Script In November 1948,
20th Century-Fox announced they wanted to make a film set in Australia at the turn of the century, called
The Australian Story. It would be based on an original story by Martin Berkeley and produced by Robert Bassler. The film would be made using Fox funds "frozen" by the Australian government under post-war currency restrictions. Tyrone Power was the expected star, as he had made a number of romantic adventures for Fox shot on location outside Hollywood such as
Prince of Foxes. Reports said "the picture will be themed in the documentary manner by events that happened at the turn of the century." Australian reports said the film may be about the construction of the transcontinental telegraph. Lewis Milestone, who eventually directed the film, later said: "I suppose the idea of making it originated in the Fox sales department: they'd accumulated a lot of money in Australia and I suppose the only way they could move the money was to reinvest it there." In June 1949, Fox said
Dudley Nichols was going to write the script from Berkeley's story, and may also direct. However by July
Norman Reilly Raine was working on the script which had also been known as
The Land Down Under and
Sundowner. In 1949 November, Fox said the film was going to be called
The Land Down Under, with Power to star and Bassler to produce. By this stage, Fox said the film would be about a bushranger who pretends to be the long lost son of a rich land owner. In December 1949 associate producer Robert Snody and art director Lee Kirk arrived in Sydney to line up locations. By then, the film was called
The Bushranger although Snody insisted it was more of a family saga. In January 1950, Fox said the project would be an "actor drama" called
The Bushranger produced by Robert Snody and written by
Norman Reilly Raine about a family running a cattle station in the northwest circa 1895–1900. By that month Charles Clarke was announced as cinematographer. Also that month, Fox said they would make the film in Technicolor, and that three writers were working on the script. Filming was expected to begin in October. Other titles to the story were:
The Australian Story,
The Bushranger,
The Land Down Under and
Sundowner. An early draft of the film reportedly featured reference to hordes of kangaroos wiping out a town, but this was deleted after input from the Australian crew.
Director In June 1950, Fox announced that
Louis King would direct the film under a new five-year contract with the studio. However the following month, it was announced that
Lewis Milestone would direct the movie. Milestone left for Australia on 15 August 1950. When he arrived, Milestone spoke highly to the Australian media about the quality of other Australian-shot films,
The Overlanders and
Bitter Springs. According to
Henry Hathaway, Zanuck offered the film to
Orson Welles who turned it down.
Casting Tyrone Power was the first star linked with the project. In February 1949,
Hedda Hopper reported that Fox were pursuing
Cary Grant and later report claimed
Gregory Peck was also considered. In April 1949, Fox said
Jean Peters would play the female lead. In November 1949, Fox announced that Tyrone Power would play the male lead if he liked the script. By December it was reported Power was off the picture. In May 1950, there were reports the lead would go to a new Fox contract player, like
William Lundigan or Hugh Beaumount. In July 1950, it was reported that Power dropped out to appear in a stage version of
Mister Roberts in London. In July 1950, Milestone said none of the four leads had been cast; he expressed interest in
Richard Widmark or "a British star" as the hero,
Jean Simmons as the female lead and
Errol Flynn as "the bushranger"; the fourth lead part was the station owner, for which Milestone wanted an actor around 60 years of age. He had been told about
Chips Rafferty and wanted to test him, and estimated that there were about 25 roles in the movie available for Australians to play. "Station hands, townspeople, tavern keepers, barmaids, stage coach drivers, passengers, atmosphere players", he said. Milestone added: The story concerns a group of people living on stations about 300 miles north-west of Sydney. If necessary we will rewrite the play to fit Australian conditions. I want
Kangaroo to be a true dramatic portrait of life in Australia in the 1880s. We'll decide the district for filming within a month of arrival. We'll build sets on location and take interior shots in Ealing Studios. We expect to spend six months altogether in Australia. We'll engage experts and technical directors there. In August 1950, Fox announced they were borrowing Peter Lawford from MGM to play the male lead. By the end of the month, the female lead was given to Constance Smith, who had just appeared in Fox's
The Mudlark., (J. Arthur Rank reportedly would not loan out Simmons.) In September, the second male lead went to
Richard Boone who had recently appeared in
The Halls of Montezuma directed by Milestone. Then Smith was assigned to star in
The 13th Letter (1951) and her role was taken by
Maureen O'Hara. O'Hara wrote in her memoirs that "I loved the script and asked Darryl Zanuck to cast me in the picture." She added that Zanuck "had already cast his then-current girlfriend in the part but dropped her from the picture as soon as I asked for the part." O'Hara's marriage was breaking down at the time and she says she had decided to divorce her second husband but was talked out of it by Mary and
John Ford just before she left for Australia on 17 November 1950.
Finlay Currie was the last of the four principals to be cast. He had recently made several films for Fox including
The Black Rose and
The Mudlark. When asked about Australia films Currie said: "I believe your own producers have concentrated too much on background and not enough on story. That is a pity. Even when your settings are interesting they can't compensate for a poor script. For it is the script that brings background alive. I think a really good story with an Australian setting should make a very good picture, and we in the unit are all hoping that is what
Kangaroo will give you. Producer-director Lewis Milestone knows what he wants before he starts, and that is half the battle of production. Having him out here is a definite and important gesture to the vast potentialities of film production in your country." In December 1950, Hedda Hopper said Rod Cameron was a good chance of being cast "if he can travel". In December 1950, Letty Craydon was cast as Maureen O'Hara's housekeeper under a monthly contract with a daily option up until six weeks. She was chosen after her performance as Sister Josephine in the play
Bonaventura. "It will be a wonderful break for me and of tremendous educational value", said Craydon. "I looked over my part the other day, and I love it, particularly as it has a touch of Irish about it. I have been studying it hard and getting ready to leave. My frocks have been prepared, and I have tried most of them on. It will be marvellous working with Maureen O'Hara and Peter Lawford; but, I'm not a star, and I doubt whether my name will be in big lights." The cast and crew went to Sydney via Hawaii where they had a six-day stop over in Honolulu. "Everywhere we go we get mobbed by teenagers", said Boone. Of course they're after Peter, and I get the backwash. I don't care so much for being hugged, kissed, petted and squeezed by hundreds of screaming youngsters." ==Preproduction==