Editing Gosford Park (section)

===Development and writing===
In 1999, [[Bob Balaban]] asked [[Robert Altman]] if there were something they could develop together, and Altman suggested a whodunit.<ref name="Gerald">{{cite web|url=http://geraldpeary.com/interviews/abc/altman.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124000153/http://geraldpeary.com/interviews/abc/altman.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=24 January 2013|title=Robert Altman|last=Peary|first=Gerald|date=December 2001|publisher=[[Gerald Peary]]|access-date=9 August 2010}}</ref> Altman wanted to create an [[Agatha Christie]]{{endash}}like country house murder mystery that explored that way of life; he called the film a "classic situation: all suspects under one roof".<ref name="Gerald"/><ref name="Dorset">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2005/07/25/julian_fellows_feature.shtml|title=Profiles – Julian Fellowes|date=8 August 2005|work=BBC Dorset|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=9 August 2010}}</ref> Altman was also inspired by the 1930s films ''[[The Rules of the Game]]'' and ''[[Charlie Chan in London]].''<ref name="Gerald"/> Altman chose British actor and writer [[Julian Fellowes]] to write the screenplay, because Fellowes knew how country houses operated.<ref name="Dorset"/> Fellowes, who had never written a feature film before, received a telephone call from Altman, who asked him to come up with some characters and stories.<ref name="Dorset"/><ref name="Unfazed">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/15/movies/gosford-writer-is-unfazed-by-class-but-amazed-by-fame.html|title='Gosford' Writer Is Unfazed by Class but Amazed by Fame|last=Hoge|first=Warren|date=15 April 2002|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=10 August 2010}}</ref> Fellowes was given a brief outline of the film: it was to be "set in a country house in the '30s and to have a murder in there somewhere, but for it to really be an examination of class."<ref name="Unfazed"/> Altman also wanted the film to explore the three groups of people: the family, the guests, and the servants.<ref name="Unfazed"/> Of the call, Fellowes said, "All the way through I thought this can't be happening—a 50-year-old fat balding actor is phoned up by an American movie director—but I did work as if it was going to happen."<ref name="Dorset"/>

The original title of the film was ''The Other Side of the Tapestry,'' but Altman thought it was awkward. Fellowes began looking through some books and came up with ''Gosford Park.''<ref name="Gerald"/> Altman said: "Nobody liked it, everyone fought me on it. But when you make a picture using a name, that's its name. It's not a gripping title. But then ''M*A*S*H'' wasn't either."<ref name="Gerald"/>

Fellowes says the screenplay was "not an homage to [[Agatha Christie]], but a reworking of that genre." Fellowes was credited not only as the film's writer but as a technical advisor as well, meaning he wrote portions of the film as it was being produced. He notes that in certain large scenes with many characters, the actors were left room to improvise.<ref name="qa" />

Arthur Inch, the retired butler of [[Kleinwort baronets|Sir Richard and Lady Kleinwort]], was the consultant on correct procedures and arrangements for dining on the set. Inch is credited as "Butler" immediately before Altman as Director in the final credits. [[Ruth Mott]] was the consultant for the kitchen,<ref>{{cite web |title=Obituaries: Ruth Mott |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9497835/Ruth-Mott.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9497835/Ruth-Mott.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=24 August 2012 |access-date=8 June 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and Violet Liddle for the parlour maids.<ref>{{cite book |title=Serving the Good and the Great: The Amazing True Story of Violet Liddle |date=2015 |isbn=978-0310253952 |last1=Liddle |first1=Violet |last2=Batchelor |first2=Mary |publisher=Zondervan }}</ref>