The Producers (2005) on Netflix
New York, 1959. Washed-up producer Max Bialystock and timid accountant Leo Bloom plan to raise more money than a show needs and stage a disaster, keeping the surplus.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.4/1047,440 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes51%
Trailer
Plot summary
In New York in 1959, Max Bialystock once ruled Broadway, but his recent productions close on opening night. His accountant, the neurotic Leo Bloom, spots a two-thousand-dollar discrepancy and realizes that a flop is expected to lose money, so the IRS pays it little attention. Leo jokes that selling extra shares in a doomed show could yield two million dollars. Max seizes on the idea; Leo first refuses, then leaves his job to form Bialystock & Bloom with Max. They hunt for the worst play ever written and find Springtime for Hitler, a tribute to Adolf Hitler by ex-Nazi Franz Liebkind. They swear an oath to him for the rights. Director Roger DeBris and his assistant Carmen Ghia agree to stage it, and Swedish performer Ulla is hired as a secretary while Max courts elderly women to fund the production.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Bryn Dowlingas Usherette / Girl with Pearls / Little Old Lady / Bavarian Peasant
- Meg Gillentineas Usherette / Girl with Pearls / Little Old Lady / Tapping Brown Shirt
- Kevin Ligonas Workman / Little Old Lady
- Ray Willsas Bum
- Tory Rossas Misfit Showgirl
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Producers (2005)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- On February 28, 2016 a five-minute sequel short called Trumped was released on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane reprising Leo Bloom and Max Bialystock as political consultants who pick Donald Trump as a losing candidate, only for him to become a political phenomenon.
- The film won a special "Annie Award" which criticized the decision to sell tickets for it at an additional $2.50; the name reflects a decision similarly used by the film Annie.
- The box-office failure did not seem to bother the film's producer Brooks, who apparently only greenlit it so there would be some tangible record of the stage play.
- The film grossed $19 million at the box office in North America and another $18 million overseas for a worldwide total of $38 million; the failure was partly due to competition with King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Fun with Dick and Jane, and Memoirs of a Geisha.
- Ernie Sabella, who co-starred alongside Lane and Broderick in The Lion King, makes an uncredited cameo appearance as a singing drunk in a deleted scene.
- Nicole Kidman was originally cast as Ulla but backed out of the project due to other commitments, while Lane, Broderick, Beach and Bart all reprised their roles from the stage musical.
