Hollywood Flashback: The Cast of ‘The Birdcage’ Soared at the 1997 SAG Awards

In 1997, the Display Casts Guild honor for finest set in a movie was anticipated to head to a “serious” candidate like The English Person (which would certainly take place to win the finest image Oscar), Sling Blade or Marvin’s Space (flaunting a cast consisting of Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio). However The Coop jumped in for a shock win.

Producer-director Mike Nichols and author Elaine Might had actually adjusted the movie from the French phase farce La Cage Aux Folles, relocating the tale of a gay pair that possess a club in Saint-Tropez to Miami, where Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, as Armand and Albert Goldman, come to be significantly burnt out when Armand’s boy, Val (Dan Futterman), pertains to see with his future wife (Calista Flockhart) and her ultraconservative moms and dads. The cast is completed by Hank Azaria as the Goldmans’ caretaker, Christine Baranski as Val’s mom and Genetics Hackman and Dianne Wiest as Republican Politician Sen. Kevin Keeley and his spouse, Louise..

The United Artists movie, one of the initially from a significant workshop to fixate LGBT personalities, flew to the leading area on the residential ticket office graph after its opening weekend break in March 1996 and was consulted with favorable evaluations. THR claimed it “delivers great performances … with many crowd-pleasing moments of hilarity,” and commended Lane specifically as “a triumph in the plum role of Albert, Arnold’s panicky, effeminate mate and star performer-in-drag on the stage of the Birdcage.” At the SAG Awards, Lane and Azaria were chosen separately in the sustaining area, and Lane approved the set honor on part of the cast. In his speech, he said thanks to Robin Williams (that was absent) for his kindness and assistance: “I made a true friend, and this [trophy] is his more than anyone else’s.” Later on, Lane confessed the win stunned him. “It was the year of the independent films, I didn’t think we had a chance,” he informed THR at the time.“I was very glad to have a commercial success, finally!”

This tale initially showed up in a December standalone problem of The Hollywood Press reporter publication. Go here to subscribe.