Though Kesey\u2019s novel was rooted in post-war paranoia, when it was published in 1962 it read as a parable of contemporary social upheaval \u2013 entrenched state power versus the hippies, cranks and outcasts. But to Forman it rang another, more sinister, bell. \u201cHis American friends challenged him when he took the job,\u201d Paul remembers. \u201c\u2018How dare you think you, a European, can make this American story?\u2019 And he\u2019d reply, \u2018Yes, for you Americans it\u2019s a story. For me, who grew up under the Nazis and the Communists, it was my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirk Douglas\u2019s passion for Kesey\u2019s book began before it had even been published. He had read an early proof copy in 1961 and immediately purchased the rights, before enlisting the budding playwright Dale Wasserman \u2013 then a busy television writer \u2013 to come up with a stage adaptation.<\/p>\n
It opened in November 1963, with Douglas, then at the height of his stardom, in the McMurphy role. But it closed just two months and 82 performances later. With missionary zeal, the actor then channelled his efforts into getting a film version off the ground \u2013 though to an industry still working under the censorious Hays Code it was just too weird, too bleak, too politically charged.<\/p>\n
But his son was similarly convinced that something was there. So Kirk handed over the rights to Michael, then in his 20s, and he brought Saul Zaentz on board in 1973. Douglas\u2019s first move was to ask Kesey himself to write the screenplay. But the result \u201cwas very surreal\u201d, Paul says tactfully. \u201cHe had Nurse Ratched in a valkyrie\u2019s helmet, and scenes where she\u2019d scratch the walls and they\u2019d drip with blood.\u201d Following a more grounded rewrite, Forman \u2013 at the time living in New York\u2019s notorious Hotel Chelsea<\/a> while undergoing a nervous breakdown \u2013 was hired to direct.<\/p>\n Gene Hackman<\/a>, Marlon Brando, Burt Reynolds<\/a> and James Caan were all floated as potential McMurphys: Douglas approached their agents, but they all declined. Nicholson, however, leapt on the role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though Kesey\u2019s novel was rooted in post-war paranoia, when it was published in 1962 it read as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5343,168438,96,2332,35965,44184,123,21854,1906,105195,2839,33357,172462,5438,56,54,55,157732],"class_list":{"0":"post-525091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-culture-editors-choice","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-film-features","13":"tag-film-industry","14":"tag-hollywood","15":"tag-jack-nicholson","16":"tag-mental-health","17":"tag-milos-forman","18":"tag-movies","19":"tag-oscars","20":"tag-robbie-collin","21":"tag-standard","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-unitedkingdom","25":"tag-us-content"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}