Trivia / Sunday Bloody Sunday

• He Also Did: Penelope Gilliatt, who wrote the screenplay, was also a critic for The New Yorker, and shared those duties at the time with Pauline Kael.
• The Other Marty: Even though Peter Finch was the director's first choice to play Daniel, he was initially unavailable, so Ian Bannen was cast (after the second choice, Alan Bates, was also unavailable). However, Bannen was paranoid that playing a gay character would hurt his career, so much so that it severely-affected his performance and he was fired after a week. Bannen later called it the biggest regret of his career.
• What Could Have Been:
  • David Bowie auditioned to play Bob.
  • Vanessa Redgrave turned down the role of Alex in order to star in The Devils.
  • Sean Connery was interested in playing Daniel when the role became available.
• Write What You Know: John Schlesinger based the story on his affair with actor John Steiner (better known for his roles in Italian B-movies), though unlike Daniel, Schlesinger was never married.

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