Casting Scarlett O'Hara & Vivien Leigh's Oscar

Entertainment Weekly recently ran an online contest to determine who the best Best Actress winner of all time is after weeks of narrowing down the bracket the voter said to choose between two finalists Meryl Streep and Sophie's Choice or Vivien Leigh and Gone with the Wind Vivien one Gone with the Wind as a pop culture entity is discussed a lot for an eighty-year-old film and adjusted for inflation it still holds the highest box office ranking of all time by a lot gone with wind didn't just come out find a natural audience and do really well based on word of mouth rather it had been a best-selling novel and had years of hype prior to its release meaning it was an enormous box-office event think along the lines of the first Harry Potter movie casting was a huge part of building up the anticipation speculations about who should or would play who was a regular topic of discussion but finding the right Scarlett O'Hara in particular was a notoriously difficult and drawn-out process that in itself became such a phenomenon that it subsequently been made into a documentary and a TV movie if anything the entertainment weekly poll proves that the nearly three year hunt for Scarlett paid off in many ways this story isn't just about Vivien Leigh the casting process touched nearly every major star in Hollywood and even more aspiring actresses throughout the country it's a story about those women contract negotiations and a lot of patience so how after such a strenuous search did a little-known British actress beat out the likes of Katharine Hepburn Betty Davis basically all of Hollywood for the most coveted role of all time and given that 1939 notoriously yielded so many great movies how exactly did she end up with the trophy at the end of the day [Music] the first thing you see when you watch gone with the wind is this this guy is the key to the whole thing David O Selznick had been a producer at MGM and RKO when in 1935 he broke away from MGM to form Selznick international pictures he wanted to make big ambitious colorful movies and thought he'd have more freedom to do so leading his own studio in 1936 his story editor Catherine Brown got an advanced copy of a new novel called Gone with the Wind the story basically follows a headstrong young georgian woman whose life is upended by the chaos of the civil war and who fights to survive amid various failed relationships and traumatizing deaths Selznick wasn't convinced at first but she was adamant so they bought the movie rights for $50,000 two weeks after the novel's publication it was at the top of every bestseller list in the nation it was a huge hit he was sitting on gold suddenly everyone in America needed to know more about the movie adaptation and everybody had an opinion about who should be in it by the end of 1936 Selznick's office received 75,000 letters from fans suggesting potential Scarlets and reds regarding red the consensus was pretty clear Clark Gable was hands-down the favorite by both fans and everyone at Selznick international but everyone was relatively split on scarlet Betty Davis led a lot of polls but we'll get to her later so Selznick had a couple of things to consider as an independent studio Selznick international didn't have a huge stable of contract stars to pick from Selznick himself admitted that had he still been at MGM he simply could have assigned to the roles to Clark Gable and Joan Crawford and called it a day but at Selznick international they'd most likely have to borrow stars for the film which imposes some limitations those kinds of contracts weren't easy and where sometimes railroaded for no reason other than someone just wanted to say no but Selznick realized something in an interoffice memo to his head of publicity he wrote as to the casting of Gone with the Wind I feel that new personalities are preferable first selfishly because of my belief the roles of scarlet and red will make stars for us and second while known personalities are liable to be identified with their previous roles as a new personality will be accepted provided they are sufficiently talented and properly cast a newcomer as Scarlett would be a good long-term investment that he could afford so a nationwide search commenced complete with full advertising campaigns and American Idol like open auditions where women showed up in period costume clamoring to be Scarlett despite having never acted in their lives scouts were sent to Broadway drama departments small theatre groups and small towns throughout the south looking for the perfect unknown thousands of young women sent letters introducing themselves to Selznick as the soon-to-be Scarlett to a certain degree this was a publicity stunt to keep people engaged sure they might find someone but stars are stars for a reason it'd be much easier to find someone with the right combination of looks talent and charm in an established actress so in the meantime they conducted screen tests and started conversations with studio players to see who could feasibly fit the bill and it wasn't like it was hard to find actresses who were interested if she lived in LA and she could breathe she was interested but why exactly it wasn't just because the novel's sold well or because people were especially eager to work with David O Selznick it was because of Scarlett herself who might be one of the best female characters ever written for the screen in an era when good and bad were more clearly defined for audiences especially when it came to women the breadth and complexity of Scarlett's story presented a different kind of heroine an epic anti-heroin one paper wrote it is a tribute to Margaret Mitchell's quality as a novelist that Scarlett is real enough to hold and repel us at the same time we resent being made to feel so caught up in her interests that