Trivia / Five Branded Women

• California Doubling: Italy and Austria double for Yugoslavia.
• Creator Couple: Producer Dino De Laurentiis was married to lead actress Silvana Mangano at the time.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Four out of the five leads had their hair cut off for the role, Silvana Mangano doing so on camera. Barbara Bel Geddes was the only one who wore a wig. As a result, Vera Miles had to wear a wig playing Lila Crane in Psycho.
• Fake Nationality: Most of the characters are Yugoslavians and...
  • Silvana Mangano (Jovanka) and Carla Gravina (Mira) were Italian.
  • Jeanne Moreau (Ljuba) was French.
  • Vera Miles (Daniza) and Barbara Bel Geddes (Marja) were American.
  • The rest of the cast were made up of Italians, which isn't to say the partisans couldn't also be Italian, and Americans Not Even Bothering with the Accent.
• Money, Dear Boy: Four out of five lead actresses were each given significant pay bonuses for going through with the haircutting.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle:
  • Both Silvana Mangano and Vera Miles actually wore wigs for the pre-haircut scenes, as their hair was ironically too short even before the head shaving.
  • And because of shaving her head for this film, Vera Miles had to wear a wig in Psycho.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was going to be shot on-location in Yugoslavia but the communist government refused to allow it.
  • Gina Lollobridiga was cast as Jovanka initially but dropped out. The reason varies depending on the source - either because she didn't want to cut her hair or because she was too nervous starring alongside the other Hollywood actresses. Silvana Mangano replaced her.
  • Lee Remick turned down one of the main roles.