Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Short description
A history professor and his wife invite a younger couple, newly arrived on the faculty, back to their home after a party. As the night goes on and more drinks are poured, the older pair turn on each other and then on their guests, exposing the resentment and cruelty that runs through their marriage and threatening the younger couple's own relationship.
Mike Nichols directed the film, his first, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman based on Edward Albee's play. Elizabeth Taylor plays Martha, the frustrated daughter of the university's president, and Richard Burton plays George, her alcoholic historian husband. George Segal and Sandy Dennis appear as the younger couple, Nick and Honey. The film went on to be followed by Nichols's The Graduate the next year.
Released in 1966, the film runs 131 minutes and was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Chenault Productions on a budget of about 8 million dollars, earning roughly 34 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 8 out of 10 from around 84,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.7 out of 10 from under a thousand votes. A critics' rating of 8.8 out of 10 from 45 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- According to Mike Nichols, the screenwriter and producer of the film, Ernest Lehman (1915-2005), wrote another ending for the film in which the son of George and Martha, played by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor respectively, committed suicide several years before the events depicted. Nichols refused to film that ending.
- By the time filming began, Richard Burton (1925-1984) and Elizabeth Taylor were already major stars, so working with them was quite a trial. Each of their contracts included a clause stating that they could not appear on set before 10 a.m., while the rest of the crew were practically always there from early morning. Upon arriving on set, the two of them would go to their dressing rooms, where makeup artists and costume designers would work on them for up to two hours each time, and by the time they were ready to film, it was time for a lunch break. Their lunch breaks were long – often with friends and alcohol – so they didn’t return until late in the afternoon, when filming could finally begin. According to editor Sam O’Steen, Burton and Taylor consistently acted as if everything was as it should be, and that nothing had happened. Moreover, sometimes they didn't return from lunch until 5 p.m., while their contracts stipulated that the workday should end at 6 p.m.
- In the scene near the bar, Richard Burton's character becomes enraged and pushes Elizabeth Taylor towards a car. Burton genuinely pushed Taylor hard, and she hit her head loudly against the top of the car. The actress's hand instinctively went to the impact site, but she played the scene to the end, and her voice made it clear she was in pain. Mike Nichols decided not to reshoot the scene, but to include this particular take in the film.
- For her role in this film, Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) gained almost 14 kilograms.
- Director Mike Nichols (1931-2014) later realized that insisting on filming on campus was unnecessary. All those scenes could easily have been shot at the studio. It was just one of the lessons he learned from working on his first film. As he later admitted, he was simply a theater director from New York who found himself in Hollywood, and was therefore terribly afraid.
- Edward Albee's play, which was a resounding success on Broadway in 1962, was purchased by the company for $500,000 USD.
- By that time, most films in Hollywood were being shot in color, but director Mike Nichols insisted on filming in black and white. Firstly, Elizabeth Taylor was made up to look 15 years older, and the makeup looked more natural that way. Furthermore, both she and Richard Burton looked more worn out on black and white film than they would have in color. Secondly, Nichols believed that color would make the film more literal and realistic, while he wanted it to look more stylized and abstract. Overall – and largely thanks to the fees of screenwriter Edward Albee (1928-2016) and Taylor – “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” became the most expensive black and white film in history, costing $7.5 million to produce.
- The film's editing was handled by Mike Nichols and Sam O’Steen. They worked from 5 a.m. until late at night, and Sam O’Steen once even fainted from exhaustion. In general, he – by his own admission – was “like a sleepwalker” and worked on autopilot. This continued for a whole month, and sound mixing was still ahead, but the studio bosses wouldn’t allow Nichols to do it. O’Steen did everything alone, and then every evening he would call Nichols and let him listen to the result through the phone speaker, and listen to Nichols’ requests and advice regarding the sound design.
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