we actually find ourselves wanting to have the little gratifications and successes that hurt ignominy snitcher craves and strives for was such blind and dogged effectiveness actresses intuitively knew that a character like that would be an exciting challenge or as journalist Frank Daniel put it in 1936 Scarlett will be a demanding role one for an actress of unusual abilities of qualities which can range from the sinister to the alluring she must be young enough to play in the early scenes in which Scarlett is an adolescent Coquette and mature enough as an actress to lend dignity and conviction to scarless later experiences where this actress will be found remains to be seen so the reason everyone wanted to play Scarlett was exactly the reason it would be so difficult to find her Selznick had a peculiar challenge who could encompass so much Tallulah Bankhead made a serious effort to win the role but there were concerns over her believably playing the younger Scarlett because well innocent was never her vibe Lana Turner tested but was considered too green Maryam Hopkins who many fans assumed would have wood in the role because of her Georgian heritage and previous similar roles red but she never tested Norma Shearer was reported to have won the role in 1938 but the public sentiment was so overwhelmingly negative to this news that both she and Selznick had to publicly clarify that that was not the case Katharine Hepburn sought the role too but Selznick had several reservations he was unsure that she had the sex appeal to have believably attract someone like Rhett and if you saw my episode about 1941 you know that Katherine's career was basically in the gutter in 1936 not to mention the Connecticut born actress had recently attempted a southern accent in the film Spitfire and then you get poor job rakia nah Glee thank you no more I think the key word here is attempted Paulette Goddard came closer than anyone else to winning the role and made several tests in black and white and color her personal life aka relationship with Charlie Chaplin concern to the team but Selznick really liked what she brought to the screen now most of these screen tests are available on YouTube and if you watch hers you can see why she's quite good probably the best alternative she had what director George Cukor described as a shallow external minks quality that would really work for scarlet and then there's Betty Davis Betty Davis wrote in her memoir the lonely life I will be the last to deny that the nationwide search for Scarlett O'Hara and gamma the wind infuriated me it was insanity that I not be given scar to a certain extent she had a right to be frustrated most fans believed Betty would be the perfect Scarlett and she had a streak of great anti heroine roles to prove them right but Selznick wasn't sure she had the sex appeal either still he allegedly asked if he could borrow her and Errol Flynn as a package from Warner Brothers but she flat-out refused because in her words the thought of mr. Flynn as Rhett Butler appalled me however Warner Brothers knowing how badly she wanted to play Scarlett and hoping to capitalize on forgive me for this pun scarlet fever came up with an alternative in Jezebel Betty plays a spoiled Antebellum southern belle who pines for a man she might never get as she resists society's expectations sound familiar David O Selznick thought so too and he was pissed may I remind you he wrote to Harry Warner president of Warner Brothers that the rights to Jezebel were repeatedly turned down prior studio as by all other studios until the public's attention was directed to Gone with the Wind Selznick brought the concern about story infringement to the Hays office which regulated foam content ultimately the films were deemed different enough to drop the matter but the public's desire to see a southern belle come to life brought Betty Davis her second Oscar just a year before Vivian's so by the winter of 1938 there was still no scarlet though still sick was inching toward choosing Paulette rumors were flying and Selznick internationals casting agents were still everywhere interviewing models radio personalities you name it meanwhile the rest of the production just kept moving after finagling deals with other studios most of the supporting characters and Clark Gable were already cast the script was just about ready set costumes all moving forward but they couldn't hold filming much longer so that December they went ahead and filmed the burning of Atlanta using old movie sets as kindling and body doubles first scarlet and red of course still no scarlet but as luck would have it that was the day David's brother Myron Selznick a prominent talent agent came to visit set with his new client David told knit lanten newspaper in 1939 I shall never forget when Myron watched toward me with Miss Lee David he said I want you to meet Scarlett O'Hara you might have known who Vivien Leigh was if you were really paying attention her filmography wasn't extensive mostly in films that had been released overseas but she had classical training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art an impressive stage resume and the support of director Alexander Korda when watching the films she'd done up until that point it's clear that you're watching someone who is ready for a breakout role it's hard to precisely pin down her type in those movies because of how skillfully she's shifts her demeanor from character to character she can play ditzy just as easily as intelligent introverted just as easily as outgoing which isn't necessarily true of even the best remembered film actresses of that era the skill to display such contradictions would aid her in playing characters like Scarlett her best film and probably the most consequential for her career at this time is fire over England in which she