:07:05
Gloria Swanson wasn't first choice.
:07:08
He thought about Mae West
and saw her.
:07:11
She wanted to rewrite the dialogue,
as always. That didn't do well.
:07:16
They thought about Pola Negri.
:07:18
"Too much Polish accent",
Billy described it.
:07:22
Then he went to see Mary Pickford,
:07:23
America's sweetheart and
our first big star at Paramount.
:07:28
Mary always owned her own negative
so that was out.
:07:32
They were stumped until Wilder
was having tea with George Cukor,
:07:36
and Cukor said,
"What about Gloria Swanson?"
:07:40
Perfect.
Here is the character, as written.
:07:44
The others would have been good,
:07:47
but this picture was made
for Gloria Swanson.
:07:50
She'd fallen out of the public eye.
:07:53
She was a has-been and was making
her famous comeback.
:07:58
She claimed she didn't really know
what the role was.
:08:02
She thought it was a small part.
Why would they want her as the star?
:08:07
She hadn't been seen since the '30s,
so she took them up on it,
:08:12
divorced her fifth husband,
or however many she'd had,
:08:17
and moved to Hollywood.
:08:20
She worked so hard.
She was so dedicated.
:08:23
She was the only one of all of us
:08:27
that truly understood the film's
importance, what it could become.
:08:33
She wasn't the crazy diva
she appears to be in the film.
:08:37
She knew what she was doing.
It's a version of herself that she plays.
:08:43
Gloria Swanson gave, I think,
a fantastic performance.
:08:47
I didn't know
you were planning a comeback.
:08:49
I hate that word! It's a return!
:08:52
A return to the millions who've never
forgiven me for deserting the screen.
:08:57
The part William Holden plays
in the picture, the gigolo part,