Well, thanks to a (sort of) coworker, I can actually access TONS of stories for behind the scenes stuff, but I think one of the most interesting ones I’ve heard of is the story behind the classic movie, Spartacus, and how it led to the Hollywood writer’s blacklist being completely dismantled, as well as led to one of the admittedly greatest Hollywood directors of all time being unwilling to even acknowledge that he directed it.
I won’t get into all the details, even though this post will still be long (I’ll post a link to the blog post below), but as the story goes, Kirk Douglas, one of the most bankable stars of the time, had just formed his own production company, and had decided that he wanted to film a movie similar to Ben-Hur, which he had yearned to be cast for and was bitterly disappointed when he wasn’t chosen for it. So his team found a novel called “Spartacus” by a man named Howard Fast, who agreed to let Douglas have the film rights for $100… IF he was allowed to write the script. Only problem was, Fast was not good at writing a script. So Douglas paid him off to the tune of several thousand dollars, but then realized he had a problem; he had partnered with Universal to make the film and now he needed a script in 14 days or he’d be at risk of violating his contract.
Cue the man of the hour… Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was, at the time, probably the best screenplay writer in the business (he’s won Academy Awards for his writing several times, even when he wrote under a pseudonym for reasons which will quickly become apparent)… but there was just a teensy little problem. Trumbo had been blacklisted by the House Committee for Un-American Activities and was therefore unable to write the screenplay under his own name… but he had the ability to churn out a quality script in the timeframe Douglas needed it by. So Douglas hired Trumbo to write the screenplay (which he did by the semi-unorthodox method of filling up his tub, sitting in it nude, placing two boards over the tub with his typewriter on top of them, and churning out up to 20 pages of script a day), reasoning that he’d worry about the problem of crediting the writers later. So Douglas had a script, but then came another problem; the director.
Universal had mandated that Douglas use a director by the name of Howard Mann, who was a relative unknown at the time, but who understood schedules and budgets and who they felt would keep the production on time and under budget. But then Mann formed a friendship with actor Peter Ustinov (who was also in the production) and let him start stealing the show with improvised dialogue, which in turn led to Charles Laughton and Sir Laurence Olivier protesting and actually fighting over the issue… forcing Douglas to fire Mann. So now he needed a new, talented director… fast.
Enter none other than Stanley Kubrick. Who immediately threw a wrench into the production first by demanding that all the footage Mann had shot be redone (Douglas put a stop to that by telling him what they had was fine and to move on); then micromanaging the cinematographer to the point that the cast and crew started calling him “Stanley Hubris” behind his back. Things deteriorated further when Kubrick insisted they fire the current leading lady (saying she didn’t have the emotional range needed for the part), and then revealed how much of a perfectionist he was by insisting that shots be re-done over and over and over, and even going so far as to hire a group of amputees which he then fitted with prosthetics and had Douglas hack at with a sword so it would seem like real limbs were being chopped off during battle scenes. To add to this, the budget began slowly creeping up… and the movie got further and further behind schedule… but the actual footage was breathtaking, which allowed Kubrick and Douglas some leeway when it came to the studio (the fact that Universal was negotiating with MCA to have them buy the studio didn’t hurt either).
Things came to a head over two things; Kubrick’s lack of personal hygiene, and the penultimate scene where Crassus offers survivors of the battle a deal; identify the rebel leader Spartacus and they’ll be spared crucifixion. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that man after man stands up, each one calling out “I’M SPARTACUS”, showing their loyalty to their leader even under threat of death. It’s an incredible scene… and it almost didn’t make the film. Kubrick didn’t want to do it, and when talking to Douglas about that and his lack of hygiene (he hadn’t changed his clothes once in the months they’d been filming), he flat out admitted he didn’t care what the crew thought of him and he thought the idea for the scene (which was Douglas’) was stupid. Douglas snapped, and using the horse he was riding at the moment, literally pinned Kubrick to a wall and hissed at him " Listen you little prick. I’ve gone along with you on everything, and you’ve been right about most of it. You were right about cutting out almost all my dialogue… you’ve been right about making the battle scenes more realistic. It’s cost us a helluva lot of time and money, but I’ve supported you every step of the way… Shut up! …This may be a stupid idea, but we’re going to try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll cut it out – but we’re going to shoot it." And so the scene (arguably one of the most famous scenes in film history) made it into the film.
But back to Trumbo; during production, Kubrick often teamed with Ustinov, Olivier, and Laughton to re-write Trumbo’s script almost at will, which nearly led to Trumbo quitting the production. However, Douglas had an idea about crediting Trumbo that led to him staying; that they would wait until everything was in the can, and then put Trumbo’s name on the credits, presenting it as a sort of fait accompli that would, in theory, remove Trumbo from the blacklist. Only when it came time for that, Douglas ran into Kubrick YET AGAIN, who suggested that his name be put on as the writer instead, an idea Douglas vehemently vetoed and which ultimately (thanks to this incident and everything else on the production) led to Kubrick basically disavowing his association with the film in later years (he has consistently refused to name it among his accomplishments despite glowing reviews and a consistently high rating of the film among moviegoers). So Trumbo’s name went on the credits, and Spartacus effectively became the end of blacklisting in Hollywood.
There’s more to the story, and the blog post is well worth a read if you have the time (as are most of the blog posts on that blog, all of which have some great behind the scenes stories attached to the director or film or actor they’re about), but that’s the (relatively long) summary. Again, sorry for the length, but the story is just too good to cut much of it out!
