hat happens when a musical wins more Tony awards than any other show in the history of Broadway and grosses more at the box-office in its first year ($60 million) than most movies? You make a movie out of it -- again.

  The Producers stage adaptation starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane was a hit from day one. Both Broderick and Lane were established stars when they took on the lead roles -- Broderick was a two-time Tony Award winner for Brighton Beach Memoirs and for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, while Lane won a Tony as Best Actor for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. As for their big screen credits, both are Golden Globe 
nominees -- Broderick for Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Lane for The Birdcage.

  Based on his 1968 film The Producers, renowned funnyman Mel Brooks wrote the music, lyrics and script for the Broadway musical version. Unlike the producers in the musical, Brooks must have known his show would be a bona fide hit.

  The story follows Max Bialystock (Lane), a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer who plots a get rich quick scheme along with his mousy CPA, Leo Bloom (Broderick). They decide to raise more money than they need to produce a Broadway show, but instead of having a hit, they want the "worst play ever written." They figure that when it flops, the investors won't expect to make their money back, so they can pocket the excess and head off for tropical climes and a life of luxury. When they stumble upon an atrocious script called "Springtime for Hitler," they're ecstatic, thinking they've got it made.

  There's just one hitch. It doesn't flop and the producers find themselves caught by surprise -- with their fingers in the cash box -- when the production is hailed as a toast-of-the-town hit.

  When it came time to cast the film, the logical move was to get Broderick and Lane (who'd moved on to other projects by then) 
actors
Matthew Broderick
Nathan Lane
Will Ferrell
Uma Thurman

director
Susan Stroman

locations
New York City

outtake
Matthew Broderick won the Hollywood Film Awards Supporting Actor of the Year accolade on October 24 for his performance in The Producers -- two months before the film's scheduled release.

to return to their roles. "They know how to play this material to 1,500 people and to a single camera," first-time director Susan Stroman (who shepherded the stage version to 12 Tony awards) told Entertainment Weekly.

  Joining the duo are Will Ferrell as the offbeat Nazi Franz Liebkind, and Uma Thurman as the sexy Swedish secretary/seductress Ulla. As for her first singing role, Thurman admits it's been OK. "I would say I make a poor but passable singer. But they haven't suggested anyone sing for me yet, so I feel like 'phew!'"

- Alexandra Heilbron