Trivia / Hurry Sundown

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $3,785,000. Box office, $4,050,000 (domestic rentals).
• Dyeing for Your Art: Faye Dunaway had to gain weight for her role in the film, which nearly made her lose out on the role of Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde later in the year, since in the latter film she had to look like a starving woman during The Great Depression. She would eventually lose the weight gained via repeated fasting (with the occasional salad) and walking around with a weight belt on, which she only took off to sleep.
• Fake American: The British Michael Caine as US Southerner Henry Warren. Fellow English actor Vivien Leigh (who famously also portrayed a Southerner) told him to repeat the phrase "four-door Ford" in an American accent to get the hang on it.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Otto Preminger and Faye Dunaway did not get along at all during filming, to the point that the actress sued her way out of a five-film contract with Preminger.
  • Michael Caine actually tried to avert this, mentioning in his autobiography that — having been made aware of the difficulties in working with Preminger, because of the latter's nasty temper with technicians and actors — Caine actually told Preminger up front that he was a sensitive and shy man, and that if anyone shouted at him, he would burst into tears and remain in his dressing room for the rest of the day. While Preminger never overtly mistreated Caine during filming, Caine later said that Preminger asked him to play out a scene in which he simulates raping Jane Fonda, which Caine assumed was going to be used in the film. But the camera actually wasn't rolling; Preminger wanted to humiliate Caine as punishment for his refusing to put up with the director's mistreatment, unlike the members of Preminger's regular crew.
• Troubled Production: It was not a good time on the set, which had to deal with, among other things, the Ku Klux Klan accosting the cast and crew (due to being the first film to feature black actors to be filmed in the South), and animosity between Preminger and Dunaway.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was originally planned to be shot in Alabama, but the state's famously segregationist governor George Wallace refused to allow Otto Preminger to shoot in that state.
  • Candice Bergen was originally cast in the role of Julie Ann Warren, before being replaced with Jane Fonda prior to shooting. According to Hollywood trade papers, Natalie Wood was also an early candidate for the role.
  • Songwriters "Yip" Harburg and Earl Robinson were commissioned to write a Title Theme Tune for the film. After it was completed Preminger decided not to use it in the movie after all, but it was subsequently recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary and became a minor easy-listening hit.

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