Playing this Week at The Village: January 25-26
10 Interesting Facts About Gone With The Wind, 1939
- Scarlett was cast after filming began.
- Leigh almost lost the part after her first test reading.
- The first director was fired. In all, the film had three directors.
- Leslie Howard absolutely despised playing Ashley.
- Gable begged not to be shown crying on camera.
- There weren’t enough extras in the entire Screen Actors Guild to shoot the Confederate Wounded scene.
- Atlanta went crazy for the film’s premiere and then Georgia governor declared it a state holiday
- Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Oscar, but was banned from the premiere.
- Author Margaret Mitchell, heading to watch a movie with her husband, was fatally struck by a car 10 years after the film’s release.
- It took 16 different writers to make the screenplay a viable length.
