actors and film actors, and did the use of theatre actors in the movie help you?
[laughs] Well, the theatre actors have to deliver a show eight times a week. They're real athletes. They're very disciplined. They are used to doing a character from beginning to end, all the way through, whereas I think movie folks are used to delivering four or five lines, and then we have to stop and change the lighting and change the camera. But because I had theatre folks, they could actually deliver an entire scene and I wouldn't have to cut. And ultimately, in the editing room, I could use the timing of the actors. I didn't have to manipulate, so much, the comic timing.
Quite a production is put on for the film's closing credits. Was Mel Brooks' cameo at the end his idea?
No, that was my idea. And I talked him into it. [laughs] Mel says I could sell the credit roll as a separate movie. The credit roll is in the tradition of a curtain call. We don't do any credits at the top of the movie, we do them all at the end, and there were three surprises at the end of the movie. And the very last surprise, of course, is a cameo of Mel Brooks.
How did you come to cast Will Ferrell in the role of Hitler-enthusiast Franz Liebkind?
Sony and Universal, of course, are distributors of this film, so, as good, big movie studios, they asked us if there was any way to bring in some film actors. Will is perfect because he's had singing and dancing on Saturday Night Live, of course. He's had to deliver that on Saturday night after rehearsing all week. So he really had the chops to get through it. He's a natural.
And what about Uma Thurman as Swedish bombshell Ulla?
When I first met her, it was at a restaurant downtown, and she came and she was dressed all in white, and she had high heels on, so she was about 6 foot 4. And then she sat down and she said to me, "Do you think it's okay that I'm so much taller than Matthew and Nathan?" And I said, "Yes! Yes, it is." And of course, it adds to the comedy. But also, she's really Swedish. She has a very famous Swedish grandmother named Brigit. There's a statue of her in Sweden. So I thought, "I've hit the jackpot here."
What were some traits that made you think Will and Uma could handle the demands of their roles?
They both have that quality that musical comedy performers have. They have a fearless quality. They're excited about learning. They loved learning singing and dancing. They went into a rehearsal process of about seven weeks, and Uma went into vocal coaching and dancing and warming up. I think they both loved that process. I was lucky, actually, that Uma had done those martial arts movies, because she knew how to learn movement. And that's half the battle. Because she had already been through rehearsal periods and learning body movement, she took to the dancing quite naturally. And actually, when I asked her to slide across a desk or flip behind the couch, she had delight in her eyes. She was never afraid. And that's half the battle, too, when you have an actor that's never afraid.
Did Uma have a stunt double for all the acrobatic stuff?
She had a stand-in, but it is Uma [in the movie]. She learned it all, and she does it all.
That's really her doing the splits?
Yes. Uma does a split. Yes, we had two people on each side of her. [laughs]
What about the singing? Are the actors singing to the camera, or is it dubbed in?
We recorded their vocals with the orchestra before we shot, but then we had them sing live on the set so that when I got to editing, I had my choice--I could use their recorded vocal or their live vocal. But that means they always are shot with the breath and the life of someone who's really singing and dancing.
How did you tell the theatre actors who played Franz and Ulla on Broadway that they wouldn't be reprising those roles for the movie?
We all have these show business stories where you even start with an actor in a part, and you think they're going to pull through, and you have to let them go. It's terrible. But they had to understand that this was no reflection on their talent and no reflection on who they were. This is the business of show. And I would work with them in a second in other instances and other mediums.
Did the film crew have to adjust to working on a musical? As a choreographer and theatre veteran, what sort of things did you have to teach them?
Everybody had to really learn how to do a musical...For example, doors and floors, in a musical and in the theatre, are all important. In film, they're not that important. The camera comes up on a scene and an actor's already busy doing something. They don't really make entrances. In the theatre, you make an entrance, and you make an exit. You say a joke and you slam the door, like a drummer. So the doors have to be very percussive. The floors act reflective, and if you see the girls in pearls, the floor is all shiny and black, and the dancer is doubled and a reflection goes this way and that way. So in the theatre, the floors and the doors are all important, and as you create the show and create the set, you create the percussive movements to accentuate your dialogue. But for the [movie's] production designer, this was all new...So it was quite a process teaching people what it takes to put on a musical.
What are some things Nathan Lane brings to the project as both a theatre actor and a film actor?
Nathan rehearses full-out. He sings it full-out, he dances it full-out, he delivers it full-out. So selfishly, for a director, that's fantastic because you know immediately if it's going to work or not. Sometimes I work with actors and they'll say, "I can't do this till I have my costume on" or "I can't give it to you till I have an audience." But Nathan: full-out. And he's not afraid of falling, and he's not afraid of making a mistake. And because of that, you immediately sort it out. And because of his energy, everyone else's energy in the room comes up. He challenges the rest of the actors around him, so the energy in the room is heightened. Nathan's very bright. He's very smart, and he is very witty. His mind is always turning over. He understands the entire story, and the entire journey. Many times you work with actors who are very myopic and only understand their character and not really interested in what happened before with anybody else. But Nathan understands the whole scope of the project that you are doing, and because of that, his characters are really full all the time. And his comic timing is a gift. You cannot teach what Nathan has.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
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