All That Jazz

Angelique was largely based on Bob Fosse's late wife Joan McCracken, who died on November 1, 1961, and who greatly influenced him in the early years of his career.

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Ann Reinking, who played a role based on herself, had to audition several times before being cast.

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Bob Fosse considered playing the lead himself. Producer David H. Melnick stated that Fosse, who had a history of heart problems, would not survive the shoot.

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Roy Scheider claimed that keeping up with trained dancers in the film's final number was the most physically difficult thing he ever had to do in a film.

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Richard Dreyfuss initially took on the role of Joe Gideon but left the production during rehearsals due to a lack of confidence in it. He later admitted he had made a mistake by passing up the chance to work with Bob Fosse.

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Roy Scheider once said that he had sung, danced on stage and acted before, but never all three in the same production until this film.

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According to Roy Scheider, for the opening "cattle call" scene in which Joe Gideon selects dancers for his show, Bob Fosse gave Scheider an earpiece and talked to him during the shoot to help the actor look as though he knew what he was doing.

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Producer and co-writer Robert Alan Aurthur received two posthumous Oscar® nominations for his work on this film. He died on November 20, 1978, during its production.

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In the Blu-ray audio commentary, it emerged that Roy Scheider received many unusual lessons from Bob Fosse during the shoot, including coughing lessons, because Joe Gideon is a heavy smoker who coughs a great deal, and Fosse instructed Scheider on how to do it properly. Still unhappy with the results, Fosse reportedly edited his own cough sounds into the film in place of Scheider's. Also, in the hospital heart attack scene, Fosse described to Scheider how painful it was, as if someone were pressing a weight on his chest. During his off-camera performance of the scene, while the camera recorded his pained expressions, the first assistant director pressed a knee against Scheider's chest.

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While promoting the film, Bob Fosse continued to chain-smoke unfiltered cigarettes, which left interviewers incredulous that he could do so after suffering two heart attacks and making a film showing the destructive effects of drugs and chain-smoking on his alter ego's health. Fosse joked that he had cut down to five packs a day.

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The character Davis Newman (Cliff Gorman) was based on Dustin Hoffman, who had starred in Bob Fosse's previous film Lenny (1974). Gorman had originally played Lenny Bruce in the original Broadway version of the play on which the film was based, but was passed over in favor of Hoffman for the film version.

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The complex "On Broadway" cattle call scene at the start of the film was shot in only two days, the entire time Bob Fosse and his crew had permission to film in that theater.

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The first scene Roy Scheider shot was the one in which Joe Gideon dances with his daughter. Scheider was terrified because he had almost no prior dance experience.

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The relationship between Victoria Porter and Joe Gideon was based on the relationship between director Bob Fosse and dancer Jennifer Nairn-Smith during rehearsals while working on the stage musical "Pippin." Nairn-Smith plays the Principal Dancer in this film.

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This was the last film musical directed by Bob Fosse. It was also his last feature film as a choreographer.

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When this film had its premiere on VHS, it was the first film with a stereo soundtrack.

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Agent Sam Cohn suggested Roy Scheider for the lead. Daniel Melnick initially decided Scheider was wrong for the role and did not look attractive enough. Bob Fosse told Melnick he would spend a week with the actor. At the end of that week, Fosse met with Melnick. Fosse said he was not sure Scheider would be convincing as a dancer but that he saw something in the actor, and he pressured Melnick to give him the role. Melnick eventually agreed.

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Julie Hagerty was once in a romantic relationship with director/choreographer Bob Fosse; she was cast in a small role in this film. Her role ended up on the cutting room floor.

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This was Leland Palmer's final cinematic appearance, as "Audrey Paris."

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All That Jazz is one of two films shot and released around 1979/80 that were inspired by Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963); the other was Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980). The film's cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno, worked regularly with Fellini.

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The production lasted 101 days. Post-production took eight months.

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According to the biography written by Eric Lax, Paul Newman turned down the role of Joe Gideon. He was not comfortable playing a dancer and did not bother to read the script.

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The address on the bottle of Dexedrine pills Joe Gideon takes every morning was "61 West 58. Street." Bob Fosse actually lived in apartment 26B at 58 West 58. Street.

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This was the only film made by Erzsebet Foldi ("Michelle").

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Some parts of the film, including auditions and moments on set, were recreated for the biographical FX limited series Fosse/Verdon (2019), which starred Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also served as an executive producer on the series) as Roy Scheider, Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking.

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A Star Is Born (2018) is the only R-rated musical ever nominated for the Best Picture Oscar® (rated by the MPAA --- other countries have different classification systems).

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Ben Vereen appears in this film as the O'Connor Flood series host. A decade earlier, Vereen had made his film debut playing a dancer in Bob Fosse's first directorial effort, the Broadway musical Sweet Charity (1969).

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Jon Voight read for the role of Joe Gideon, but Bob Fosse had already recommended Roy Scheider.

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Arnold Gross served as the film's dance arranger and also appeared on screen as the rehearsal pianist. During shooting, he was simultaneously the music director for the Broadway musical "Annie."

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Dancer, choreographer and actress Kathryn Doby appears in the film as Kathryn, the choreographic assistant to Joe Gideon, Bob Fosse's alter ego. Doby was in fact Fosse's choreographic assistant on this film and held the credit "dance assistant: Mr. Fosse" on Star 80 (1983), a later film written and directed by Fosse.

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It was included on the American Film Institute's 1998 list of 400 films nominated for the 100 Greatest American Movies.

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