Creative reuse
Larry Alexander is wrong in claiming that “Demetrius and the Gladiators” was rushed into production to capitalize on Jay Robinson’s performance as Caligula (Letters, March 16). When the decision was made to shoot “The Robe” in CinemaScope, the sets had to be rebuilt and Darryl Zanuck assigned writer-director Delmer Daves to come up with a sequel that would use most of the sets and spread the additional costs over two pictures. “Demetrius” began shooting a couple of weeks after “The Robe” finished. While B-picture producers routinely had films written around leftover sets from A-pictures, the only other instance of this practice being used for two major productions was for “King Kong” and “The Most Dangerous Game” in the early ‘30s.
Rick Mitchell
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 28, 2003 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday March 28, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
“Demetrius” writer -- A letter in Sunday’s Calendar said Darryl Zanuck assigned writer-director Delmer Daves to come up with a sequel to the movie “The Robe.” Daves was actually a director on the sequel, “Demetrius and the Gladiators”; the screenplay was by Philip Dunne.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 30, 2003 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
“Demetrius” writer -- A March 23 letter said Darryl Zanuck assigned writer-director Delmer Daves to come up with a sequel to the movie “The Robe.” Daves was actually a director on the sequel, “Demetrius and the Gladiators”; the screenplay was by Philip Dunne.
Los Angeles