Daily Dialogue — December 4, 2014
“As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
— Gone With the Wind (1939), screen play by Sidney Howard, novel by Margaret Mitchell
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Leadership. Today’s suggestion by tracinell.
Trivia: The initial director, George Cukor, was fired over his problems with the screenplay and the constant alterations to it, which he received almost daily from producer David O. Selznick. When Victor Fleming came on board in February 1939, he also rejected the script. Production was shut down for 17 days while it was rewritten by Ben Hecht. Supposedly, Hecht was not allowed time to read Margaret Mitchell’s original novel; instead, Selznick and Fleming would often play out parts from the book, to which Hecht had to write dialogue. Hecht was reportedly commanded by Selznick to write almost continuously for days without breaks, with Selznick bringing him food. Hecht used Sidney Howard’s original script (which he felt was superb) as the basis for his rewrite, but only got to re-write the first half, which may be one of the reasons why many consider the first half of the movie to be superior to the second half. Ironically, Hecht did not receive official credit for his writing, with Howard listed as the movie’s only screenwriter.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by tracinell: “Here’s a strong female leader, Scarlett O’Hara. This scene marks the beginning of her bucking cultural norms and taking over as head of her broken family. She isn’t rallying the troops per se, but declaring (to the only higher leader she knows) her determination to survive the ends of war and into a new reality. If leadership is resolve and follow-through, Scarlett has them in spades.”
If you have a suggestion for this theme, please post in comments.
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