Steve Martin wrote and starred in the 1987 romantic comedy Roxanne, based on Cyrano de Bergerac.
The film relocates Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play to a small town in Washington state. Martin plays C.D. Bales, a witty but insecure fire chief with an unusually large nose. The character’s verbal agility and romantic predicament echo Cyrano, while the movie updates the story with contemporary dialogue and a modern relationship plot.
Roxanne was directed by Fred Schepisi and co-starred Daryl Hannah as Roxanne Kowalski. Martin wrote the screenplay, making the project a notable combination of his stand-up comic voice, screen acting, and literary adaptation. It is often confused with Martin’s earlier film The Jerk, but Roxanne is the work specifically built around Cyrano’s story.