Pride Month 2025: The Birdcage (1996)
- Sun, Jun 15
Director: Mike Nichols Run Time: 119 min. Rating: R Release Year: 1996
Starring: Dan Futterman, Dianne Wiest, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Robin Williams
Country: United States
Language: English
Co-curated by Columbus icon Nina West and Gateway Film Foundation CEO Chris Hamel, the Film Center is proud to present our 2025 Pride Month Program!
About the film:
In this remake of the classic French farce “La Cage aux Folles,” engaged couple Val and Barbara shakily introduce their future in-laws. Val’s father, Armand, a gay Miami drag club owner, pretends to be straight and attempts to hide his relationship with Albert, his life partner and the club’s flamboyant star attraction, so as to please Barbara’s father, controversial Republican Sen. Kevin Keeley .
The Birdcage (1996) received a nomination for Best Art Direction at the 69th Academy Awards. Three songs written by Stephen Sondheim were adapted and arranged for the film by composer Jonathan Tunick. With a screenplay adapted by Elaine May, this film marks the first Nichols and May collaboration since their acclaimed comedy act in the 60s.
“The beauty of The Birdcage is that its jokes and its message are one and the same. These characters couldn’t change themselves if they tried. And only a fool would want them to.”
—Entertainment Weekly, 1996
About the filmmaker:
Mike Nichols was an American film and theatre director and comedian. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of their experience. He is one of a small number of people to achieve “EGOT” status, winning all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. His films received a total of 42 Academy Award nominations, and seven wins.
Nichols began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improv troupe The Compass Players, predecessor of The Second City, in Chicago. He then teamed up with his improv partner, Elaine May, to form the comedy duo Nichols and May. Their live improv act was a hit on Broadway, and each of their three albums was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album; their second album, An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, won the award in 1962. After they disbanded, he began directing plays, and quickly became known for his innovative theatre productions.
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