History Trivia / DuelInTheSun

* CreativeDifferences: Director Creator/KingVidor wanted to make the movie more of an intimate psychological drama, which clashed with producer David O. Selznick's insistence on greater spectacle and melodrama. In the end, Selznick won out and replaced Vidor before production was completed, but did give him sole credit as the director.

** As mentioned above, producer David O. Selznick [[ControlFreak intensely involved himself in nearly every aspect of the movie]], which caused friction with director King Vidor who was among at least three directors who worked on the film (not including Selznick, who also helmed some scenes). Selznick's demands further led to numerous script and story changes, which caused production costs to greatly increase. Again, as with directing, Selznick ended up doing some uncredited script revisions himself.

* FakeMixedRace: Creator/JenniferJones as a Mestiza.

** Likewise, although this role came early in his career, before he became known for mostly playing courageous and upright characters like in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', seeing Creator/GregoryPeck playing an impulsive, lecherous, racist, and--in the end--murderous outlaw is rather jarring.
* TroubledProduction: Producer David O. Selznick's goal was to top ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', but his habit of extreme micromanagement, which worked for the production of GWTW, could just as easily increase tensions on the set and artistically smother a movie. Also, Selznick was in the process of separating from and divorcing his first wife so he could eventually marry his leading lady, Jones, a relationship that clouded his judgement and affected many of his decisions. Finally, to keep up with his workaholic schedule, Selznick was taking--and became addicted to--Benzedrine, which [[CreatorBreakdown only increased his erratic behavior and decision-making during production.]] Then there were the aforementioned problems with The Hays Code, but Selznick found [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity a way to turn that to his advantage.]]

* FanNickname: "Lust in the Dust", a name slapped pejoratively at the film by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but which became an affectionate name for the film since it typifies the movie's plot, style and ''tone''.

* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese cites this as one of the earliest films he recalls seeing and he considers it a great work, discussing it in detail in ''A Personal Journey Through American Movies''.

* CreatorCouple: The film's star Creator/JenniferJones was producter David O. Selznick's soon-to-be second wife.

** Creator/TeresaWright, who was looking to expand beyond the usual girl-next-door roles she played, was also almost cast as Pearl.

** As mentioned above, producer David O. Selznick [[ControlFreak intensely involved himself in nearly every aspect of the movie]], which caused friction with director King Vidor. Vidor was among at least three directors who worked on the film (not including Selznick, who also helmed some scenes). Selznick's demands further led to numerous script and story changes, which caused production costs to greatly increase. Again, as with directing, Selznick ended up doing some uncredited script revisions himself.

* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese cites this as one of the earliest films he recalls seeing and he considers it a great work discussing it in detail in ''A Personal Journey Through American Movies''.
* CreativeDifferences: Director Creator/KingVidor wanted to make the movie more of an intimate psychological drama, which clashed with producer David O. Selznick's insistence on greater spectacle and melodrama. In the end, Selznick won out and replaced Vidor before production was completed but did give him sole credit as the director.

** The backlash the movie received from moralists wasn't helped at all by the fact that at the time, Creator/JenniferJones (the lustful Pearl) was known for playing [[GirlNextDoor girls-next-door]] and a [[Film/TheSongOfBernadette literal saint]].

* RealLifeRelative: The film's star Creator/JenniferJones was producter David O. Selznick's soon-to-be second wife.
* TroubledProduction: Producer David O. Selznick's goal was to top ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', but his habit of extreme micromanagement, which worked for the production of GWTW, could just as easily increase tensions on the set and artistically smother a movie. Also, Selznick was in the process of separating from and divorcing his first wife so he could eventually marry his leading lady, Jones, with whom he had become obsessed with. That obsession, unfortunately, affected many of his decisions. Finally, to keep up with his workaholic schedule, Selznick was taking--and became addicted to--Benzedrine, which [[CreatorBreakdown only increased his erratic behavior and decision-making during production.]] Then there were the aforementioned problems with The Hays Code, but Selznick found [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity a way to turn that to his advantage.]]

** Teresa Wright, who was looking to expand beyond the usual girl-next-door roles she played, was also almost cast as Pearl.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget - $20,408,163. Box office - $6,480,000.

** As mentioned above, producer David O. Selznick's intensely involved himself in nearly every aspect of the movie, which caused friction with director King Vidor. Vidor was among at least three directors who worked on the film (not including Selznick, who also helmed some scenes). Selznick's demands further led to numerous script and story changes, which caused production costs to greatly increase. Again, as with directing, Selznick ended up doing some uncredited script revisions himself.

** The backlash the movie received from moralists wasn't helped at all by the fact that at the time, Creator/JenniferJones (the lustful Pearl) was known for playing [[GirlNextDoor girls-next-door]] and a [[Film/TheSongOfBernadette saint]].

* RealLifeRelative: According to Creator/KingVidor, director Creator/JosefVonSternberg was hired only as a lighting expert by David O. Selznick in order to give his soon-to-be-second-wife--and the film's star--Creator/JenniferJones a more glamorous look.
* TroubledProduction: Producer David O. Selznick's goal was to top ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', but his habit of extreme micromanagement, which worked for the production of GWTW, could just as easily increase tensions on the set and artistically smother a movie. Also, Selznick was in the process of separating from and divorcing his first wife so he could eventually marry his leading lady, the much-younger Jones with whom he had become obsessed with. That obsession, unfortunately, affected many of his decisions. Finally, to keep up with his workaholic schedule, Selznick was taking--and became addicted to--Benzedrine, which [[CreatorBreakdown only increased his erratic behavior and decision-making during production.]] Then there were the aforementioned problems with The Hays Code, but Selznick found [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity a way to turn that to his advantage.]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The film was originally going to star Creator/JohnWayne and Creator/HedyLamarr.
** Creator/TeresaWright, who was looking to expand beyond the usual girl-next-door roles she played, was also almost cast as Pearl.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The film was originally going to star Creator/JohnWayne and Creator/HedyLamarr.

* RealLifeRelative: According to Creator/KingVidor, director Creator/JosefVonSternberg was hired only as a lighting expert by David O. Selznick in order to give his wife--and the film's star--Creator/JenniferJones a more glamorous look.

** Likewise, athough this role came early in his career, before he became known for mostly playing courageous and upright characters like in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', seeing Creator/GregoryPeck playing an impulsive, lecherous, racist, and--in the end--murderous outlaw is rather jarring.
* TroubledProduction: Producer David O. Selznick's goal was to top ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', but his habit of extreme micromanagement, which worked for the production of GWTW, could just as easily increase tensions on the set and artistically smother a movie. Also, Selznick was in the process of separating from and divorcing his first wife so he could eventually marry his leading lady, the much-younger Jones with whom he had become obsessed with. That obsession, unfortunately, affected many of his decisions. Finally, to keep up with his workaholic schedule, Selznick was taking--and became addicted to--Benzedrine, which [[CreatorBreakdown only increased his erratic behavior and decision-making during production.]] Then there were the aforementioned problems with The Hays Code, but Selznick found [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity a way to turn that to his advantage.]]