Editing Nashville (film) (section)

===Screenplay===
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| quote = "[Connie White and Barbara Jean] are the personification of Nashville rivalries...&nbsp; the prototype of what Nashville music wanted its women to look like. [[Tammy Wynette]]. [[Dolly Parton|Dolly [Parton]]]. These women are tough, but my God they believe in religion. Dolly is up at four in the morning writing her songs and saying her prayers and she is not bullshitting you about that. There is great heart to these women."
| source = —Screenwriter Tewkesbury on the basis of Connie White and Barbara Jean{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=62}}
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In the 1970s, [[United Artists]] attempted to hire Robert Altman to direct a screenplay about [[Country western music|country-western music]] titled ''The Great Southern Amusement Company''. Altman declined but became interested in directing a film on the subject after reading [[William Price Fox]]'s novel ''Ruby Red'', and agreed to make an original film for UA.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Nashville |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55194-NASHVILLE?sid=48e54b09-677b-48eb-acfa-dbf035225c01&sr=18.268234&cp=1&pos=0 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=AFI Catalog}}</ref> The original screenplay for ''Nashville'' was written by [[Joan Tewkesbury]], who had collaborated with Altman on several of his films, including ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971) and ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=17}} She had proposed a Nashville-set film to Altman prior to his filming of ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller''; he became interested in the setting and sent Tewkesbury to Nashville in the fall of 1973 to observe the area and its citizenry.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|pages=15–20}} Tewkesbury's diary of her trip provided the basis for the screenplay, with many observations making it into the finished film, such as the highway pileup.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=163}} However, as with most Altman projects, much of the dialogue was improvised with the script acting as a "blueprint" dictating the actions of the characters and the plot.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=19}}

Tewkesbury, who was working as an instructor at the [[University of Southern California]], rewrote her screenplay several times.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=50}} In the original draft, the film opened with a scene featuring Tom on the street in New York City prior to his arrival in Nashville.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=61}} Tewkesbury had been partly inspired to write the film based on her observations of the music industry being geographically "pulled apart. The country-western thing had suddenly exploded in Nashville, but [musicians] still had to come to New York for getting paid, and business deals."{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=62}} None of Tewkesbury's incarnations of the screenplay featured any death scenes, but Altman, who had a "penchant for the tragic denouement", proposed the idea that Barbara Jean would be assassinated in the finale.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=60}} Altman also conceived the political subplot about the presidential candidate Hal Philip Walker. The political speeches and dialogue for this subplot were written by Altman's colleague [[Thomas Hal Phillips]], whose brother [[Rubel Phillips]] had run as the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] candidate in the [[1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election|1963]] and [[1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election]]s.<ref name=":0" />

Numerous characters in ''Nashville'' are based on real country music figures: Henry Gibson's Haven Hamilton is a composite of [[Roy Acuff]], [[Hank Snow]], and [[Porter Wagoner]]; Ronee Blakley's Barbara Jean is based on [[Loretta Lynn]];{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=62}} the black country singer Tommy Brown (played by [[Timothy Brown (actor)|Timothy Brown]]) is based on [[Charley Pride]];{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=62}} and the feuding folk trio is based on [[Peter, Paul and Mary]]; within the trio, the married couple of Bill and Mary were inspired by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who later became [[Starland Vocal Band]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://georgetownvoice.com/2008-03-13/feature/take-me-home |last=Reger |first=Jeff |title=Take Me Home |date=March 13, 2008 |work=The Georgetown Voice |access-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref> [[Keith Carradine]]'s character is believed to be inspired by [[Kris Kristofferson]], and Karen Black's Connie White was conceived as a composite of [[Lynn Anderson]] (who spoke unfavorably of the film after its release{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=292}}), [[Tammy Wynette]], and [[Dolly Parton]].{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=62}} Other characters were based on or inspired by real persons: Linnea was inspired by [[Louise Fletcher]], who had appeared in Altman's ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]'' (1973), and who had two deaf parents.{{sfn|Stuart|2003|p=91}} The black choir singing with Linnea early in the film is based on the [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]], though it's disputed whether the performers in the film were actually Fisk University students or members of the B. C. & M. (Baptist, Catholic, and Methodist) Choir, a black interdenominational gospel choir based in Nashville.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/mmi/production/5.3/magee.html |last=Magee |first=Gayle |title=Songwriting, Advertising, and Mythmaking in the New Hollywood: The Case of Nashville |date=Fall 2012 |work=Music and the Moving Image |access-date=June 29, 2021}}</ref> Altman also hired television reporter [[Howard K. Smith]] to deliver a commentary on Hal Philip Walker, for which he instructed him to say anything he wanted either for or against his fictional candidacy.<ref name=":0" />

Although UA had originally agreed to produce the script, the studio reneged because it was unsatisfied with the financial performance of Altman's previous films ''[[The Long Goodbye (film)|The Long Goodbye]]'' (1973) and ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]'' (1974). After unsuccessfully pitching the film to other studios, producer [[Jerry Weintraub]] secured a $2.7 million budget from [[ABC Records]], which wanted to promote a record company it had interest in.<ref name=":0" />