Trivia / What's New Pussycat?

• Banned in China: The film was banned in Norway because of a scene where Dr. Fassbender tries to kill himself by burning himself alive wrapped with the Norwegian flag.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: The film's "What's New Pussycat" title song sung by Tom Jones was a hit, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, and stayed on the charts for at least ten weeks peaking at No. #2, and is on the running for Jones's Signature Song. Many people don't know that it was made for a film of the same name.
• Breakthrough Hit/Star-Making Role: For Woody Allen.
• The Danza: Capucine plays a character named Renée Lefébvre. Capucine's birth name is Germaine Lefébvre.
• Playing Against Type: Peter O'Toole agreed to be in the film because he was eager to do a comedy after coming off several dramatic roles in film and theatre.
• Throw It In!: Dr. Fassbender's line about Rita being "a personal friend of James Bond" was ad-libbed by Peter Sellers, which explains why Ursula Andress laughs out loud afterwards; it's Andress's legitimate reaction to the ad-lib, which was left in the film.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Richard Burton makes an uncredited cameo as a man in a strip club.
  • Woody Allen's future wife Louise Lasser makes an uncredited cameo as a masseuse attending Dr. Fassbender.
• Vacation, Dear Boy: Charles Feldman's advice to Woody Allen was that he "write something where we can all go to Paris and chase girls".
• Wag the Director: Woody Allen once said that Peter Sellers gave himself all the best lines in the picture and so after this film Allen wanted more artistic control and became a director. Frank Miller at the Turner Classic Movies website states that Sellers "started improvising his own lines and suggesting added scenes. Even more damaging, he and Allen developed a rivalry that wasn't helped by their resemblance to each other. Sellers resented people's mistaking him for the neophyte actor-writer. And it got worse when an executive producer on the film, thinking he was Allen, reassured him that he wouldn't let Sellers damage his picture. Sellers began improvising more and even got the producer to give him lines and scenes Allen had written for himself. Suddenly Sellers was the film's star, and Allen was reduced to a supporting role".
• What Could Have Been:
  • The role of Michael James was originally written with Warren Beatty in mind. "What's new, pussycat?" was how he'd answer phone calls at the time. He wanted to cast his then-girlfriend Leslie Caron as Renée Lefébvre.
  • Groucho Marx was supposed to play Dr. Dreyfuss.
  • Patricia Neal was considered for Mrs. Werner.

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