History Trivia / RyansDaughter

* StillbornFranchise: Creator/DavidLean and Creator/RobertBolt hoped to make a sequel to ''Ryan's Daughter'' detailing Rosy and Charles' life in Dublin, trying to rebuild their lives while getting unwittingly caught up in the Irish War for Independence. The movie's lukewarm reception ensured it was never made, though according to Sarah Miles, Lean and Bolt returned to the idea in the late '80s and seriously discussed it as a follow-up to their planned ''Nostromo'' film [[AuthorExistenceFailure before Lean died]].

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulScofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeCScott and Creator/AnthonyHopkins were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.

** Christopher Jones was dealing with the death of his friend Creator/SharonTate, which may have played a part in him and Sarah Miles not getting along. Olivia Hussey, whom he was with at the time, described their relationship as extremely abusive and that it ended during filming for that reason.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Sarah Miles and Christopher Jones grew to dislike one another, leading to trouble when filming the love scenes. Christopher was engaged to Olivia Hussey, and he was not attracted to Miles. He even refused to do the forest love scene with her, which prompted Miles to conspire with Mitchum. It was Mitchum who settled on the idea of drugging Jones by sprinkling an unspecified substance on his cereal. Mitchum overdosed Jones, however, and the actor was nearly catatonic during the love scene. He was never told by the producers about the drugging and believed he was having a nervous breakdown.

** Lean cast American actor Creator/ChristopherJones on the strength of his performance in ''Film/TheLookingGlassWar'' without bothering to meet him first... only learning after production began that the film had been shot to hide Jones' diminutive stature and that his high-pitched voice had been dubbed. Jones and Lean clashed frequently, with Lean finding Jones' voice and performance so unsuited to the square-jawed soldier he had envisioned that he had Doryan re-written as traumatised into near silence by his trench experiences, with his aide-de-camp, Captain Smith (Gerald Sim), given the extra lines. Jones' voice was ultimately dubbed by Julian Holloway, but his performance was one of the most harshly criticised aspects of the film.
** Jones and Creator/SarahMiles also grew to dislike each other, making filming of their love scenes awkward for all involved. Not only was Jones in mourning for his close friend (and possibly ex-girlfriend) Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the Manson family during production, but he was also engaged to Olivia Hussey, and was simply not attracted to Miles. At one point, Miles conspired with Creator/RobertMitchum to drug Jones' breakfast to make him get over his disgust at filming the scene where Rosy and Doryan have a tryst in the forest, but Mitchum overdid the dosage, rendering Jones near catatonic for filming of the scene and leading him to believe he was having a nervous breakdown. A combination of grief over Tate's death and his negative experience working on the film prompted Jones to retire from acting; he only made one other film.

** Creator/PeterOToole also turned down the role of Michael.

** Christopher Jones was dealing with the death of his friend Creator/SharonTate, which may have played a part in him and Sarah Miles not getting along..

* CreatorKiller: Creator/DavidLean was so hurt by the criticism of the film that he didn't direct another film for 14 years.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulScofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeCScott, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and Patrick [=McGoohan=] were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.
** Lean originally wanted Creator/MarlonBrando for Doryan. He accepted, but problems with the production of ''Film/{{Burn}}!'' forced him to drop out. Creator/RichardBurton, Creator/RichardHarris and Creator/PeterOToole were also considered.

** Creator/ChristopherJones was dealing with the death of his friend Creator/SharonTate.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulSchofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeCScott, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and Patrick [=McGoohan=] were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.

** Then came its release. Creator/{{MGM}} was expecting the film to repeat the huge success of ''Film/DoctorZhivago'', and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too big a scale for its modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Creator/PaulineKael, Richard Schickel and others who seemingly took delight in insulting Ryan. This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and Ryan's box office take proved mediocre. It earned several Oscar nominations and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for 14 years.

* TroubledProduction: Very much troubled.
** The weather was so uncooperative that many of the beach scenes in the film were shot near Cape Town in South Africa rather than near the specially constructed village on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula. Ironically, Lean had to wait for a year for a suitably dramatic storm to strike the Irish coast for a pivotal scene in which the villagers wade into the sea to retrieve a shipment of weapons intended for the IRA. Leo [=McKern=], who played the title character's father, nearly drowned and nearly lost his glass eye to the rough seas, and was so frustrated by the slow pace of filming that he swore he would never act again (his "retirement" ultimately only lasted a few years). Nor did Ryan's long gestation endear Lean to MGM, who soon regretted giving the director carte blanche after Zhivago. At one point, MGM President James Aubrey arrived in Ireland to demand that Lean pick up the pace. Lean responded by shutting down production until Aubrey left the country.

* FakeIrish: The main characters were played by English, American and Australian actors.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Creator/DavidLean wanted many of the beach scenes to take place in sunny weather, evidently not realising until he had settled on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry that south-west Ireland is more noted for mist and gale force winds than sunshine. The sunny scenes were instead shot in Noordhoek in South Africa, chosen because of its superficial similarity to Dingle Bay (the scenes shot there can be easily picked out, as the sea and sky are much deeper shades of blue, and the sand is much whiter and finer).

* HostilityOnTheSet: Sarah Miles and Christopher Jones grew to dislike one another, leading to trouble when filming the love scenes. Christopher was engaged to Olivia Hussey, and he was not attracted to Miles. He even refused to do the forest love scene with her, which prompted Miles to conspire with Mitchum. It was Mitchum who settled on the idea of drugging Jones by sprinkling an unspecified substance on his cereal. Mitchum overdosed Jones, however, and the actor was nearly catatonic during the love scene. He was never told by the producers about the drugging and believed he was having a nervous breakdown

** Then came its release. Creator/{{MGM}} was expecting the film to repeat the huge success of ''Film/DoctorZhivago'', and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too big a scale for its modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Pauline Kael, Richard Schickel and others who seemingly took delight in insulting Ryan. This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and Ryan's box office take proved mediocre. It earned several Oscar nominations and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for 14 years.