and Laurence Olivier play lovers in Queen Elizabeth's Court the two had begun an affair which of course eventually led to one of the most iconic Hollywood marriages ever now Vivian despite being all the way across the pond knew about Gone with the Wind - and like every other actress she was eager to get her hands on that role by any means possible so when Olivier went to America to film weathering Heights Vivien followed sought out his agent Myron salts Nick and enlisted him to help her win Scarlett turns out David Selznick had seen a couple of Vivian's movies already during the search and had dismissed her because she was too British and okay fair she is very British but seeing her in person it felt like divine intervention she was quickly thrust to the top echelon of contenders and given material for a test less than a month later her name was splattered across the news she won the role this was like a record scratch moment in pop culture most people were like Vivian who the publicity team had a lot of work to do to introduce this Scarlett O'Hara to the world and to get people excited about her but it quickly became clear that the public had to be won over if you've ever been on Twitter for any form of collective outrage you have an idea of what the Selznick national mail room looked like in the days after Vivian Lee was announced as Scarlett O'Hara photoplay a famous movie magazine was also flooded with letters mostly against it why the outrage I mean Selznick international had been recruiting actresses for years many of whom were not very famous people knew that Scarlett O'Hara could conceivably be someone they've never heard of sure some of the outrage is my choice wasn't the choice some of it was I guess you'd call it bias it was a big deal that she was British more specifically that she was a British woman born in India that seems outrageous now because British people are like half the actor is employed in America but in 1939 people were skeptical that she could ever believably play a southerner she doesn't know the characteristics of a southern girl she hasn't even a southern accent in the part she can hardly help but give an interpretation of Scarlett that will be criticized by every real southerner the Daughters of the Confederacy were so outraged that they even protested the film eventually the president of the group relented saying that the choice of a British woman was preferable to a Yankee ironically Betty Davis who was born in Massachusetts and frequently referred to herself as a Yankee did not receive this level of criticism in Jezebel about two weeks after Vivien was announced as Scarlett shooting began audiences were about to see if she was indeed up to the task [Music] as I stated in the beginning of this video Gone with the Wind was pretty much incomparable successful every screening at every theater sold out for weeks straight MGM who was distributing the film had trouble of getting prints to theaters because they couldn't make Technicolor fast enough to see the public's demands though 1939 was filled to the brim with incredible films Gone with the winds ambition and scale was unparalleled better yet for many readers of the novel it stayed true to what they loved about it unsurprisingly it was nominated for 13 Oscars and won eight of them including Best Picture Heidi McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress becoming the first african-american to win an Oscar the hotel hosting the Oscars that night was segregated meaning she wasn't allowed to sit with her cast mates or even enter through the same door as them a harsh and bittersweet reminder of the work yet left even in the face of such an achievement but thank God the best line reading of all time won her that Oscar was talking about I was talking about mr. wheels you'd be coming to Atlanta when he gets his leave and you suck now wait in front just like a smile rounding out the Best Actress category with Vivian were Greta Garbo in ninotchka Greer Garson and goodbye mr. chips Irene Dunne in love affair and Betty Davis in dark victory Judy Garland was not nominated for The Wizard of Oz but was awarded a juvenile Oscar an honorary award the Academy used to give to performers under 18 years old for extraordinary achievements so let's look at them one by one Greta Garbo was easily one of Hollywood's most beloved stars she was also easily one of its most parodied her Swedish accent her reputation for wanting to be alone she was constantly suffering on screen losing a lover cheating on a lover dying and people loved her for it I love her for it but times change things get old to MGM Greta needed a revamp and what would be more unexpected or subversive for Greta Garbo then laughter ninotchka presented Greta Garbo as a Soviet diplomat who meets an American diplomat in Paris the to fall in love and slowly her Soviet stoicism drips away to reveal the fun capitalist underneath the publicity campaign relied on the public's knowledge of the kind of movie Gretta normally did one phrase said it all Garbo laughs and she did a great job laughing critics loved her dry delivery and comedic timing it must be monotonous this super brightness of Garbo's playing she remains infallible the film gave a new albeit short sparked her career Greer garson's starting goodbye mr. chips as the wife of a Latin teacher who she pulls out of his shell I cover Greer Garson extensively in my 1942 episode so I won't do too many details here what you need to know is that goodbye mr. chips was her first film in the United States after sitting around for nearly two years waiting for MGM to find the right role for her despite the fact that she barely has any screen time that was enough for audiences to fall madly in love with her this nomination marks the beginning of an extremely successful decade for Greer who in terms