Behind the modest production budget lurked a showdown over star power. United Artists reportedly offered to double the film's $2.5 million budget to $5 million — on the condition that John Heard be replaced by a bigger name (the studio floated John Ritter, Robin Williams or Treat Williams). Producers Metcalf, Dunne and Robinson, backed by director Joan Micklin Silver (who had just worked with Heard on Between the Lines), refused the quid pro quo and kept Heard in the lead. A parallel casting twist: Meryl Streep is said to have been willing to play Laura only if Sam Waterston were cast as Charles; the producers, lacking a casting director and making calls themselves, ultimately cast Mary Beth Hurt because Streep would not work opposite Heard. Anne Archer and Jamie Lee Curtis also auditioned for Laura. The result was a film that preserved the producers' and director's vision at the expense of the studio's preferred commercial math — a decision that soured relations with UA, arguably limited initial promotional muscle, and helped consign the picture to an underpromoted release until UA later reissued it in 1982 with a different cut and the original title.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Casting Ultimatum: United Artists' Budget Offer in Exchange for Recasting the Lead — and the Meryl Streep Conditional That Never Was
John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Meryl Streep — Chilly Scenes of Winter / 1970s
Behind the modest production budget lurked a showdown over star power. United Artists reportedly offered to double the film's $2.5 million budget to $5 million — on the condition that John Heard be replaced by a bigger name (the studio floated John Ritter, Robin Williams or Treat Williams). Producers Metcalf, Dunne and Robinson, backed by director Joan Micklin Silver (who had just worked with Heard on Between the Lines), refused the quid pro quo and kept Heard in the lead. A parallel casting twist: Meryl Streep is said to have been willing to play Laura only if Sam Waterston were cast as Charles; the producers, lacking a casting director and making calls themselves, ultimately cast Mary Beth Hurt because Streep would not work opposite Heard. Anne Archer and Jamie Lee Curtis also auditioned for Laura. The result was a film that preserved the producers' and director's vision at the expense of the studio's preferred commercial math — a decision that soured relations with UA, arguably limited initial promotional muscle, and helped consign the picture to an underpromoted release until UA later reissued it in 1982 with a different cut and the original title.
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