Adam Del Deo and James Stern didn’t start out thinking they’d get into the documentary business, but Every Little Step marks their fourth documentary together as co-directors. It’s an emotional film that follows several hopeful dancer/singer/actors who hope to get cast in the 2006 revival of “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. I honestly didn’t think this would be too interesting of a film for me, having never seen the musical or the Michael Douglas movie version, but it was extremely compelling without taking a turn for a reality television style, which I’d feared would happen.

Stern, who also serves as the CEO for Endgame Entertainment, had earlier produced Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods which was a reality show about casting the “Legally Blonde” musical, and I still can’t believe that even exists. He’s worked on Broadway for many years, which helped him secure the legendary reel to reel recordings that consisted of show creator Michael Bennett in conversation with dancers. These tapes not only helped Bennett to create A Chorus Line, but they also serve as the backbone to the film.

Read on after the break to find out what it was like making this film, how they got the tapes, and what they think about the current state of documentary filmmaking in America.

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• The headline of Variety’s “Get Smart made a decent amount of money and Love Guru got what it deserved” story: “Audiences make the ‘Smart’ choice.” Is this qualitative analysis, right in the headline? I love it!
• Scott Sternberg, producer of Peter Bart and Peter Gruber’s “stating an opinion as if it is fact is more legitimate on television than on a web site updated in reverse chronological order” chat show Sunday Morning Shootout, is setting up a division of his production company to make feature-length non-fiction films. His first topic? Hasidic jews, of course!
• In what looks to me like a sign that somebody’s finally admitting to themselves that they can only bleed money on untested auteur experiments for so long, The Weinsteins are planning to take advantage of “all these properties that lend themselves to musicals.” They’ll make Broadway shows out of a bunch of crap that they own, including Finding Neverland and Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
• She Unfolds By Day took the top prize at the CineVegas film festival, which announced its awards on Saturday. I was on the shorts jury at the fest, but Variety didn’t name the shorts winners in their writeup, so no disclosure needed, right?

It’s a sad day for Mel Brooks fans. With us still mourning yesterday’s passing of Harvey Korman, who appears in a number of Brooks’ films, today Page Six reports that the Spaceballs director is “quietly shuttering” his film production company, Brooksfilms. In addition to Brooks’ directorial works from A History of the World: Part 1 through Dracula: Dead and Loving It, the company also made such films as The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, My Favorite Year and one of my childhood favorites, the underrated guilty pleasure Solarbabies.

I first caught wind of the news from Stu over at Defamer, and seeing as how his post features a montage of Brooksfilm clips that excludes Solarbabies (for which he apologizes), I present you with a clip from the film here. Isn’t it great to know that breakdance and beatboxing is still cool in the waterless post-apocalyptic future? Another thing that would be cool in the future: a Broadway adaptation of Solarbabies. Hopefully Brooks will forget about that Blazing Saddles musical that’s rumored to be in the works and concentrate on bringing one of his non-classics to the stage. It’d be kinda like Starlight Express meets Urinetown. If Xanadu can be a hit and Young Frankenstein can’t, I say this idea should at least be explored.

UPDATE (6/2/08): Mel Brooks says he is not shutting down Brooksfilms.

• The Cannes Film Festival will show a classic Warner Brothers film every night of the fest, including I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang and Dirty Harry, as part of a tribute to the studio’s 85th anniversary. Also on tap: film critic Richard Schickel’s doc, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story.
• John Waters is making a Christmas movie! And it’s gonna star Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey! The film was reportedly once setup at New Line; this Hollywood Reporter story implies that it was abandoned during that company’s mom and dad took its keys away, and that ThinkFilm “is said to be in talks to come aboard.”
• On Tuesday, Variety negatively reviewed the new Broadway musical Glory Days, pejoratively likening it to a certain “digital revolution”-enabled movie movement that has “democratized the filmmaking process, opening the floodgates for kids straight out of school with no life experience and no stories to tell to start making navel-gazing movies.” Today, the trade reports that Glory Days has ended its run after one show.

I don’t know if they show Broadway musical ads on television anywhere outside the New York area, but I used to hate the cheesy commercials for Mamma Mia! This coming from a guy who loves cheesy, especially when it involves ’70s music like ABBA. As much as I was turned off by those ads, though, I have to admit the new trailer for the movie adaptation is a perfect continuation of their marketing style. The quick edits that just barely show us parts of dance numbers, the overplayed acting that doesn’t seem as suitable when close up and on-screen — the only thing missing is shots of the audience dancing and clapping. And that trademark image of the mother and daughter in front of the mirror.

Of course, this means I’m turned off to the movie, too, despite my man crush on Colin Firth, who plays one of the three men who might be the father of the bride, and my interest in seeing Meryl Streep pumping her arms up and down a lot. If there’s anything more cinematic that Mamma Mia! resembles than those Broadway ads, it’s two terrible, sunshiny musicals: From Justin to Kelly and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Nonetheless, I’m sure plenty of moms and daughters are more excited about the movie than I am, which is fine for them. I’ll stick to watching the more macho ABBA movie, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, preferably with my dad.

If you like the trailer, be sure to check it out in crisp HD over at Moviefone, and check out the photo gallery at Cinematical. Oh and check out one of the old Mamma Mia! Broadway promos here.

***The National Legal and Policy Center has released a report intended to “shame” Google for failing to block access to pirated films on Google Video. Among other things, the NLPC charges that Google gives preferential treatment to copyright holders “it makes business deals with.” In response, a Google spokesman implied that some companies don’t want their copyright material removed from the site. “Copyright status can only be determined by the copyright holder, and their preferences vary widely.”

***Michael Tolkin, the author of The Player, has been hired to adapt the Fellini-inspired Broadway musical Nine for the screen. The Weinstein Company is producing the film; Chicago helmer Rob Marshall will direct.

***September’s Toronto Film Festival will host a Gala screening of David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. The thriller re-teams the director with his History of Violence star, Viggo Mortensen.