Did You Know?
Cyd Charisse discovered that she was pregnant during pre-production and was replaced by Leslie Caron.
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After Arthur Freed and Ira Gershwin reached an agreement during their weekly pool game, film rights to George Gershwin's "An American in Paris - A Tone Poem for Orchestra" were purchased for $158,750, and Ira received $56,250 as a consultant to write any necessary new lyrics for songs used.
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Alan Jay Lerner began writing the screenplay in December 1949, and finished it in a 12-hour stretch in March(?) 1949 on the night before his wedding.
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There was a break in production after 1 November 1950, at which point Gene Kelly began rehearsing the ballet choreography. By the time production for that final sequence resumed on 6 December, Vincente Minnelli had finished directing another film - Father's Little Dividend.
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Irene Sharaff designed a style for each of the ballet sequence sets, reflecting various French impressionist painters: Raoul Dufy (the Place de la Concorde), Edouard Manet (the flower market), Maurice Utrillo (a Paris street), Henri Rousseau (the fair), Vincent van Gogh (the Place de l'Opera), and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (the Moulin Rouge). The backgrounds took six weeks to build, with 30 painters working nonstop.
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According to Leslie Caron, her introductory dance sequence, which included a seductive dance with a chair, was considered too suggestive by some censors. Gene Kelly directed the brief fantasy dance sequences shown as Lise is introduced.
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The 17-minute dance sequence at the end took a month to film. It cost half a million dollars.
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Leslie Caron had suffered from malnutrition during WWII and was not used to the rigorous schedule of filming a movie. Because she would tire so easily, she was only able to work every other day.
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Oscar Levant, more of a pianist than an actor, signed onto the film because he was actually a friend of George Gershwin.
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Arthur Freed originally just wanted to buy the rights to the George Gershwin number "American in Paris," but Ira Gershwin made the condition that he'd only sell on the condition that if a musical were to use the song, it would use only Gershwin numbers as its other songs.
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Despite the objections of Gene Kelly who wanted to shoot on location in Paris, the movie was shot at MGM Studios in California, on 44 sets built for the film. It was reportedly difficult for the studio to secure travel arrangements or locations for shooting. Two shots in the picture are from Paris, but they don't involve Kelly.
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The ballet sequence was almost cut because the shooting was behind schedule, but MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer stood by Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly in withholding the release of the movie because he felt the movie wouldn't be effective without it.
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Even though Vincente Minnelli is credited as the sole director, he was sometimes tied up with his divorce from Judy Garland and other directing projects, leaving Gene Kelly to take over the directing duties.
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Vincente Minnelli first wanted Maurice Chevalier in the Georges Guétary part, and Celeste Holm in the Nina Foch part. But Chevalier wasn't available; Minnelli was pleased with Foch's reading, and she got the part.
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A scene in which Gene Kelly dances and sings "I've Got a Crush on You" while in his pajamas was filmed but did not make final cut. Kelly created a similar number with the song "All I Do Is Dream of You" for his next movie musical, Singin' in the Rain, and it also ended up on the cutting room floor.
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Oscar Levant's dream sequence may be a tribute to Buster Keaton. In the opening sequence of The Play House, Keaton also played every role - conductor, every member of the orchestra, stage hand, all nine actors on stage, and each member of the audience.
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Producer Arthur Freed wanted Marge Champion to star in this movie, but at the time Champion didn't want to break up her dance act with her husband Gower Champion. So she persuaded Freed that he should cast a French girl in the role instead.
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Oscar Levant and Gene Kelly both grew up in Pittsburgh. Kelly appeared in a Cap and Gown show at the University of Pittsburgh whose music was written by Oscar's talented musical brother, Benjamin, who went on to become a urologist.
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A famous painter was hired to create the paintings that Gene Kelly displays on the streets of Paris.
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A major reason Gene Kelly suggested Leslie Caron as the female lead was because he felt this movie needed a "real" French girl playing Lise, not just an American actress playing one.
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On the two-disc special edition DVD released in 2008 by Warner Home Video, footage of one musical scene has been restored as a bonus: Georges Guétary, accompanied by Oscar Levant at the piano, singing "Love Walked In" to Leslie Caron in a café. Audio extras include Gene Kelly crooning "I've Got a Crush on You," plus two versions of "But Not for Me": a Georges Guétary vocal and an Oscar Levant piano solo.
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The piece performed in Oscar Levant's dream sequence is the third movement, Allegro Agitato, from George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F Major. This movement is also the shortest one in the concerto.
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During filming, Nina Foch came down with chicken pox. She went back to work as soon as she was able, but as a result, a whole team of makeup artists had to work to cover her pockmarks.
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