Trivia / An American in Paris

• Actor-Shared Background: Oscar Levant (Adam) was a real-life pianist and composer with a wry personality not unlike his character's.
• California Doubling: Despite the objections of Gene Kelly, who wanted to shoot on location in Paris, the movie was shot at MGM Studios in California on 44 sets built for the film. It was reportedly difficult for the studio to secure travel arrangements or locations for shooting. Two shots in the picture are from Paris, but they don't involve Kelly.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: This was Gene Kelly's favourite of all his musicals.
• Cut Song: A scene in which Gene Kelly dances and sings "I've Got a Crush on You" while in his pajamas was filmed but did not make final cut.
• Darkhorse Casting: Gene Kelly discovered Leslie Caron while vacationing in Paris where he saw her perform in a ballet. She didn't speak English, but had a vague understanding of the language due to having an American mother, but was not conversant. Luckily for her, the part didn't have many lines and was comprised of mostly dancing, a skill that Caron was very fluent in.
• Directed By Castmember: Even though Vincente Minnelli is credited as the sole director, he was sometimes tied up with his divorce from Judy Garland and other directing projects, leaving Gene Kelly to take over the directing duties.
• Follow the Leader: Gene Kelly was inspired to make the film after seeing The Red Shoes (1948).
• Hostility on the Set: Gene Kelly suggested Leslie Caron as the female lead because he felt the film needed a "real" French girl playing Lise, not just an American actress pretending to be one. However, despite Kelly suggesting her for the lead role, relations between them soured due to Kelly's frequent criticisms and his relentless desire for perfectionism on the set. She had suffered from malnutrition during World War II and was not used to the rigorous schedule of filming a movie. Because she would tire so easily, she was only able to work every other day to the annoyance of Kelly.
• Prop Recycling: Leslie Caron's costumes were largely borrowed from Elizabeth Taylor's in Father of the Bride (1950).
• Recursive Adaptation: A rare example of a movie adaptation from an orchestral piece! An American in Paris, Exactly What It Says on the Tin, is a 1928 composition by George Gershwin. The idea was to make a ballet out of it, but the movie ended up as a musical based on Gershwin tunes, including the longest dance sequence in any musical dance movie at the time, to make up for the original Gershwin score, which actually was expanded!
• Star-Making Role: For Leslie Caron.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Fred Astaire was considered for the lead role, but as it had a slant towards ballet, Gene Kelly was the more obvious choice.
  • Cyd Charisse was originally cast as Lise Bouvier, but dropped out when she became pregnant.
  • Maurice Chevalier was originally considered for the part of Henri. However, Chevalier's collaborationist stance during World War II was one of the reasons that ruled him out. Beyond this, Chevalier had no interest in playing a secondary part his own age.

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