Long In The Wind

Although the great hunt for a Scarlett has become a major part of the Gone With the Wind story, none of the casting was automatic or cut and dry. Leslie Howard now seems the obvious choice for Ashley Wilkes and was one of the first actors considered for the part, but Howard was hesitant to portray as he conveyed in his own words ; 'another weak and ineffectual character.' Howard had to be guaranteed the producer's function on  David O'Selznick's upcoming production Intermezzo before he would sign. Other actors considered for the role were Humphrey Bogart, Melvyn Douglas (who almost did get casted after a splendid test) and even Ray Milland.

A number of actresses were also considered and tested for the role of Melanie Hamilton, and at one point Joan Fontaine petulantly declined with the remark, 'If you want someone to play Melanie, I suggest you call my sister.' And as a matter of fact George Cukor did just that and found Olivia de Havilland to be precisely what he wanted, there was a conflict however, as she was bound to a Warner Brothers contract, who following the Bette Davis debacle and the Jezebel hijinks, wanted nothing more to do with Gone With The Wind. De Havilland persisted and persisted until the Warners finally waved their white flag, in when Selznick offered to loan them an on contract James Stewart, whose services he had for a single film. Even the nominal roles of Ellen O'Hara, Dr. Meade, Belle Watling and Careen O'Hara were first intended for Lillian Gish, Lionel Barrymore , Tallulah Bankhead (who had amazingly been considered for the role of Scarlett) and Judy Garland.

Tallulah O'Hara?

While Clark Gable was Rhett in the public imagination, no contemporaneous female star was held an equal post as Scarlett. Tens of thousands of unknown girls from all over America, but primarily, for obvious reasons, from the South, were interviewed and many tested. Every major star in Hollywood was up for consideration and a good deal of them would submit to the indignity of a screen test.

You know what you can do with your screen-test!

Katherine Hepburn passionately wanted the part, but refused to test and henceforth rejected, as were all who did  the test, including Susan Hayward, Lucille Ball, and Lana Turner. Those seriously considered were Miriam Hopkins, Joan Bennett, Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullivan, Jean Arthur, Ann Sheirdan and Carole Lombard. Selznick had just about decided to hand the role to Paulette Goddard (on the condition that she could produce evidence she had actually married Charles Chaplin, thus avoiding any scandal), when Selznick's agent brother Myron introduced him to one Vivien Leigh

Thats a wrap, oh no it isn't wait.

Selznick later confessed that he had never seen Miss Leigh before, although cheekily, he mentions her by name after seeing a Yank at Oxford (1938) while on the search for an actress to be cast in 1938's Young at Heart. Nonetheless he loved what he saw, tested her immediately, and when it was clear that her acting chops were congruous to her good looks, and that hers was an impeccable Southern accent, and that Vivien's eyes would uncannily match the color of Scarlett's in the film, she was signed to a seven-year contract.

Sister act - from left - Evelyn Keyes, Vivien Leigh and Ann Rutherford

The quest for the perfect cast was nowhere near over, nor was the search for a perfect script. In 1937, Selznick had given Sidney Howard a copy of the novel with his own personal notations and kept in close communication with the writer and with Cukor who was advising him. Selznick had great affection for the script, but it would have taken a grueling five hours of screen time to film. Howard, however, considered that he had done what he had contracted to do and refused to stay in Hollywood to write an updated version.

David O'Selznick

Rejecting the idea that Gone With The Wind became two films, Selznick began himself to compress the script. He then hired playwright Oliver Garrett to revise Howard's work, Dissatisfied with that, Selznick soon found himself with three scripts. Summarizing the situations in his memos, he noted : 'the Sidney Howard script, the so-called Howard-Garrett script, and the script that we are shooting - We have everything we need in the book and in the Howard and Howard-Garrett scripts. The job that remains to be done is to telescope the three in the shortest possible form.'

Rhett Alert.

