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Within this context, The Birdcage's light-hearted, playful portrait of queerness, exempt from suffering, threat, or death, was radical too. Within the film, there is only one single mention of the ...
Mar 4, 2021 · In light of this, it’s difficult not to see The Birdcage as a radical LGBT film, one that not only portrays an openly gay family, drag culture and a same-sex couple, but actively celebrates them ...
- Daniel Broadley
The Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film produced and directed by Mike Nichols. Elaine May 's screenplay adapted the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles , itself an adaptation of a 1973 play . It stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a gay couple whose son ( Dan Futterman ) is set to marry the daughter ( Calista Flockhart ) of a conservative senator ( Gene Hackman ) and his wife ( Dianne ...
- The Time Was Right
- "The Birdcage" Was The 7th Incarnation of The French Farce "La Cage Aux Folles"
- It Was The First Elaine May/Mike Nichols Movie Collaboration
- Most of The Improvising Happened in Rehearsal
- Only Parts of The Movie Were Filmed in Miami
- Armand Was Almost Steve Martin, with Robin Williams Playing Albert
- Robin Williams Didn't Want to Play Albert Anyway
- This Was Nathan Lane's First Big break. and He Turned It Down
- "The Birdcage" Was A Big Break For Other Actors, Too
- David Allen Grier Was The Original Butler
America was just about ready for this. At the time Ellen DeGeneres had not yet come out. Two recent movies featuring drag queens — "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" had been released to mixed reviews and decent-if-not-great box office. Did Robin Williams' name help bring more people into the the...
"La Cage aux Folles" ("The Cage of Madwomen") is a 1973 French play by Jean Poiret and Francis Veber with more or less the same plot as above, just substitute Saint-Tropez for South Beach. It was made into a French-Italian movie in 1978, had two sequels, spawned an American TV pilot called "Adam and Yves" that failed, and was adapted as a hugely su...
Younger audiences may not grasp the significance, but Elaine May and Mike Nichols were a massively influential comedy duo in the 50s and 60s who redefined both improv and standup comedy with multiple appearances on stage and TV before launching a year-long, sold-out Broadway show together. They separated afterwards at the height of their fame to be...
It can be difficult to corral brilliant comic improvisors such as Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, but Nichols insisted on weeks of rehearsal — not a common thing for movies — and let them improvise all they wanted then. The best ideas went into the script because Nichols wanted to shoot the movie as much like a play as possible, without much editin...
The incredible opening tracking shot starts with the camerasailing over the Atlantic Ocean to cross Lummus Parkto enter Armand's nightclub The Birdcage, or, as it's known in real life, the Carlyle Hotel at 1250 Ocean Drive. While most of the movie was shot in Hollywood, several exterior scenes were shot at various locations at the beach and in the ...
Nichols had directed Martin and Williams in "Waiting for Godot"a few years earlier and they were set for this movie, but schedule conflicts prevented Martin from staying in.
That turned out to be a good thing because Williams had just done a movie wearing women's clothing in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and he wanted the acting challenge of playing against his usual type to be the calm one for a change. "I wanted to play Armand because it gave me an opportunity to portray a very dry type of comedy versus being outrageous," William...
In movies, anyway. Lane was already becoming a name on Broadway but to this point his movie appearances were limited to bit parts in "Jeffrey," "The Addams Family" and others, and as the voice of Timmon in the animated "Lion King." Nichols offered him the part while he was starring in "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" by longtime Nichols collaborator Ne...
Calista Flockhart didn't have much of a Hollywood resume at this point, but Nichols saw her in an off-Broadway production of "The Loop" and signed her up. She may be able to thank "The Birdcage" for "Ally McBeal" the next year. And while Hank Azaria was known for his voices in "The Simpsons" and a few movie roles, it was his scene-stealing portraya...
In the first drafts, the butler was a Black man, as he was in the original French version. After the first read through they decided to make a change, as Azaria explained to The A.V. Club. "And they thought David was brilliant, but they thought that in an American context, the idea of a Black houseman would be somewhat distasteful and have racist o...
Mar 7, 2021 · The film received positive reviews by critics and audiences upon its release, grossing $124 million at the U.S. box office, and was the #1 movie in America for three weeks.
Mar 8, 2021 · Released in 1996, Mike Nichols’ film The Birdcage turns 25 today and is still as entertaining as ever. If one has watched the original Franco-Italian film La Cage aux Folles or the Broadway adaptation, one might already be familiar with the story. Nichols’ version stays faithful to the original text yet appears exceptionally refreshing due ...
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Mar 4, 2021 · The Birdcage really touched my heart, and I wish I'd seen it so much sooner. I also wish I had a better excuse for taking this long to see it! Fact is, I was 10 when it came out, and very ...