** Creator/PeterOToole also turned down the role of Michael.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/RobertMitchum playing Charles, the mild-mannered school teacher. Mitchum considered it one of his favorite roles, claiming Charles was closer to his real personality than his usual tough guy roles.
* SameLanguageDub: Christopher Jones was dubbed by Julian Holloway.
* StarDerailingRole: Christopher Jones abandoned acting after his much maligned performance, retiring to art..

** The weather was so uncooperative that many of the beach scenes in the film were shot near Cape Town in South Africa rather than near the specially constructed village on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula. Ironically, Lean had to wait for a year for a suitably dramatic storm to strike the Irish coast for a pivotal scene in which the villagers wade into the sea to retrieve a shipment of weapons intended for the IRA. Creator/LeoMcKern, who played the title character's father, nearly drowned and nearly lost his glass eye to the rough seas, and was so frustrated by the slow pace of filming that he swore he would never act again (his "retirement" ultimately only lasted a few years). Nor did Ryan's long gestation endear Lean to MGM, who soon regretted giving the director carte blanche after Zhivago. At one point, MGM President James Aubrey arrived in Ireland to demand that Lean pick up the pace. Lean responded by shutting down production until Aubrey left the country.

** Then came its release. MGM was expecting the film to repeat the huge success of ''Film/DoctorZhivago'', and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too big a scale for its modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Pauline Kael, Richard Schickel and others who seemingly took delight in insulting Ryan. This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and Ryan's box office take proved mediocre. It earned several Oscar nominations and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for 14 years.

** Creator/RobertMitchum was undergoing a personal crisis at the time and told Creator/DavidLean that he was seriously contemplating suicide when he was cast. When Robert Bolt heard of this, he told Mitchum that as long as he finished "working on this wretched little film" first, he would pay for his burial.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/MarlonBrando for Doryan. He accepted, but problems with the production of ''Film/{{Burn}}!'' forced him to drop out. Creator/PeterOToole, Creator/RichardHarris and Creator/RichardBurton were also considered.

** Lean cast American actor Creator/ChristopherJones on the strength of his performance in ''FilmTheLookingGlassWar without bothering to meet him first... only learning after production began that the film had been shot to hide Jones' diminutive stature and that his high-pitched voice had been dubbed. Jones and Lean clashed frequently, with Lean finding Jones' voice and performance so unsuited to the square-jawed soldier he had envisioned that he had Doryan re-written as traumatised into near silence by his trench experiences, with his aide-de-camp, Captain Smith (Gerald Sim), given the extra lines. Jones' voice was ultimately dubbed by Julian Holloway, but his performance was one of the most harshly criticised aspects of the film.

** Lean wanted Creator/AlecGuinness to play Father Collins. Guinness, a devout Roman Catholic, not only refused the role, but sent Lean a long list of objections he had with the character and the portrayal. Lean thanked him for his honesty. Furthermore, the two had clashed while filming ''Film/DoctorZhivago.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulSchofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeCScott, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and /Patrick [=McGoohan=] were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulSchofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeCScott, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and Creator/PatrickMcGoohan were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.
** Lean originally wanted Creator/MarlonBrando for Doryan. He accepted, but problems with the production of ''Film/Burn!'' forced him to drop out. Creator/PeterOToole, Creator/RichardHarris and Creator/RichardBurton were also considered.

** Creator/TrevorHoward was undergoing marital difficutlies. When his wife Helen paid a visit to Ireland but stormed out of a party after an argument with him, she was nearly killed in a car accident on the treacherous narrow, winding roads.

** Then came its release. MGM was expecting Ryan's Daughter to repeat the huge success of Zhivago, and unveiled it with a suitably lavish publicity campaign and roadshow release. Unfortunately, the movie was roundly savaged by critics, who typically complained it was too big a scale for its modest love story. Lean took this criticism extremely personally; at a meeting of New York film critics he was confronted by Pauline Kael, Richard Schickel and others who seemingly took delight in insulting Ryan. This time, critical scorn matched audience indifference, and Ryan's box office take proved mediocre. It earned several Oscar nominations and eventually turned a profit, but fell short of MGM's hopes for a massive blockbuster. Lean wouldn't make another film for 14 years.

** Lean originally wanted Creator/PaulSchofield for Charles Shaughnessy, but he had a theatrical commitment. Creator/GeorgeC.Scott, Creator/AnthonyHopkins and Creator/PatrickMcGoohan were considered but not approached, and Creator/GregoryPeck lobbied for the role but gave up after Creator/RobertMitchum was approached.

* PlayingAgainstType: Robert Mitchum playing Charles, the mild-mannered school teacher. Mitchum considered it one of his favorite roles, claiming Charles was closer to his real personality than his usual tough guy roles.
* TroubledProduction: Very much troubled. David Lean had trouble with the Irish weather, forcing him to shoot the beach scenes in Cape Town. He also had a disastrous time casting major roles. And then the film was savaged by critics. Lean did not make [[Literature/APassageToIndia another film]] for fourteen years.

* HeyItsThatGuy: ''Film/BarryLyndon'' fans can spot Barry's mother and Captain O'Feeny playing husband-and-wife villagers.
** [[Film/{{Frenzy}} Bob Rusk]] is Tim O'Leary.

* PlayingAgainstType: Robert Mitchum playing Charles, the mild-mannered school teacher. Mitchum considered it one of his favorite roles, precisely for this reason.