Along the way, Scott Fitzgerald, Charles MacArthur, Edwin Justus Mayer, Ben Hecht, John Van Druten and others were hired to rewrite single scenes, supply the lines of dialogue, or to search through the original novel for alternative dialogue. But Selznick recognized Howard's contribution by giving him sole screen credit for the screenplay.

Three flew over the Cukor's nest - Scarlett hopefuls but not bananas

The directional credits are just as muddled, George Cukor was involved deeply in pre-production and directed three weeks of the actual shooting at which time he was discharged. Several reasons for his replacement have been suggested, and probably all played their part. Gable would object that Cukor even then known as a 'woman's director,' paid infinitely more attention to Leigh and de Havilland than to himself. Selznick later maintained that Cukor had a firm grasp on the intimate aspects of the story but none on the more epic sequences. The producer also complained in memos that Cukor was changing lines of dialogue from the finished script. This from a man whose daily revisions often arrived during the shooting of a scene.

Miss De Havilland

Cukor left Gone With the Wind to work on 1939's The Women, although he continued to advise and direct both Leigh and de Havilland on the interpretation of their roles in secret throughout the making of Gone With the Wind.

Looks like he did give a damn, frankly.

Cukor was replaced by Victor Fleming who was Gable's elect from a list of directors submitted to him by Selznick. Fleming's stated intention of making Gone With the Wind a 'flamboyant melodrama,' seemed to appease Selznick's own ambitions for the film. For the first few weeks, the shooting ran smoothly. They had started filming on January the 26th of 1939, though the key scene of Atlanta burning had been shot on December 10th of 1938, the night of the instant casting of Vivien Leigh. By July the first, the film was in the can and Selznick began to immerse himself in the task of promoting and planning distribution. During the shooting; the strains of working at high pitch on a complicated and costly production began to tell. At one point, for example Leigh (who was certainly no fan of Fleming's) balked at the idea doing a particular scene. An incensed Fleming rolled the script into his hand as a tube shape, threw it at Leigh and told her graphically what she could do with it. He then stormed off.

Where's the toilet luv?

Production ceased for two full days until Fleming could be placated and enticed back to work. Selznick began to worry about Fleming's declining health and ability to persevere. Selznick asked Sam Wood to prepare himself to take over helm. Fleming did eventually collapse. Wood directed during the fortnight that Fleming was absent and continued to shoot upon his return. And so the cast would often find themselves being directed by Fleming in the mornings and Wood in the afternoons. Selznick estimated later that about thirty-three minutes of Wood's work remained in the final product. At the same time, no matter who was directing the major sequences, there were never less than three second units shooting 'atmosphere' and action sequences elsewhere on the sets or on the various locations.

Out on the wily, windy....

In a letter to director Frank Capra, then president of SAG, Selznick explained that he had given full credit for directing the film to Victor Fleming (both Cukor and Wood emphatically refused to take screen credit) in spite of the fact that, as he put it, ' I alone had the reins of the picture in my hands.' He went on to suggest that if the full truth were known, either William Cameron Menzies or he - Selznick - deserved directional credit far more than any director who had worked on the film.

Put me down dammit, you big brute!

The hundreds of letters, memos and notes that Selznick distributed to everyone involved in Gone With the Wind suggests that he was right. He insisted that Walter Plunkett redesign Gable;'s costumes and produce no less than twenty-seven copies of Scarlett's calico dress in order that the same costume could be seen in various stages of deterioration during the film. He then instructed the cameraman (and though Ernest Haller received sole credit after the early departure of Lee Garmes, there were many who worked on the picture) to follow his specifications of lighting and filters. Even though the Technicolor company provided advisors, Selznick required that they follow his and Menzies' notions of what was possible in color. He even ordered the make-up and costume department to rebuild Vivien Leigh's bosom. In short, there was nary a detail, however small which he did not have his hand in shaping, making Gone With the Wind the prime example of a producer's film, perhaps a case for arguing Selznick an auteur, the term usually reserved to describe the artistic creation and control of a director.