This is a wonderful piece of history regarding Clint’s award winning film Unforgiven (1992). There’s a couple of remarkable things about this memo which really stands out. Firstly, it’s the date of January 1984. Clint had previously spoken out regarding the project which dated way back to 1976. Infact, the project had previously been owned by Francis Ford Coppola, who went as far as to meet with John Malkovich and offer him the role of William Munny. Malkovich recalls:
"The offer was not very serious, thank God! I say that for myself and the poor public, and for Clint, absolutely! I would have been a total, total failure. Total! Who would've wanted to see that? I wouldn't! I would've just been acting-schmacting. There are some things you can only have with a kind of mythic figure which Clint is."
Clint had said that Malpaso had acquired it after the rights had expired adding that he put it away in a drawer as he had several other projects to do and that he felt he needed to mature more into the role and perhaps wasn’t of an old enough age to portray the character. So the date is very significant on this piece.
Secondly, is the title. At the time of Unforgiven’s release, information concerning the film’s original title was circulating - which was The William Munny Killings - and was developed under that title during pre production. However, before that (and especially at the early development stages) it was known as The Cut-Whore Killings or ‘Killing’ - as it is referred to on the document.
Lastly, and rather ironically, is the content - which certainly raises an eyebrow (and a smile). The memo is addressed to Clint (with copies to Fritz Manes) from Sonia Chernus (1909–1990), an associate of Clint’s which dated back to the days of Rawhide (as story assistant). She was also involved with the famous Clint Eastwood Meets Mister Ed TV show of 1962 and was also credited as one of the writers on The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
I use the term ‘irony’ of course as Sonia Chernus obviously hated the entire concept of the Unforgiven project, at least in these very early days. Her distaste for David Webb Peoples script was blatant to say the least, even though he had written the Oscar nominated film The Day After Trinity (1980) and co-written Blade Runner (1982). At one point she practically advises Clint to throw it in the bin. Well thankfully Clint thought otherwise, and when developed and made as Unforgiven, the film became a critical and commercial giant winning multiple Oscars along the way.
Irony in this case seems to be a double-edged sword - as Ms Chernus died some 2 years before Unforgiven’s release and never lived to see the overwhelming success that the film became. Although it’s a long shot, I like to think that Clint (out of respect for Chernus and her opinions of the script) might have just kept the project in the drawer, and decided to retrieve it only after her passing? But I’m speculating and probably have one foot in dreamland!
The memo however is certainly fascinating. I have had it on file for a number of years now. I think it originally turned up for auction - but never followed it through to see if it sold and/or what the final price was. I also wanted to digitally restore it to some degree and generally clean it up. I have posted both the before and after here - for the purists and admirers of ‘warts and all’ pieces.
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