THE PRODUCERS - LANE PRAYS DE NIRO AND KEITEL WILL PLAY ODD COUPLE

THE PRODUCERS star NATHAN LANE hopes rumours about ROBERT DE NIRO and HARVEY KEITEL becoming Broadway, New York's next ODD COUPLE are true - because the pairing would be make for a quirky take on the NEIL SIMON play. Lane and MATTHEW BRODERICK have taken on the roles played by WALTER MATTHAU and JACK LEMMON in the cult 1968 movie and TONY RANDALL and JACK KLUGMAN in the spin-off TV series. Now De Niro and Keitel are reportedly interested in becoming the next stars of the show. Lane admits he can't stop giggling about the thought of the MEAN STREETS and TAXI DRIVER co-stars playing housemates FELIX UNGER and OSCAR MADISON. He says, "The other night, somebody says to me, 'Did you know Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel are here (at the theatre)... and have you heard the rumour - apparently they're thinking about taking over The Odd Couple. "I just had this image of Robert De Niro as Oscar, saying, 'Felix, did you f**k my wife?' "And then the play ends with Felix getting three bullets to the back of the head."