Editing It Happened One Night (section)

==Production==
===Casting===
[[File:Gable and Colbert - It Happened One Night Columbia 1934 Press Still 7.4 X 9.4 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Gable and Colbert in a production still]]
Neither Gable nor Colbert was the first choice to play the lead roles. [[Miriam Hopkins]] rejected the part of Ellie. [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]] and [[Myrna Loy]] were then offered the roles, but both turned down the script. Loy later noted that the final story as filmed bore little resemblance to the script that she and Montgomery had been given.<ref>Kotsabilas-Davis and Loy 1987, p. 94. Note: Loy described the first script she saw as "one of the worst [that] she had ever read."</ref> [[Margaret Sullavan]] also rejected the part.<ref>Wiley and Bona 1987, p. 54.</ref> [[Constance Bennett]] was willing to accept the role if she could produce the film herself but [[Columbia Pictures]] would not agree to that condition. [[Bette Davis]] then wanted the role<ref>Weems, Erik. [http://eeweems.com/capra/_it_happened_one_night.html ''It Happened One Night – Frank Capra''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417011517/http://eeweems.com/capra/_it_happened_one_night.html |date=April 17, 2007}} ''eeweems.com'', April 2013. Retrieved: April 1, 2015.</ref> but she was under contract with [[Warner Bros.|Warner Brothers]] and [[Jack L. Warner]] refused to lend her.<ref>Chandler 2006, p. 102.</ref> [[Carole Lombard]] was unable to accept because Columbia's proposed filming schedule would conflict with her work on ''[[Bolero (1934 film)|Bolero]]'' at [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]].<ref>McBride 1992, p. 303.</ref> [[Loretta Young]] also turned it down.<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/rattlingdjs/1697495016/ "Loretta Young 1999."] ''flickr.com''. Retrieved: November 14, 2007.</ref>

[[Harry Cohn]] suggested Colbert, who initially turned down the role.<ref>Karney 1995, p. 252.</ref> Her first film, ''[[For the Love of Mike (1927 film)|For the Love of Mike]]'' (1927), had been directed by Capra and was such a disaster that neither wanted to work with the other again.{{sfn|Tapert|1998|p=172}}<ref>McBride 1992, pp. 304, 307.</ref> Later, she agreed to the role only if her salary was doubled to $50,000 and if her scenes were completed in four weeks so that she could take a planned vacation.<ref>{{cite web |title=1934: Best Picture |url=https://www.britannica.com/oscar/article-9397448 |website=Britannica Presents: All About Oscar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002022647/https://www.britannica.com/oscar/article-9397448 |archive-date=2013-10-02 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to Hollywood legend, Gable was lent to [[Columbia Pictures]], then considered a minor studio, as punishment for refusing a role at his own studio. That tale has been partially refuted by more recent biographies. [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] did not have a project ready for Gable and the studio was paying him his contracted salary of $2,000 per week whether he worked or not. [[Louis B. Mayer]] lent him to Columbia for $2,500 per week, hence netting MGM $500 per week while he was gone.<ref name="Harris">Harris 2002, pp. 112–114.</ref> Capra, however, insisted that Gable was a reluctant participant in the film.<ref>Capra 1971, p. 164.</ref>

===Filming===
[[Image:Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night.jpg|left|thumb|266x266px|The [[hitchhiking]] scene]]
Filming began in a tense atmosphere as Gable and Colbert were dissatisfied with the quality of the script. Capra understood their dissatisfaction and let screenwriter Robert Riskin rewrite it.<ref name="Harris"/> Colbert continued to show her displeasure on the set. She also initially balked at pulling up her skirt to entice a passing driver to provide a ride, complaining that it was unladylike. Upon seeing the chorus girl who was brought in as her [[body double]], an outraged Colbert told the director, "Get her out of here. I'll do it. That's not my leg!"<ref name=Pace>Pace, Eric. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E6D91439F932A05754C0A960958260 "Claudette Colbert, unflappable heroine of screwball comedies, is dead at 92."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213101932/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E6D91439F932A05754C0A960958260 |date=February 13, 2009 }} ''The New York Times'', July 31, 1996, p. D21.</ref> Capra claimed that Colbert "had many little tantrums, motivated by her antipathy toward me," but "was wonderful in the part."<ref name=Pace/> Part of the film was made on [[Thousand Oaks Boulevard]] in [[Thousand Oaks, California]].<ref>Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). ''The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers''. Windsor Publications. p. 82. {{ISBN|9780897812993}}.</ref>