of box office numbers was hands-down one of the most popular women of the 1940s next up is Irene Dunne in love affair love affair has been remade twice and is almost shot-for-shot the same as this most famous remake an affair to remember which you might know as the movie Rita Wilson sobs about in Sleepless in Seattle well Rita is me because this story is tragic but lovely and if you just want to watch two people be charming at each other I recommend it I think a lot of people when they watch movies from this era think the acting is a little history onic and over-the-top Irene Dunne is not that her strength is in the quiet teasing moments the under the breath comments that are witty and biting but always have an underpinning of sincerity love affair and some of her other movies from this era like the awful truth are good examples of this so if you want an entry point into this era she might be a good place to start the opposite of subtle humor is Betty Davis and dark victory a film which Frank Nugent of the New York Times described as simply a protracted death scene basically Eddy plays a society girl who parties a little too hard with her friend Ronald Reagan and whose life is turned upside down when she discovers she has a brain tumor but as news appoints out the straightforwardness of the pot must not detract from the eloquence and tenderness and the heartbreaking sincerity with which Betty plays it during filming Betty was going through a divorce and she claims that the vulnerability she felt during that time propelled her acting in that moment she called this role her favorite in her memoir but even she had to admit the obvious I knew I would not receive the Oscar Gone with the Wind had been released and it was the sensation everyone knew it would be his performances were outstanding it was going to cop every prize and I had been around long enough to know it so be it she was right no matter how good any of these women were it really didn't matter Vivien Leigh was going to witness not only because her movie was the biggest thing on the planet or because she carried all three plus hours of it on her shoulders but also because America set the bar really high and she far surpassed it at just 25 years old she took on an enormous Lee complicated role under a leadership of a rotating band of producers writers and directors in a brand new country full of people who were ready to dismiss her and had very certain ideas about who Scarlett should be despite that enormous pressure Frank Nugent wrote miss Lee's Scarlett has vindicated the absurd talent quest that indirectly turned her up she is so perfectly designed for the part by art and nature that any other actress in the role would be inconceivable and he's right she was the most delightful discovery so utterly absorbed by Scarlett as to become her in my opinion Vivien Leigh despite her awards is not mentioned enough when it comes to conversations about powerhouse actresses of this or any era probably because her filmography is so sparse she only made 9 more films after Gone with the Wind partly because so much of her time was spent on the stage partly because mental illness prevented her from working but each of her choices are careful and distinct as scarlet she gives a masterclass and if any performance deserves an award it's that one if you were looking for an accurate and introspective interrogation of the antebellum South and the institution of slavery Gone with the Wind isn't that it martyrs the Confederacy as a noble lost cause and it has an extremely cavalier attitude toward slavery the african-american community at the time was very vocal about this this video has an admittedly narrow lens through which to understand this film and does not address its racial and political implications or the very fair debates people are having about it now those things are all extremely important and it would not do that conversation justice to try to cram it in here but there is still a lot to learn from Gone with the Wind it's PR casting expert performances and how they were received say a lot about America and Hollywood if the studio system and all its bizarre contracts hadn't existed then maybe scarlet would have been Betty Davis or Joan Crawford but it did and maybe if David O Selznick had been a little more impatient of a person he would have cast paulette goddard but he wasn't a lot had to happen for Vivien Leigh to become Scarlett O'Hara the right person found the right opportunity at the right time and as God is my witness I'm at least thankful for that [Music]

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 826,093

Rating: 4.9179277 out of 5

Keywords: scarlett o'hara, vivien leigh, gone with the wind, 1939, oscar, best actress oscar, casting, scarlett o'hara auditions, clark gable, bette davis, jezebel, love affair, irene dunne, ninotchka, greta garbo, academy awards, david o. selznick, laurence olivier, rhett butler, greer garson, paulette goddard, tallulah bankhead, lana turner, miriam hopkins, hattie mcdaniel

Id: MuP1T0m0OZ4

Length: 22min 13sec (1333 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ScreamingVegetable]

She's always got great videos! Her Weinstein video is a must watch.

[u/Pancake_muncher]

This channel deserves more love and subscribers.

[u/relax_okay]

This seems like the kind of Hollywood story that would have been picked up for a big budget movie by now. Can you imagine who they would cast for Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, or Clark Gable? Not to mention the chance to recreate some of the most iconic sets and scenes in movie history.

[u/Filmfan5]

I will always consider her performances in Gone With the Wind and A Streetcar named Desire to be two of the greatest performances by an actress ever seen in film. It’s a shame that she has such a small filmography.