20 facts you might not know about 'Chicago'

“Chicago” is based off of a 1975 stage musical that was a Bob Fosse production. However, that’s not where it began. That musical is actually based off of a 1927 film also called “Chicago,” which was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It was a silent movie, so needless to say it wasn’t song-oriented.

Fosse hoped to direct a movie adaptation of “Chicago” after the success of his movie “Cabaret.” However, he never got around to it, as he died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 60, having never adapted his musical to screen.

Rob Marshall was eventually hired to directed “Chicago.” It was his first feature film. Prior to that, he made his name on Broadway. Marshall had five Tony nominations to his name by the time he helmed “Chicago.” Fittingly, two of them were for “Cabaret.”

The movie adaptation of “Chicago” kept the music of John Kander and the lyrics of Fred Ebb. However, the film did not simply reuse the stage show’s choreography. Marshall, a choreographer by trade, did the movie’s choreography himself.

Renee Zellweger ended up with the role of Roxie Hart, the protagonist of the movie. She wasn’t the only actress considered, however. Jennifer Aniston was also up for the role of Roxie, which would have been a big role for the actress, who was then still playing Rachel on “Friends.”

Billy Flynn is the scheming, charismatic lawyer that represents Roxie in the movie. One name considered seriously for the role? That would be Michael Jackson. Yes, there were some working on the movie who wanted to cast MJ as Billy. Then, producers shut that down, worrying that it would overshadow the rest of the movie.

While Richard Gere ended up playing Billy Flynn – and doing a good job – another actor could have had the role if he wanted it. John Travolta was offered the chance to play Billy but turned it down. Travolta has since said he regrets turning it down, which isn’t the first time he’s expressed regret over an acting decision.

Gere could have built his career around just following Travolta around and stepping up to the plate. As we said, Travolta turned down playing Billy Flynn. However, this was actually the fourth time that Gere had taken a role that was originally offered to Travolta.

The character of Nicky is played by Chita Rivera. It’s a cameo, but one that was a shoutout to the musical. Rivera originated the role of Velma Kelly on Broadway.

The stage version of “Chicago” presents its songs as vaudeville acts. Marshall was influenced by this, mostly in the way he filmed the events that are happening in Roxie’s head. Everything else is shot in realistic, hard-edged fashion. Because of this, the song “Class,” which is sung by Velma and Mama in the music, was cut by Marshall.

Reilly’s character only has one song, “Mr. Cellophane,” but he was all in for it. The song’s production is heavily indebted to clown iconography. Reilly is such a fan of clowning he insisted on designing his own makeup for the song.

Reilly wasn’t the only actor who had a say in their appearance. Marshall wanted Catherine Zeta-Jones to have long hair in the role of Velma, but the actress wanted her hair in the short bob she wears in the movie. There was a practical reason for this. Zeta-Jones didn’t want her hair to fall in her face when dancing, because it would open the door for people to assume she hadn’t done the dancing herself.

The character of Katalin is a Hungarian woman on death row who doesn’t speak English, but insists she is innocent. However, the actress who plays her is Russian. To an English speaker, this may not be that significant. It’s different for Hungarians, though. Evidently the actress’ Russian accent is so thick that native Hungarian speakers had an issue understanding what she was saying.

Christine Baranski plays investigative reporter Mary Sunshine in the film adaptation, but she never would have been cast in the stage show. That’s not a knock on Baranski. In the stage version, Mary Sunshine was always played by a man in drag. It would be revealed that Mary was a man in drag in the second act. This was nixed from the film.

Even though “Chicago” is literally the movie’s name, the film was not shot in the Windy City. In fact, it wasn’t even shot in the same country. “Chicago” was filmed in Toronto instead.

With a $45 million budget, “Chicago” wasn’t necessarily cheap. However, the film still paid off for the studio. “Chicago" made $170.6 million in the United States and Canada and $306.7 million worldwide. It was the highest-grossing live-action musical ever until “Mamma Mia!” surprised it.

“Chicago” was a hit, but it got there in a strange way. It was never the No. 1 film in the U.S. box office. In fact, it wasn’t ever second either. “Chicago” peaked at No. 3 in the box office. The film set a record for the highest-grossing movie to never reach the top two in the U.S. box office, a record that was broken by “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” in 2009.

“Chicago” took home 12 nominations from the Academy Awards. Many of them were technical, of course, but it also received four acting nominations. That meant there was no way they could win them all, though. Both Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones were nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Zeta-Jones did indeed end up taking home Best Supporting Actress. That was one of six wins for the movie. This includes the biggest of them all, Best Picture. “Chicago” winning was a throwback to a different era for the Oscars. Musicals used to win Best Picture fairly often. Four musicals won that award in the 1960s alone, including “Oliver!” in 1968, which was the last musical to win Best Picture before “Chicago.”

You might not expect teenagers to be interested in an adaptation of a 1975 Broadway musical set in the Jazz Age. Evidently that wasn’t the case. “Chicago” got five nominations at the Teen Choice Awards. Queen Latifah got two nominations herself, and the movie was nominated for Choice Villain, Choice Liar, and Choice Hissy Fit. However, it didn’t win a single award. Hey, Adam Sandler just had a better hissy fit in “Anger Management.”