Editing Easy Rider (section)

===Writing===
Hopper and Fonda's first collaboration was in ''[[The Trip (1967 film)|The Trip]]'' (1967), written by Jack Nicholson, which had themes and characters similar to those of ''Easy Rider''.<ref name=Mills/> Peter Fonda had become "an [[icon]] of the [[counterculture]]" in ''[[The Wild Angels]]'' (1966), where he established "a [[persona]] he would develop further in ''The Trip'' and ''Easy Rider''."<ref name=Laderman2010/> ''The Trip'' also popularized LSD, while ''Easy Rider'' went on to "celebrate '60s counterculture" but does so "stripped of its innocence."<ref name=Boyd2009/> Author Katie Mills said that ''The Trip'' is a way point along the "[[metamorphosis]] of the rebel road story from a [[Beat Generation|Beat]] [[relic]] into its hippie [[reincarnation]] as ''Easy Rider''", and connected Peter Fonda's characters in those two films, along with his character in ''The Wild Angels'', deviating from the "formulaic biker" persona and critiquing "[[commodity]]-oriented filmmakers appropriating [[avant-garde film]] techniques."<ref name=Mills/> It was also a step in the transition from [[independent film]] into [[Hollywood film|Hollywood]]'s mainstream, and while ''The Trip'' was criticized as a faux, popularized [[underground film]] made by Hollywood insiders, ''Easy Rider'' "interrogates" the attitude that underground film must "remain strictly segregated from Hollywood."<ref name=Mills/> Mills also wrote that the famous acid trip scene in ''Easy Rider'' "clearly derives from their first tentative explorations as filmmakers in ''The Trip''."<ref name=Mills/> ''The Trip'' and ''The Wild Angels'' had been low-budget films released by [[American International Pictures]] and were both successful. When Fonda took ''Easy Rider'' to AIP, however, as it was Hopper's first film as director, they wanted to be able to replace him if the film went overbudget, so Fonda took the film to [[Bert Schneider]] of [[Raybert Productions]] and [[Columbia Pictures]] instead.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|date=February 11, 1970|page=6|title='Easy Rider' No Accident; Those AIPix Trailblazed For It|last=Setlowe|first=Rick}}</ref>

When seeing a still of himself and [[Bruce Dern]] in ''[[The Wild Angels]]'', Peter Fonda had the idea of a modern [[Western film|Western]], involving two bikers travelling around the country and eventually getting shot by hillbillies. He called Dennis Hopper, and the two decided to turn that into a movie, ''The Loners'', with Hopper directing, Fonda producing, and both starring and writing. They brought in screenwriter [[Terry Southern]], who came up with the title ''Easy Rider''. The film was mostly shot without a screenplay, with [[ad-lib]]bed lines, and production started with only the outline and the names of the protagonists. Keeping the Western theme, Wyatt was named after [[Wyatt Earp]] and Billy after [[Billy the Kid]].<ref name=biskind/> However, Southern disputed that Hopper wrote much of the script. In an interview published in 2016 [Southern died in 1995] he said, "You know if Den Hopper improvises a dozen lines and six of them survive the cutting room floor he'll put in for screenplay credit. Now it would be almost impossible to exaggerate his contribution to the film—but, by George, he manages to do it every time."<ref name="Golden">{{cite news|url=http://creativescreenwriting.com/terry-southern-writing-to-his-own-beat/|title=Terry Southern: Writing to His Own Beat|last=Golden|first=Mike|date=January 12, 2016|work=Creative Screenwriting|access-date=January 21, 2016}}</ref> According to Southern, Fonda was under contract to produce a motorcycle film with A.I.P., which Fonda had agreed to allow Hopper to direct. According to Southern, Fonda and Hopper didn't seek screenplay credit until after the first screenings of the film, which required Southern's agreement due to [[Screen Writers Guild|writers guild]] policies. Southern says he agreed out of a sense of camaraderie, and that Hopper later took credit for the entire script.<ref name="Golden"/>

According to Terry Southern's biographer, Lee Hill, the part of George Hanson had been written for Southern's friend, actor [[Rip Torn]]. When Torn met with Hopper and Fonda at a New York restaurant in early 1968 to discuss the role, Hopper began ranting about the "[[redneck]]s" he had encountered on his scouting trip to the South. Torn, a Texan, took exception to some of Hopper's remarks, and the two almost came to blows, as a result of which Torn withdrew from the project. Torn was replaced by Jack Nicholson. In 1994, [[Jay Leno]] interviewed Hopper about ''Easy Rider ''on ''[[The Tonight Show with Jay Leno|The Tonight Show]]'', and during the interview, Hopper falsely claimed that Torn had pulled a knife on him during the altercation when it was actually the other way around. This infuriated Torn, so he sued Hopper for defamation seeking punitive damages. Torn ultimately prevailed against Hopper on all counts.<ref name=biskind/>