 According to Shirley MacLaine (qv) in her autobiography "My Lucky  Stars," the idea for this film was hatched when Fosse was  hospitalized for a heart attack. MacLaine claims she was the one who  gave Fosse the idea to do "a musical about his death" though she  said Fosse seemed to not remember this later. Fosse did, however,  offer her the role of Audrey Paris, she wrote.