The Nightmare Lawrence of Arabia

I was going to write something blindingly interesting and insightful about Omar Sharif but the impulse petered out in a parsec. Fortunately the bad boy of the blarney Sippican Cottage did it and did it better than I could by approaching the subject widdershins in Sippican Cottage: RIP: Omar Sharif.

Excerpt: "Now think of this:

The producer wanted Omar Sharif to play the part of the Arab guide that Omar Sharif shoots at the well. A bit part. The part of Sherif Ali was supposed to be played by Horst Buchholtz of all people, or Alain Delon, for crissakes. This would have never happened:

"If Alain Delon would have agreed to wear brown contact lenses, he would have shot Omar Sharif at the well, started talking to Marlon Brando, who would have been wearing a sweaty wife-beater T-shirt, I guess, when he went to mumble to Cary Grant about his existential woes.

"You heard that right. The part of Major Lawrence was offered to, get this: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Anthony Perkins. Those are insanely bad choices. Albert Finney was Lean's first choice, and could have done it without making a hash of it, I guess, but he turned it down flat because he thought Lawrence of Arabia was going to be a flop. He made Night Must Fall instead, playing a guy that cuts off people's heads with an ax and then talks to said heads in his room. Actors sure are perceptive people."

Posted by gerardvanderleun at July 10, 2015 5:54 PM