The King of Comedy

The King of Comedy (1982)

Timing: 1:49 (109 min)

7.8/10
2550

7.597/10
16439

7.8/10
132000

All about film

Video 10

Photo 85

Actors and characters

Release date

1982-12-18

Country

United States

Production

20th Century Fox, Embassy International Pictures

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Budget

$20 000 000

Revenue

$2 536 242

Website

https://www.newregency.com/movies/the-king-of-comedy

Director

Martin Scorsese

Actors

Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard, Shelley Hack, Frederick de Cordova, Ed Herlihy, Lou Brown, Loretta Tupper, Peter Potulski
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Paul D. Zimmerman

Producer

Arnon Milchan, Robert Greenhut

Operator

Fred Schuler

Composer

Robbie Robertson

Artist

Audition

Cis Corman

Editing

Thelma Schoonmaker, Thelma Schoonmaker
All team (50)

• Sandra Bernhard had no formal acting training. The role of Masha was her film debut. Considering all this and wanting her character to look as natural as possible, director Martin Scorsese allowed her to improvise lines.
• During the filming of the movie, Robert De Niro was married to Dianne Abbott, who played the role of Rita.
• The lawyer Jerry Langford was played by Martin Scorsese's lawyer.
• Almost all of Rupert's scenes performed by Robert De Niro in Jerry's house were improvised. During the phone call, Kim Chan's character made up his lines as he went along. The episode where this character just can't open the door was also not written in the script.
• When Rupert appeared at Langford's house, Robert De Niro deliberately made several antisemitic remarks in order to seriously anger Jerry Lewis (1926-2017). Lewis was shocked, and his genuine reaction to the insults pleased the director.
• In the scene where Robert De Niro and Sandra Bernhard's characters argue, some thugs begin to harass her. The roles of the latter were played by Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, and Paul Simonon from the British punk rock band The Clash (1976-1985).
• The character played by Jerry Lewis is also named Jerry. Initially, the script stated that Jerry Langford's name was Bobby. Lewis himself suggested calling him by his own name so the camera could capture the reaction of passersby on the street who recognized him. In this scene, only the taxi driver and the woman in the phone booth were professional actors; all the others were random passersby.