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The Man Who Would Be King, the 1975 John Huston English/U.S. British-in-India military war adventure epic ("Adventure in all its glory!"; "Rudyard Kipling's epic of splendor, spectacle and high adventure at the top of a legendary world."; "Long Live Adventure... And Adventurers!"; "Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling"; "Screenplay by John Huston and Gladys Hill") starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saaed Jaffrey, and Shakira Caine (billed as "introducing Shakira Caine"). Note that this movie has a fascinating origin! John Huston became obsessed with the idea of making a movie based on this Rudyard Kipling story, and he first tried to get it launched in 1952, at which point he hoped to have Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable in the lead roles (and the proposed screenwriter was Aeneas MacKenzie, a top Hollywood screenwriter whom Huston had first worked with in 1939 on Juarez)! But that never materialized (first because Bogart got sick in the middle 1950s and passed away in 1957, at which point the project was shelved, and then again the project was revived when Clark Gable showed an interest while filming The Misfits, but Gable passed away in 1960 right after making that movie, and it was shelved again); it is unclear exactly what happened after this, but it is rumored that Huston pursued making the movie in the early 1960s with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas; it again fell through but Huston tried again in the middle 1960s, this time rumored that Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole would play the leads; again, it was shelved, and in 1973, Huston revived the idea once again, this time for Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Paul Newman loved the script, but he told Huston that he felt he should not be in it, because he thought it absolutely should have two English stars, and apparently he suggested Sean Connery and Michael Caine. It would not be until 1973 that Huston was able to put it all together with these two great stars, and it would take two years before the movie was released, over 20 years after it was first conceived.
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.

Important Added Info: Note that last year we auctioned a set of 8 different scripts from this movie, representing scripts from the "first draft screenplay" from the 1950s through the "second version" from July 5, 1974 (see http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/935713.html for the actual 2015 auction showing all 8 scripts). Now we are auctioning 4 different examples of scripts that were in that auction, in 4 separate auctions. This auction is for a script that is very similar to one of the ones we auctioned in 2015 (both are credited to John Huston and Gladys Hill), but it is not dated as that one was (the 2015 one was dated July 5, 1974, and had revisions from July 5 and July 13). This one has no dated pages at all, so it could slightly predate the other one or slightly postdate it. It has "Edith Head" written in the top right of the cover and it is crossed out, and Edith Head did the costumes for the movie, so we suspect they intended to give this script to her, but after they made changes, they gave her a revised version instead. The script also has "Version I" written in blue pen at the top of the title page and at the bottom of the cover. Note that this is a script for a screenplay that was sent to agent Paul Kohner (see below), and it is 100% certainly an original script that was created at the time we indicate above, and it is NOT any sort of copy or later creation. The person who purchases this script is solely purchasing the script itself, and NOT any right to reproduce it in any way, or publish it. This script comes from the estate of Paul Kohner, who had a remarkable life! Kohner was born in Czechoslovakia in 1902, and he was a journalist working at his father's newspaper. He came to Hollywood after interviewing Carl Laemmle, who gave him a job as a publicity man. He became the head of Universal's European department in Berlin, and returned to the U.S. in the early 1930s, and left Universal in 1938, becoming a publicity agent. Among his clients were some of the greatest film stars ever, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, and also great directors such as John Huston and Billy Wilder. He had close personal friendships with many of his clients, and he saved every bit of correspondence and paper work from his agency! He was married to actress Lupita Tovar from 1932 until his death in 1988. Amazingly, after his death, few institutions showed interest in his immense files, and only a small amount ended up being saved, with a lot literally thrown away! Our consignor purchased the item offered here from Mr. Kohner's estate in 1989, and he has held it until now, when he has consigned several items from Mr. Kohner's estate to eMoviePoster.com, and each item is being auctioned separately.

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