The Big Sleep (film)/Trivia


 * Executive Meddling: Strangely, one of the few cases where it was for the better. A first version of the film adaptation was completed in 1945 but its release was postponed. Meanwhile, Lauren Bacall's fame rose, and it was decided to make a revised version the following year, giving her character more prominence. This is the version that was released.
 * The DVD release contradicts the above. It's stated in a featurette that Bacall's performance in her first film after her debut in To Have and Have Not, Confidential Agent, stunk up the room. Noting similar issues with her performance in several key scenes in The Big Sleep, Jack Warner authorized that several scenes be reshot and others added to try and recapture more of the To Have and Have Not chemistry. And it worked.
 * Real Life Relative: Bogart and Bacall were married; they had been working together for some time, but The Big Sleep was their first film as a married couple.
 * They actually got married between the shooting of the two different versions.