Shooting began on The Long, Hot Summer in the sweltering heat of September 1957 near Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a budget of approximately $1.5 million. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward channeled their off-screen chemistry into their characters and worked beautifully together. "They seemed to have such a total understanding of each other," said co-star Angela Lansbury in a 2001 interview, "that they were able to work in scenes where they were at each other's throats or falling under each other's spell."

Lansbury, who relished her role as Minnie Littlejohn, thoroughly enjoyed working with director Martin Ritt. "Martin Ritt had a wonderful enthusiasm and earthy sexy quality himself," she said. "He loved the idea of the dirtiness of the carryings on, and he certainly brought every bit of kind of naughty sexuality out of me in that role."

Orson Welles, who had a reputation for being difficult, had a rough time making The Long, Hot Summer and caused plenty of trouble. Used to being in control of his own projects, it was hard for Welles to do things someone else's way. "He was always nudging and pushing for things," said Angela Lansbury, "and wanted to change lines, but had to be carefully handled so that he didn't always get his way because his way wasn't necessarily the best way for everybody else in the scene." Welles would irritate his co-stars by overlapping his own lines with their dialogue, ad-libbing, and mumbling to the point where his lines were barely comprehensible. "There was something you couldn't resist about Orson," said Lansbury, "even though he was a son-of-a-bitch at times. I mean, there's no question about it, he was very difficult." Joanne Woodward added in a 2001 interview, "Orson had a hard time. It must have been a terrible, terrible feeling for him to be confronted by all these young hot shots who thought they were so great because they came from New York and the Actors Studio. It was a problem."

The scorching Louisiana heat didn't help Welles' temperament on the set of The Long, Hot Summer. "He was terribly having difficulty living in his skin," said Angela Lansbury. "He was very very heavy. We were working under dreadful conditions of heat and he was perspiring and he seemed to have a lot of very thick makeup on." Part of that heavy makeup was a prosthetic nose that Welles wore - something he often did for his acting roles. The heat made Welles sweat so much that his fake nose would often come unglued and ruin the shot.

The Long, Hot Summer wrapped in December 1957 and director Ritt prepared the film for release. To his horror, he found during post-production that it was nearly impossible to understand any of Orson Welles' dialogue. He and his team worked overtime to improve what they could through post-dubbing. Some cast members thought that Welles had done it quite deliberately as a way to show contempt for the "mumbling" method actors of the Actors Studio, but no one could ever be sure.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward decided to make their relationship official the following month and were married in Las Vegas on January 29, 1958. In March The Long, Hot Summer had its world premiere in Baton Rouge and went on to become a moneymaker for Fox.

The success of The Long, Hot Summer helped Martin Ritt reestablish himself as a major director following his 5-year blacklisting from Hollywood. It also showcased the talents of young up-and-comers Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, who won Best Actor that year at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Ben Quick. It marked both the beginning of long and distinguished careers for the talented couple as well as the beginning of one of Hollywood's longest and happiest marriages.

by Andrea Passafiume