Editing Sweet Smell of Success (section)

===Principal photography===
Mackendrick shot the film in late 1956, and was scared the entire time because Hecht-Hill-Lancaster had a reputation for firing their directors for any or even no reason at all.{{sfn|Kemp|1991|p=147}} The filmmaker was used to extensive rehearsals before a scene was shot and often found himself shooting a script page one or two hours after Odets had written it. Lancaster's presence proved to be intimidating for numerous individuals involved with the production; at one point, Lehman had been approached to direct the film, but declined due to his fear of Lancaster, although Hecht maintained that Lehman had never been offered the chance to direct. Mackendrick and composer Elmer Bernstein both found Lancaster intimidating, with Bernstein later recalling, "Burt was really scary. He was a dangerous guy. He had a short fuse".{{sfn|Kemp|1991|p=147}}<ref name=nare>{{cite book |last=Naremore |first=James |date= July 6, 2010 |title=Sweet Smell of Success: A BFI Film Classic |publisher=British Film Institute |isbn=978-1844572885 }}</ref> Mackendrick decided to use Lancaster's volatility to work for the character of JJ, asking that Lancaster wear his own [[browline glasses]], which Mackendrick felt gave him the presence of "a scholarly brute".<ref name=nare/> Mackendrick smeared a thin layer of [[vaseline]] on the lenses, preventing Lancaster from focusing his eyes and giving him a perpetually blank gaze. Assisted by cinematographer [[James Wong Howe]], Mackendrick intentionally filmed scenes with JJ from a low angle using a [[wide-angle lens]] and with overhead lighting directly above Lancaster, so that the spectacle frames cast shadows on his face.<ref name=nare/>

Shooting on location in New York City also added to Mackendrick's anxieties. Exteriors were shot in the busiest, noisiest areas with crowds of young Tony Curtis fans occasionally breaking through police barriers. Mackendrick remembered, "We started shooting in [[Times Square]] at rush hour, and we had high-powered actors and a camera crane and police help and all the rest of it, but we didn’t have any script. We knew where we were going vaguely, but that’s all".{{sfn|Kemp|1991|p=147}}