Editing The Lost Weekend (section)

==Production and notable features==
Wilder was originally drawn to this material after having worked with [[Raymond Chandler]] on the screenplay for ''[[Double Indemnity (1944 film)|Double Indemnity]]''. Chandler was a recovering alcoholic at the time, and the stress and tumultuous relationship with Wilder during the collaboration caused him to start drinking again. Wilder made the film, in part, to try to explain Chandler to himself.<ref name="dvd2">{{cite news | title = Shadows of Suspense | work = Double Indemnity Universal Legacy Series DVD | publisher = [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] | year = 2006}}</ref>

Wilder originally wanted [[Jose Ferrer]] for the role of Don, but he turned it down. Charles Brackett's first choice for playing Helen was [[Olivia de Havilland]], but she was involved with a lawsuit that prevented her from being in any film at that time.  It has been said that [[Katharine Hepburn]] and [[Jean Arthur]] were also considered for the role.<ref>[[Robert Osborne]] of [[Turner Classic Movies]]</ref>

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Film critic [[Manny Farber]] in ''[[The New Republic]]'', January 7, 1946, offered this appraisal of [[Frank Faylen]]’s performance as "Bim" Nolan in ''The Lost Weekend'':
"One episode where the directing and the acting have a fling involves a male nurse, in a provocative, sneering act—one of the only inspired movie portraits of homosexuality I have ever seen."<ref>Farber, 2009 p. 269</ref>}}

The majority of the film was shot at Paramount studios in Hollywood. Wilder, however, insisted they shoot part of the film on location in [[New York City]] to create a distinct sense of realism. On October 1, 1944, Wilder and his small crew began filming in New York, mostly along [[Third Avenue]] in Midtown East Manhattan. To further create a realistic atmosphere, Wilder and his crew used hidden cameras, placing them behind boxes or in the back of trucks, and capturing Milland as he walked up 3rd Avenue among actual pedestrians who were unaware a film was being made. The production also had the unprecedented permission to film inside [[Bellevue Hospital]] in the alcoholic ward, a request that would be denied to future films. After completing filming in New York, the cast and crew returned to California to resume principal photography, where they recreated several New York locations, including a replica of [[P. J. Clarke's]], a tavern often frequented by author Charles Jackson.<ref name="phillips">{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Gene|title=Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder|date=2010|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0813173672|pages=76–78, 83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5uohNoRFkwIC&q=%22lost+weekend%22+%22third%22&pg=PT91|access-date=8 October 2017|language=en}}</ref>

The film also made famous the "character walking toward the camera in a daze as time passes" camera effect.<ref>Farber, 2009 pp. 210-211: Critic [[Manny Farber]] devotes an entire essay, "The Case of the Hidden Camera" that largely deals with the virtues of its application in ''The Lost Weekend''. See ''[[The New Republic]]'', January 1, 1945</ref>

Once ''The Lost Weekend'' was completed, it was shown to a preview audience, who laughed at what they considered Milland's overwrought performance, and the studio actually considered shelving the film. Part of the problem was that the print shown at the preview did not have [[Miklós Rózsa]]'s original musical soundtrack, but instead had a temporary track containing upbeat jazz music. However, once the Rózsa score was in place, along with a re-shoot of the last scene, audiences and critics reacted favorably. The film's musical score was among the first to feature the [[theremin]], which was used to create the pathos of alcoholism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filmmusiccritics.org/ifmca-legends/miklos-rozsa/|title=Miklós Rózsa|date=25 November 2010 |publisher=International Film Music Critics Association|access-date=3 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="phillips" />

Rights to the film are currently held by [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]], which owns the pre-1950 Paramount sound feature film library via [[EMKA, Ltd.]]

The film differs significantly from the book by leaving out the novel's noted homosexual overtones, namely the strong implication that Don Birnam is (as was the book's author, Charles Jackson) a closeted homosexual.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/198640/farther-and-wilder-by-blake-bailey|title='Farther and Wilder' by Blake Bailey|access-date=July 29, 2024}}</ref>

The liquor industry launched a campaign to undermine the film even before its release. Allied Liquor Industries, a national trade organization, wrote an open letter to Paramount warning that anti-drinking groups would use the film to reinstate prohibition. Liquor interests allegedly enlisted gangster [[Frank Costello]] to offer Paramount $5 million to buy the film's negative in order to burn it.<ref name="phillips" /> Wilder quipped that if they’d offered him $5 million, "I would have [burned the negative]."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Terrall |first1=Ben |title=The Lost Weekend |url=http://filmnoirfoundation.org/noircitymag/The-Lost-Weekend.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://filmnoirfoundation.org/noircitymag/The-Lost-Weekend.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=filmnoirfoundation.org |access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref>