Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker (collectively known as Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or ZAZ) wrote Airplane! while they were performing with the Kentucky Fried Theatre, a theatre group they had founded in 1971. To obtain material for comedy routines, they routinely recorded late night television and reviewed the tapes later primarily to pull the commercials, a process Abrahams compared to "seining for fish".[16] During one such taping process, they unintentionally recorded the 1957 film Zero Hour!, and while scanning the commercials, found it to be a "perfectly classically structured film" according to Jerry Zucker.[7][16] Abrahams later described Zero Hour! as "the serious version of Airplane!". It was the first film script they wrote, completed around 1975,[16] and was originally called The Late Show. The script originally stayed close to the dialog and plot of Zero Hour!, as ZAZ thought they did not have a sufficient understanding of film at the time to structure a proper script.[16] ZAZ's script borrowed so much from Zero Hour! that they believed they needed to negotiate the rights to create the remake of the film and ensure they remain within the allowance for parody within copyright law. They were able to obtain the rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount for about $2,500 at the time.[16] The original script contained spoofs of television commercials but people who proofread it advised them to shorten the commercials, and they eventually removed them. When their script was finished, they were unable to sell it.[17]
While failing to sell their script, the trio met director John Landis, who encouraged them to write a film based on their theatre sketches. They managed to put The Kentucky Fried Movie into production in the late 1970s. David Zucker said "it was the first time we had ever been on a movie set. We learned a lot. We learned that if you really wanted a movie to come out the way you wanted it to, you had to direct. So on the next movie, Airplane!, we insisted on directing".[17]
Eventually the Airplane! script found its way to Paramount through Michael Eisner. Eisner learned of the script via Susan Baerwald, another scriptwriter with United Artists, and had Jeffrey Katzenberg track down and meet with ZAZ to discuss details.[16] Avco Embassy Pictures also expressed interest in producing the film, but ZAZ decided to go with Paramount.[16]
Paramount insisted the film be shot in color rather than black-and-white as ZAZ wanted, and to be set aboard a jet airliner rather than propeller plane to better identify with modern filmgoers. In exchange, Paramount acquiesced to ZAZ's desire to cast serious actors for the film rather than comedy performers.[18] Principal photography began on June 20, 1979, and wrapped on August 31, with the bulk of filming having been done in August. Jerry Zucker stood beside the camera during shooting, while David Zucker and Jim Abrahams watched the video feed to see how the film would look; they conferred after each take.[19]
Casting
David Zucker explained that "the trick was to cast actors like Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges. These were people who, up to that time, had never done comedy. We thought they were much funnier than the comedians of that time were".[17]
David Zucker felt Stack was the most important actor to be cast, since he was the "linchpin" of the film's plot.[17][16] Stack initially played his role in a way that was different from what the directors had in mind. They showed him a tape of impressionist John Byner impersonating Robert Stack. According to the producers, Stack was "doing an impression of John Byner doing an impression of Stack".[7] Stack was not initially interested in the part, but ZAZ persuaded him. Bridges' children advised him to take the part.[17] Graves rejected the script at first, considering it tasteless. During filming, ZAZ had explained to Graves that his lines spoken to a young boy, like "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?", would "be explained later in a part that you aren't in".[18] On the DVD commentary, Abrahams said: "I don't understand. What did he think was tasteless about pedophilia?"[20]
For the role of Dr. Rumack, ZAZ initially suggested Dom DeLuise, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, and Jack Webb, all of whom turned it down, before they considered Nielsen,[18][21] who was "just a fish in water" in his role, according to Jerry Zucker.[16] Nielsen's career to this point had consisted mostly of serious leading roles but he wanted to work in comedy and was looking for a film to help in the transition. He was considered a "closet comedian" on set, pranking his fellow actors between shots, but immediately adopted his somber, serious persona when performing as Rumack.[18] During filming, Nielsen used a device that made farting noises to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro".[20][22] Christopher Lee would later acknowledge that turning down the role (to star in the film 1941) was a huge mistake.[23]
The role of Ted Striker was written for David Letterman, who had auditioned for a news anchorman role in Kentucky Fried Movie. Letterman did a screen test in 1979 that ZAZ liked and they wanted him to do a second audition, but Letterman did not want to pursue the role and was not selected.[24][25] Chevy Chase, Barry Manilow, Bill Murray and Fred Willard were also considered for the role.[21][26][18] Caitlyn Jenner[a] also read for the part. Instead, ZAZ opted for Robert Hays, co-star of ABC situation comedy Angie.[18] Elaine's part was auditioned for by Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long but eventually went to Julie Hagerty.[18] The directors advised the pair to play their roles straight.[19] Hays and Hagerty developed an on-screen chemistry that worked in the film's favor; they spent time to practice and perfect the bar dance routine set to "Stayin' Alive", among other scenes.[16][18]
For the "red zone/white zone" send-up of curbside terminal announcements in which public address announcers "Betty" and "Vernon" argue over the red and white zones, ZAZ went through the usual process of auditioning professional voice actors, but failed to find ones who could provide the desired authenticity. Instead, the filmmakers ultimately sought out and hired the real-life married couple who had recorded the announcement tapes which were then being used at Los Angeles International Airport.[27] ZAZ lifted some of their dialog directly from the 1968 novel Airport, written by Arthur Hailey who had also written Zero Hour!'s script. The lifted lines included ones about an unwanted pregnancy; David Zucker said the couple "got a kick out of it".[18]
ZAZ got businessman and Republican politician Howard Jarvis to make a cameo appearance. Jarvis, who was well known in California at the time for getting his tax policy Proposition 13 passed in 1978, plays the patient taxicab passenger who gets into Ted Striker's cab at the start of the film. He then spends the entire movie sitting in an empty cab with the meter running. He also has the final line, which he says after the end credits: he looks at his watch and says "Well, I'll give him another twenty minutes, but that's it!", the joke being that Jarvis was wasting money while being known for his stance on fiscal responsibility and limited spending.[28][29]
Music
The film's score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who had provided soundtracks for classic films like The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Escape. ZAZ told Bernstein they did not want an epic score like his past works but "a B-Movie level score, overdone and corny".[18] According to ZAZ, Bernstein completely understood what they were trying to do, had laughed throughout a previous cut of the film, and wrote a "fantastic score".[16]
In 1980, an LP soundtrack for the film was released by Regency Records which includes dialog and songs from the film. Narrated by Shadoe Stevens, it features only one score track, the "Love Theme from Airplane!" composed by Bernstein. The soundtrack was altered for the European Flying High release, with several featured tracks swapped for pieces original to the LP.
In April 2009, La-La Land Records announced it would release the first official soundtrack album for Airplane!, containing Bernstein's complete score.[30] The soundtrack was released digitally on February 19, 2013, by Paramount Music.[31]
