Disowned Adaptation: Tennessee Williams was very disappointed with the film because censorship removed almost all of the homosexual themes. Paul Newman, acting as Brick, also felt disappointed with the end result, despite the fact the film was received well. He even told people not to see the film, saying that it would "set the industry back fifty years".
Gay Panic: The Hays Code limited Brick's portrayal of sexual desire for Skipper, and diminished the original play's critique of homophobia and sexism.
This film was originally to be filmed in black and white, as was the standard practice with "artistic" films in the 1950s. (Virtually all film adaptations of the plays of Tennessee Williams had been in B&W up to that time.) However, once Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor were cast in the leads, director Richard Brooks insisted on shooting in color, in deference to the public's well known enthusiasm for Taylor's violet and Newman's strikingly blue eyes.
George Cukor turned down MGM's offer to direct the film because the references to Brick's homosexuality had been removed.
Elia Kazan, who had directed the film adaptations of Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Baby Doll, declined to direct this one. He had trouble with Williams, demanding that he re-write the third act of the play to bring "Big Daddy" back on stage and was tired of having critics call him a "co-author" of Williams' work, which he knew he was not.
