Editing The Producers (1967 film) (section)

=== Casting ===
Brooks wanted [[Zero Mostel]] as Max Bialystock, feeling he was an energetic actor who could convey such an egotistical character.<ref name=makingof /> Glazier sent the script to Mostel's lawyer, but the attorney hated it and never showed it to the actor. Eventually, Brooks had to send the script through Mostel's wife [[Kathryn Harkin]]. While Mostel did not like the prospect of playing "a Jewish producer going to bed with old women on the brink of the grave", his wife liked the script so much, she eventually convinced him to accept the role.<ref name=vf /><ref name=billboard />

[[Gene Wilder]] met Brooks in 1963, as Wilder performed with Brooks's then-girlfriend [[Anne Bancroft]] in a stage adaptation of ''[[Mother Courage and Her Children|Mother Courage]].'' Wilder complained that the audience was laughing at his serious performance, and Brooks replied that Wilder was "a natural comic, you look like [[Harpo Marx]]", and said he would cast him as Leo Bloom once he finished the then-titled ''Springtime for Hitler.''<ref name=billboard /> When production arrived, [[Peter Sellers]] accepted an invitation to play Leo Bloom, but he never contacted again, so Brooks remembered Wilder, who was about to make his film debut in ''[[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde]].''<ref name=makingof /> Wilder received the script to ''The Producers'' as Brooks visited him backstage during a performance of ''[[Luv (play)|Luv]]'', and his co-star [[Renée Taylor]] was brought for a brief appearance as the actress playing [[Eva Braun]].<ref name=vf />

[[Dustin Hoffman]] was originally cast as Liebkind. According to Brooks, late on the night before shooting began, Hoffman begged Brooks to let him out of his commitment to do the role so he could audition for the starring role in ''[[The Graduate]].'' Brooks was aware of the film, which co-starred his now-wife Bancroft, and, skeptical that Hoffman would get the role, agreed to let him audition. When Hoffman did win the role of Ben Braddock, Brooks called in Kenneth Mars as Liebkind.<ref name=makingof /> Mars was originally invited because Brooks envisioned him as Roger De Bris, given he played a gay psychiatrist on Broadway. Instead, Mars was interested in the Liebkind role, which became his film debut. He remained in character while not filming as a strategy of [[method acting]].<ref name=vf /> De Bris was instead portrayed by [[Christopher Hewett]], the first actor who read for the role.<ref name=makingof />

Recent [[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]] graduate [[Lee Meredith]] was invited to audition as Ulla on condition of being able to do a Swedish accent. She borrowed a book from the AADA library to learn the accent, and won the role with a screen test of the scene in which Ulla dances. Bancroft suggested her friend [[Andréas Voutsinas]] for the role of Carmen Ghia, feeling his thick Greek accent would fit. Brooks thought of [[Dick Shawn]] to play Lorenzo "L.S.D." Saint DuBois, and Shawn accepted because he liked the part and had no other work at the time. Brooks is heard briefly in the film, his voice dubbed over a dancer singing, "Don't be stupid, be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi Party", in the song "[[Springtime for Hitler (song)|Springtime for Hitler]]". His version of the line is also dubbed into each performance of the musical, as well as the 2005 movie version.