The Birdcage
Short description
The Birdcage centres on Armand Goldman, who runs a popular drag nightclub in Miami Beach with his partner Albert, the club's star performer. Armand's son Val, from an earlier relationship, arrives with news that he is engaged to the daughter of a conservative senator. When the senator and his wife announce they are coming to dinner, Armand and Albert must hide who they are and present themselves as a conventional married couple, a deception that becomes harder to sustain as the evening approaches.
Mike Nichols directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Elaine May. It is the thirteenth of the eighteen films he directed, coming between Wolf and Primary Colors. Robin Williams plays Armand, Nathan Lane plays Albert, and Gene Hackman appears as Senator Kevin Keeley, with Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman and Calista Flockhart in supporting roles. The production, made by United Artists, had a budget of 31 million dollars.
Released in March 1996, the film took about 185 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.2 from roughly 97,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 from about 1,400 votes. A critics' rating of 7 from 62 reviews places it in similar territory to the audience scores, suggesting broad agreement rather than a sharp divide. It runs 119 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Robin Williams (1951-2014) was initially cast as Albert, but he grew tired of playing eccentric characters and requested to play Armand himself. Director Mike Nichols agreed.
- The opening 2-minute scene looks as if it was filmed in one take without breaks, although in reality it is a flawless edit of three segments.
- A remake of the French comedy "La Cage aux Folles" (Édouard Molinaro, 1978).
- In the shrimp scene, Robin Williams' character fell, which was not scripted.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
