The Silver Screen Oasis

It's one of those inside stories that eventually got out. Peter Sellers was
origionally supposed to play the role of Maj. "King" Kong as a fourth
character in Dr. Strangelove. He had trouble with the role, quarreled with director Stanley Kubrick, and eventually was dropped from
the role. That proved a career break for Slim Pickens; he stepped into
the part, and he rode that hydrogen bomb to the ground like a
bronco.* The script of the biopic The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers, currently running on SHO, asserts that Sellers actually faked an injury to get out of the role.

My Daydream project is this: Organize and display the rehearsal footage
that accumulated before Sellers was removed from the role. It could be
a look at a great artist in the middle of the creative process. Even focused
on a project that was aborted, it could be fascinating. Either TCM or
BRAVO could work such material up into perhaps a 20-minute space filler,
and I believe there would be an audience for it.


* A note in Slim Pickens' filmography reports that director Kubrick later wanted Pickens to take a support role in The Shining. Pickens turned it down. He had had enough of Stanley "take after take after take" Kubrick's way of doing things. The role went to star Jack Nicholson's friend Scatman Crothers.

That's funny that Scatman Crothers wasn't the first choice for "The Shining." I think Pauline kael complained about "The Shining" that it was racist because the only person killed in the movie was black.

The way I heard it, it was Dan Blocker of "Bonanza" who Kubrick originally wanted for Maj. Kong, but Blocker disagreed with the politics of the story (and of Kubrick) and turned it down. I've only seen pieces of the Seller biopic - was the Blocker story mentioned?

To: jdb1,

Negative re the Blocker reference; I've never seen that name mentioned
in that context. Roger Ebert gives us another tidbit on this subject in Vol I
of his THE GREAT MOVIES series. Once Pickens was on board, Ebert reports, Kubrick did not tell him that the movie was to be a comedy. Pickens went through his paces (many, many times) with the
idea that this was all to be considered serious stuff.

BTW, I believe it would be worth your time to see The Life And Death
Of Peter Sellers all the way through. I won't try giving any details, but
I do believe it to be an impressive bit of storytelling.