Hitchcock Chronology: Torn Curtain (1966)

Entries in the Hitchcock Chronology relating to Torn Curtain (1966)...

1964

November

• Hitchcock writes to Russian émigré novelist Vladimir Nabokov and tries to interest him in developing an original screenplay based on one of two stories that the director is considering as his next film — a crime caper about a family of Italian crooks or a gritty political spy thriller about a defecting scientist and his wife. Nabokov expresses interest in the first story, but is too busy to begin work until the summer of 1965 at the earliest.

1965

January

• 4th - Hitchcock meets with Italian writers Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli in Hollywood to discuss developing a script for the R.R.R.R. project. The project is eventually abandoned as Hitchcock decides to concentrate his energy on the pre-production of Torn Curtain.

March

• Hitchcock begins script meetings with writer Brian Moore to develop Torn Curtain.
• 26th - Brian Moore completes a 5-page synopsis for Torn Curtain.

April

• 3rd - Julie Andrews meets with Hitchcock for the first time to discuss her role in Torn Curtain.

May

• 19th - Brian Moore completes an initial treatment for Torn Curtain.
• 25th - Brian Moore submits the first fifteen pages of his initial draft of Torn Curtain to Hitchcock.

June

• 21st - Brian Moore completes his first draft of Torn Curtain.

July

• Brian Moore completes his third draft of Torn Curtain during the first week of August.
• Brian Moore completes his second draft of Torn Curtain.
• 9th - Hitchcock flies out to Europe to scout locations for Torn Curtain in Copenhagen and Frankfurt.
• 15th - Hitchcock returns to the US from scouting European locations for Torn Curtain.
• Hitchcock asks Brian Moore to make changes to his third draft of Torn Curtain towards the end of August, but the writer express his dissatisfaction with the entire project. Hitchcock begins looking around for a writer to replace Moore.

September

• 9th - Unhappy with the state of Brian Moore's screenplay for Torn Curtain, Hitchcock asks Peggy Robertson to draw up a list of skilled writers who might be able to salvage the script. Amongst the names, Robertson suggests John Michael Hayes. Unwilling to work with Hayes again, Hitchcock eventually selects the English writing team of Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.

October

• 18th - Principal photography begins on Torn Curtain, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
• 18th - The English writing team of Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall arrive in Hollywood to work with Hitchcock on final script changes to Torn Curtain. Waterhouse and Hall will continuing working on the shooting script during filming.

1966

February

• Principal photography on Torn Curtain is completed.

March

• Hitchcock listens to a recording of Bernard Herrmann's score for Torn Curtain. Rather than the upbeat score Hitchcock had asked for, and which the composer had promised to deliver, the score is typical Herrmann with heavy bass, brass and woodwind. Hitchcock immediately fires Herrmann and the two never talk to each other again.

September

• With Torn Curtain completed, the Hitchcocks go on a month-long vacation to Europe, visiting the Villa D'Este in Italy, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Munich and Paris.

1981

October

• 24th - Costume designer Edith Head, who worked with Hitchcock on Notorious, Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot, dies aged 83.

1997

February

• 22nd - Composer Joel McNeely conducts the National Philharmonic Orchestra at Watford Town Hall, England, in a recording of Bernard Herrmann's unused score for Torn Curtain. The recording is released in 1998 on the Varèse Sarabande label as "Torn Curtain - The Unused Score".

2007

August

• 24th - Actor Hansjörg Felmy, who appeared in Torn Curtain, dies aged 76.

2008

September

• 26th - Actor Paul Newman, who starred in Torn Curtain, dies aged 83.

2009

September

• 4th - Writer Keith Waterhouse, who worked on Torn Curtain, dies aged 80.