Editing Lawrence of Arabia (film) (section)

=== Pre-production ===
Previous films about T. E. Lawrence had been planned but had not been made. In the 1940s, [[Alexander Korda]] was interested in filming ''The Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' with [[Laurence Olivier]], [[Leslie Howard]], or [[Robert Donat]] as Lawrence, but had to pull out owing to financial difficulties. David Lean had been approached to direct a 1952 version for [[the Rank Organisation]], but the project fell through.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=258}} At the same time as pre-production of the film, [[Terence Rattigan]] was developing his play ''[[Ross (play)|Ross]]'' which centred primarily on Lawrence's alleged [[homosexuality]]. ''Ross'' had begun as a screenplay, but was re-written for the stage when the film project fell through. Sam Spiegel grew furious and attempted to have the play suppressed, which helped to gain publicity for the film.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brownlow|1996|pages=410–11}}</ref> [[Dirk Bogarde]] had accepted the role in ''Ross''; he described the cancellation of the project as "my bitterest disappointment". Alec Guinness played the role on stage.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography |last=Sellers |first=Robert |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-283-07216-1 |location=London |quote=my bitterest disappointment}}</ref>

Lean and Sam Spiegel had worked together on ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'' and decided to collaborate again. For a time, Lean was interested in a biopic of [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]], with Alec Guinness to play the title role and [[Emeric Pressburger]] writing the screenplay. He eventually lost interest in the project, despite extensive pre-production work, including location scouting in India and a meeting with [[Jawaharlal Nehru]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Brownlow|1996|pages=393–401}}</ref> Lean then returned his attention to T. E. Lawrence. [[Columbia Pictures]] had an interest in a Lawrence project dating back to the early '50s, and the project got underway when Spiegel convinced a reluctant A. W. Lawrence to sell the rights to ''[[Seven Pillars of Wisdom]]'' for £22,500.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=271}}

[[Michael Wilson (writer)|Michael Wilson]] wrote the original draft of the screenplay. Lean was dissatisfied with Wilson's work, primarily because his treatment focused on the historical and political aspects of the Arab Revolt. Lean hired Robert Bolt to re-write the script to make it a character study of Lawrence. Many of the characters and scenes are Wilson's invention, but virtually all of the dialogue in the finished film was written by Bolt.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|pp=270–282}}

Lean reportedly watched [[John Ford]]'s 1956 film ''[[The Searchers]]'' to help him develop ideas as to how to shoot the film. Several scenes directly recall Ford's film, most notably Ali's entrance at the well and the composition of many of the desert scenes and the dramatic exit from [[Wadi Rum]]. Lean biographer [[Kevin Brownlow]] noted a physical similarity between Wadi Rum and Ford's [[Monument Valley]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Brownlow|1996|page=443}}</ref>

In an interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'' in 1989, Lean said that Lawrence and Ali were written as being in a gay relationship. When asked about whether the film was "pervasively homoerotic", Lean responded:
<blockquote>
Yes. Of course it is. Throughout. I'll never forget standing there in the desert once, with some of these tough Arab buggers, some of the toughest we had, and I suddenly thought, "He's making eyes at me!" And he was! So it does pervade it, the whole story, and certainly Lawrence was very if not entirely homosexual. We thought we were being very daring at the time: Lawrence and Omar, Lawrence and the Arab boys.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/02/03/david-lean-sorcerer-of-the-screen/784a3547-60d6-47d6-96a4-1f99f3edea55/ |title=David Lean, Sorcerer of the Screen |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=3 February 1989 |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230052041/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/02/03/david-lean-sorcerer-of-the-screen/784a3547-60d6-47d6-96a4-1f99f3edea55/ |archive-date=30 December 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Lean also compared Ali and Lawrence's romance in the film to the relationship of the two main characters in his 1945 film ''[[Brief Encounter]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Brief Encounters: Lesbians and Gays in British Cinema 1930–1971 |last=Bourne |first=Stephen |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4742-9134-7 |page=169}}</ref>