Trivia / David Copperfield (1935)

• The Other Marty: Charles Laughton's Micawber. Who knows where those dailies are that Laughton saw and realized he just wasn't right for the part.
• Playing Against Type: W. C. Fields — the juggling acid-tongue comic with a fondness for booze — was cast on the recommendation of Charles Laughton. Filming had begun with Laughton on the role, but he didn't feel he was right for the part^note plus director George Cukor said he came off like a child molester. Laughton knew Fields was a Dickens scholar and thought he would be perfect. They had to negotiate a deal with Paramount to get him, finally agreeing to cover the losses for the film Mississippi that Fields had been working on, for the duration of Fields' work on this. It worked and Fields gave one of the best performances of his career.
  • This is one of the only films in which Fields doesn't ad-lib. He said later the only words he was faithful to were Dickens'. He did want to do some juggling early on but Cukor wouldn't allow it. He also refused to have his head shaved, pointing out numerous actors who'd played Micawber with a full head of hair.
  • Fields is not essaying a recognizable British accent, but said his father, who was from England, spoke that way, so technically it was.
• What Could Have Been: David Niven tested to play David Copperfield.

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