Behind the Camera on THE LION IN WINTER

The company rehearsed for two weeks in London's Haymarket Theatre. Exteriors were shot in Ireland, Wales and France and interiors in Dublin's Ardmore Studios.

On the first day of rehearsal, Hepburn slammed her thumb in a heavy iron door at the theater, crushing the nail and causing a deep cut down the length of her hand. But she refused to go to the hospital and insisted on continuing with rehearsal. She also refused stitches, saying the wound would take too long to heal before shooting began.

Although Hepburn and O'Toole had met years earlier and she was a great admirer of his work, she had no intention of putting up with the rather bad behavior he often exhibited on his productions. "You're known to be late," she told him on the first day of work. "I intend for you to be on time. I hear you stay out at night. You'd better be rested in the morning if you're going to work with me!"

Hepburn also bested O'Toole as the top dog on the set. Known to be something of a tyrant on most of his shoots, O'Toole meekly obliged when she told him "Peter, stop towering over me. Come and sit down and try to look respectable." O'Toole readily admitted in her presence that she reduced him "to a shadow of my former gay-dog self." "She is terrifying. It is sheer masochism working with her. She has been sent by some dark fate to nag and torment me." Her reply: "Don't be so silly. We are going to get on very well. You are Irish and you make me laugh. In any case, I am on to you and you to me."

In spite of her stern warnings, Hepburn enjoyed O'Toole and his work tremendously. She said his vigor and energy helped restore her own vitality at a time when she really needed it.

Hepburn threw herself into the role of the "tough as nails" Eleanor with great relish and interest. "Both she and Henry were probably big-time operators who played for whole countries," she said. "I like big-time operators."

To the company's amazement, Hepburn swam twice a day in the frigid winter sea in Ireland, early in the morning and during her lunch break. When O'Toole asked her why she did it, she explained, "It's the shock -so horrible that it makes you feel great afterwards."

Cinematographer Douglas Slocombe worked out a rich lighting pattern that was meant to give the film the look of illuminated manuscripts from the historical period.

Harvey and Art Director Peter Murton decided to make the setting as true as possible to the times. Therefore, although the principal characters were royalty, they lived in drafty, dirty castles rather than the sanitized, glamorized view of medieval life most movies have taken.

For the greatest authenticity, the actors wore their costumes as long as possible before shooting a scene so that they looked soiled and frayed. Although costume designer Margaret Furse preferred dark clothes, Hepburn talked her into brighter colors for Eleanor, who she reasoned had been to the Middle East and would have owned many vividly colored articles.

Production shut down for a time when Anthony Harvey fell ill with hepatitis and the flu.

by Rob Nixon