Funny Lady
![Watch film Funny Lady — Funny Lady (1975) Original Trailer [FHD]](https://www.acmodasi.in/amdb/images/posters/3/92/funny-lady-1975-6giHo.webp)
Short description
Funny Lady continues the story of singer Fanny Brice, picking up after her divorce from Nick Arnstein. Struggling to find work during the Great Depression, she meets Billy Rose, a lyricist and nightclub owner whose ambition matches her own. The two form an unlikely partnership that gradually turns into something more personal, though their careers do not always move in step.
Herbert Ross directed the film, the fourth of thirteen features he made, following The Last of Sheila and preceding The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. Arnold Schulman and Jay Presson Allen wrote the screenplay, and Ray Stark produced. Barbra Streisand reprises the role of Fanny Brice, with James Caan as Billy Rose, Omar Sharif as Nick Arnstein, Roddy McDowall, Ben Vereen and Carole Wells among a credited cast of fifty-one. Columbia Pictures and Rastar Productions backed the project on a budget of nine million dollars, and it went on to take forty million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.2 from around 6,300 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.3 from a much smaller base of 72 votes. Running 136 minutes, it blends comedy, drama and romance.
What's left behind the scenes
- Barbra Streisand didn't envision James Caan as Billy, but rather Robert Blake, whom she considered more suitable. Streisand asked Blake to come over so they could read the script together. When the reading ended, a clearly impressed Streisand asked Blake if he wanted to play Billy. To this, the actor replied: "I just did." Incensed that he had been lured into an audition, the actor slammed the door, and the role went to Caan.
- While filming the scene where Fanny is on a plane, some kind of mix-up occurred at the ground control tower, and the plane with the actress had to circle the airport surroundings for nearly half an hour. Barbra Streisand, who was terrified of flying, spent those thirty minutes until landing screaming her head off.
- Barbra Streisand refused to star in the film until producer Ray Stark, with whom she was contractually obligated to make one more movie, sued her. It is claimed that after filming wrapped, Streisand gave Stark a mirror on which she had written "Paid in Full" in lipstick.
- Producer Ray Stark disliked the cinematographer's work so much that he literally begged the retired James Wong Howe (1899-1976) to pick up the camera once more. "Funny Lady" became the last of more than 130 films that Howe worked on.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
