Development The film was based on the debut novel by
J. R. Salamanca. He wrote it over seven years.
Jerry Wald bought the screen rights to the novel in March 1958, before the book had been published. He wanted
Bradford Dillman and
Margaret Leighton to play the lead. In August 1959, Wald said Joe Stephens was writing the script.
Philip Dunne was approached to make the film by producer
Jerry Wald when they were shooting
In Love and War together. Wald always intended to cast
Elvis Presley in the lead and originally wanted
Simone Signoret to appear opposite him. In August 1960,
Clifford Odets signed to write the screenplay, with Dunne to direct. Filming was to start in November. "It pained me to hear him rationalise writing the screenplay", said Odets' colleague
Harold Clurman. Dunne says the studio came under the control of Bob Goldstein, who refused to meet Simone Signoret's salary demands, and insisted Dunne and Wald use someone under contract to the studio. At one stage
Barbara Bel Geddes was cast. They eventually cast
Hope Lange, even though Wald and Dunne felt she was too young for the part. The studio then refused to keep paying Odets, firing him two weeks before filming. The film was Millie Perkins' second film under her contract at Fox. The first was
The Diary of Anne Frank filmed two and a half years previously. Presley's fee was reportedly $300,000. Dunne says the studio fired Odets with the script only half written so he had to finish it himself. Dunne did not want to do this, but was persuaded otherwise.
Shooting Wild in the Country started filming in November 1960. It was the last movie to shoot at the colonial mansion which had been on the studio backlot since 1934 – this was knocked down and sold after filming completed. The movie was also shot on location in
Napa Valley and in Hollywood Studios, although it is set in the
Shenandoah Valley. The cast and crew created a public sensation in Napa for over two months of filming. The motel where many of the cast stayed, Casa Beliveau (renamed the Wine Valley Lodge, now supportive housing for the homeless), was so mobbed that Elvis had to be moved to the St. Helena home that was being used in the film as Irene Sperry's house, where Glenn Tyler went for counseling. Now a top-rated inn in Napa Valley and known as The Ink House, the room where Presley stayed for over two months can still be rented. Other Napa Valley locations featured in the movie. The opening scene was filmed along portions of the
Napa River. This section of the river is located at what is now the Casa Nuestra Winery, between
Calistoga and St. Helena. Calistoga's downtown main street was used as the hometown of Glenn Tyler's uncle and his cousin. Other filming locations in Napa Valley include the
Silverado Trail between Calistoga and St. Helena, the Cameo Cinema (then The Roxy), an old movie theater still in operation in downtown St. Helena where the dance hall scenes with Elvis and Tuesday Weld were filmed, and the hills and farmland behind what is now
Whitehall Lane Winery just north of the town of Rutherford. Dunne recalled, "For his love scenes with Hope Lange, he couldn't get the right tempo so, I had him listen to
Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Presley listened intently, then said, 'Hey, man, now I get it!' And he did the smooching very slowly, in one take." The Ink House was used as the house and backyard where a drunken Glenn Tyler tries to hose down Irene Sperry through the porch window, and the nearby 1885 barn is where Irene Sperry drives her
DeSoto in to attempt suicide when she is so distraught over her suspected romance with Glenn and the scandal it has caused. In one scene, Betty Lee slaps Glenn. Millie Perkins suffered a broken arm while doing the scene, and before the film was released, the scene ended up being cut out of the movie. Philip Dunne says that 20th Century Fox insisted on the insertion of four songs for Elvis Presley. Three were used in the film. This was Elvis' last dramatic lead role until
Charro!, as his next film,
Blue Hawaii, was his first big budget musical-comedy and was a box office sensation. All his subsequent movies were largely formula musical-comedies which were quite lucrative but never gave him the chance to develop his potential as a serious actor that was very apparent in
Wild in the Country. With the future formulaic musical-comedy routine in the making, Presley's fate had been sealed as a
B-movie actor. Presley began an off-screen romance with Hollywood "bad girl" Tuesday Weld but the relationship was short-lived after Elvis's manager,
Colonel Tom Parker, warned him against his involvement, fearful it would harm his image. Elvis and Hope Lange also were quite taken with each other, but her separation from her husband did not result in a divorce until the next summer making her unavailable for a serious relationship. She was also involved in a relationship with Glenn Ford. Other notable members in the cast included
Jason Robards, Sr. (in his final role),
Christina Crawford (daughter of
Joan Crawford),
Pat Buttram and the legendary
Rudd Weatherwax who trained the animals used in the movie.
Reshoots In the original script and rough cut of the film, Lange's character, Irene Sperry succeeds in her suicide attempt. However, preview audiences reacted negatively to it and the scene was redone in which Irene survives and sees Glenn off to college. ==Soundtrack==