Trivia / Rebecca (1940)

• Black Sheep Hit: Alfred Hitchcock had two big restraints as he directed the film—he was subject to the Executive Meddling of producer David O. Selznick, and he promised Daphne du Maurier that he'd keep the film faithful to the novel, since she'd loathed the major liberties that his adaptation of Jamaica Inn had taken with her book.^note Though most of that was the fault of Charles Laughton, who co-produced Jamaica Inn as well as starred in it, and refashioned it into a vehicle for himself, essentially taking control of the film In particular, Hitchcock clashed with Selznick over various aspects of the production (for instance, Selznick often disagreed with Hitchcock's heavily storyboarded vision for the film), and the film has very little of Hitchcock's standard fast pacing and wit. As a result, even though this was the only film Hitchcock directed to win Best Picture and it earned him his first Best Director nomination, he didn't consider it part of his canon, and today many would still agree with that assessment. As one blogger has put it, "It's a classic, but it's not classic Hitchcock," though Mrs. Danvers and Jack Favell definitely fit the familiar Hitchcock villain mold. Still, the Oscar plus being one of the top 5 grossing films of 1940 earned Hitchcock his Auteur License.
• Creator-Preferred Adaptation: Daphne Du Maurier considered the film to be the best of all the adaptations of her work.
• Enforced Method Acting: Laurence Olivier treated Joan Fontaine horribly. Realising the potential in this, Alfred Hitchcock told her that everyone on set hated her - resulting in a natural shy and uneasy performance from her.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Alfred Hitchcock had a habit of creating "in name only" adaptations and was an unproven talent in the US (this was his first American film) so producer David O. Selznick granted him much less creative freedom than he had been granted in his previous British films. The film is noticeably darker than his previous efforts as a result, as Selznick insisted on keeping to the novel's gothic atmosphere and avoiding many of the touches of humour Hitchcock wanted to include.
  • Hitchcock then tried counter-executive meddling by only filming the shots that he wanted to see in the final cut of the film, and even made it impossible to include a flaming letter R visual effect that Selznick had wanted for the finale.
  • And of course, The Hays Code created Hollywood meddling as they were forced to change the cause of Rebecca's death from the novel.
• Fake Brit: Judith Anderson, a native of Australia who moved to America at age 21 and spent the rest of her life there, as Mrs. Danvers.
• Fountain of Expies: Practically every portrayal of the Creepy Housekeeper is either based on Mrs. Danvers, or on Frau Blücher,^note *WHINNY* who Mel Brooks specifically intended as a parody of Danvers.
• Hostility on the Set: Laurence Olivier treated Joan Fontaine horribly, feeling his wife Vivien Leigh should have had her part instead. Hitchcock told Joan that everyone else hated her too, in order to create an authentic feeling of isolation for her.
• Hypothetical Casting: Laurence Olivier lobbied hard for his then-girlfriend Vivien Leigh to be cast as Mrs. de Winter. They did a screen test together, but Alfred Hitchcock and David O Selznick didn't think she was right for the part.^note  Some critics have suggested that Leigh would have been perfect for the role of Rebecca if she were not The Ghost. Leigh later played the part alongside Olivier in a 1950 radio adaptation.
• Playing Against Type: Mildly for Gladys Cooper. At this point in time, she was usually cast as antagonistic upper class women - most famously in Now, Voyager. While Beatrice is still an overbearing upper class woman, she's easily the nicest of Maxim's social circle.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Mrs. Danvers was one of the first unambiguously lesbian characters in a major Hollywood film, and Judith Anderson may count as this, but it's a bit controversial. She was (briefly) married twice, but there's some solid evidence pointing to her being bisexual.
• Reality Subtext:
  • The second Mrs de Winter's feelings of inadequacy, that she can't compare to Rebecca, rather eerily parallel Joan Fontaine's rivalry with her older sister Olivia de Havilland. In their youth, Olivia was the one who was pushed as an actress while Joan was The Un-Favourite of the family.
  • The 2020 film is a remake of a much-loved film about a woman who cannot live up to her predecessor.
• The Red Stapler: Sort of. After the success of the movie in Spain, the jackets Joan Fontaine wears were known as 'rebecas'. They're still called that to this day.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: After completion, the film sat on the shelf for a month before David O. Selznick could work on the final cut.
• Troubled Production: Production on the film started five days after World War II broke out, causing lots of problems with the mostly British cast and crew. Alfred Hitchcock's perfectionism slowed production down, to the point where he refused to allow lights to be set up during camera rehearsals - because he found the noise distracting. Within two weeks, the film was behind schedule. Stagehands went on strike during filming and Joan Fontaine suffered a nasty flu. The film ended up going $500,000 over budget.
• Wag the Director: A weird case in which the director had to Wag the Producer: Alfred Hitchcock had to resort to some tricky measures to get around producer David O. Selznick's creative demands. Among others, he edited "in-camera" — shooting only the scenes he wanted to include in the final cut so that Selznick couldn't recut the film if he didn't like it. This is why, for example, the film does not end with a giant "R" appearing out of the smoke from the burning Manderley, as Selznick originally envisioned.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early drafts of the script named the heroine Daphne (as in Daphne du Maurier). This was the heroine's name in the early drafts of the novel too.
  • Joan Fontaine's sister Olivia de Havilland was a strong contender for Mrs de Winter, but she dropped out upon learning that Fontaine was also being considered. Maureen O'Hara claimed in her autobiography that she was the first choice. Anne Baxter had the support of Selznick's staff, but he overruled them and chose Fontaine. Susan Hayward was also considered.
  • Hitchcock wanted Robert Donat for Maxim DeWinter, but Donat didn't really care to leave England. Selznick and Hitchcock both offered the role to Ronald Colman, but he turned it down, feeling it would be bad for his image. David Niven was dismissed as being too young. William Powell expressed interest, but Selznick felt Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer demanded too high a fee to loan him out. Leslie Howard and Melvyn Douglas were also considered.
  • Selznick wanted the smoke from the burning Manderley to spell out a huge "R". Hitchcock thought the touch lacked subtlety. While Selznick was preoccupied by Gone with the Wind, Hitchcock was able to replace the smoky "R" with the burning of a monogrammed négligée case lying atop a bed pillow.