Kerri Ford does background work at the St. James Theatre for The Producers movie, complete with 1950's costume hair and makeup. Read the write-up from the NY Times here:
"Filming the Movie of a Musical of a Movie"
By Alan Feuer
Here is how the hall of mirrors that is the entertainment business works these days: At the St. James Theater on West 44th Street yesterday, one could watch a movie of a musical-within-a-musical-that-started-as-a-movie being made.
The new movie, as well as the musical (and the original movie both were based on), is "The Producers," which concerns the misadventures of two con men who purposefully put on a rotten show hoping it will flop. The filmed version of the musical of the movie is now in production. Look for a Christmastime theatrical release.
If none of this makes sense, don't worry.
"Nothing makes sense in Hollywood, man," said Anthony Wright, an assistant on the filming. "The more it don't make sense, the more it works."
Because the press likes nonsense as much as Hollywood does, however, this reporter was dispatched to observe the celluloid snake eating its own tail.
The first man he encountered was Roger Fay, a bow-tied extra.
"I'm one of the patrons in the movie that watches the play of the movie - yeah, the play of the movie, in the movie," he said, not quite helping.
Mr. Fay seemed to realize this and summed it up: "The concept is deep."
Unconvinced, the reporter moved on to another extra, Lewis G. Maharam, who tried as well to set him straight.
"Basically, I'm supposed to applaud the play-within-the-play in a movie about a play that was based on a movie," he said, which seemed to make more sense.
A publicist, Marsha Robertson, provided some actual information. The film, she said, was shooting only for a day at the St. James (where the musical based on the movie was, in fact, still running). The rest of the shooting will take place in Brooklyn, she said.
Then, at one point, Nathan Lane - star of both the new movie and the old musical - appeared outside the theater on his cellphone. Surely he could untangle this conundrum in a puzzle.
So Mr. Lane was asked if he ever grew confused about the musical-and-movie thing. He was then informed that an article was being written. Might there be a documentary about the article about the movie of the musical about the movie?
For a moment, Mr. Lane gave his questioner a puzzled look. Then, he simply took his phone and walked away.