The key is who had control of casting. It certainly wasn't Tennessee Williams. He didn't want Elizabeth Taylor in the part of Maggie and later pronounced her as awful in the role. In fact, Williams had little to do with the film. The $500,000 he was paid for the rights, plus a percentage of the box office, while it was a Broadway hit also suggest that he had reason for seeing the best film possible and wouldn't have mucked it up for personal reasons.
I've been reading a lot about the making of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" while writing an upcoming biography on w/d Richard Brooks. I must say, in reading other books about the film and the people involved (and MGM memos and such) I never came across such gossip.
More interesting is contemplating what could have been had the actor the producer Pandro S. Berman considered for Brick scored the part: William Shatner. The young Canadian had impressed him in Brooks's adaptation of "The Brothers Karamazov."
According to what I've read, Brooks wanted Newman for Brick because he believed Newman had that quality on screen of being interesting as he listened to Maggie the Cat's laments. Newman repaid the compliment when he asked Brooks to w/d "Sweet Bird of Youth" a few years later.
The Paul Newman - Tennessee Williams Rumor
in General Discussions
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The key is who had control of casting. It certainly wasn't Tennessee Williams. He didn't want Elizabeth Taylor in the part of Maggie and later pronounced her as awful in the role. In fact, Williams had little to do with the film. The $500,000 he was paid for the rights, plus a percentage of the box office, while it was a Broadway hit also suggest that he had reason for seeing the best film possible and wouldn't have mucked it up for personal reasons.
I've been reading a lot about the making of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" while writing an upcoming biography on w/d Richard Brooks. I must say, in reading other books about the film and the people involved (and MGM memos and such) I never came across such gossip.
More interesting is contemplating what could have been had the actor the producer Pandro S. Berman considered for Brick scored the part: William Shatner. The young Canadian had impressed him in Brooks's adaptation of "The Brothers Karamazov."
According to what I've read, Brooks wanted Newman for Brick because he believed Newman had that quality on screen of being interesting as he listened to Maggie the Cat's laments. Newman repaid the compliment when he asked Brooks to w/d "Sweet Bird of Youth" a few years later.