Was Lana offered the sequel?
I was wondering if Lana Turner was offered the role in the second chapter and why was she not in it?
shareIn the trivia section it was stated the original actors did not return because the studio did not want to pay the salary increases they requested. Another film ,Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, had cost the studio an enormous amount of money by overrunning it's budget. That left no money to pay Lana Turner and the other well known stars of the 1st film. Since the 1st film was a hit they rightly deserved more money.
Too bad the studio didn't pay but chose to go with unknows who cost less. This film bombed with the many unknowns cast in crucial roles with the exception of Mary Astor & Eleanor Parker who while an established actress was still a really poor replacement for Turner.
Interesting to know. I thought that could have been the case.
I must say, I still enjoyed the sequel; there are some very good moments and of course Mary Astor contributed greatly to the film. It is a real pity that Lana did not appear in the second..it would have been superb.
Many thanks again.
I just watched the film on TCM again today and during the end credits only Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Brett Halsey, Luciana Paluzzi & Gunnar Hellström are shown onscreen with their names & character names shown also. None of the other stars including Mary Astor were shown. I think that's rather insulting considering that she, Jeff Chandler & Eleanor Parker were known celebrities at the time. Even more so since they included Halsey, Paluzzi & Hellström who were unknowns at the time.
Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon."
Yes - very strange, and downright offensive. My best guess? The top brass at Fox felt the movie was primarily aimed at, and largely seen by, younger audiences. Since Mary Astor played the villain, I figured they didn't want to appear as if they were "celebrating" her character during the end credits - however, it was such a phenomenal performance that excluding her was, in reality, nothing short of blasphemous.
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