“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here... this is the War Room!”
Peter Sellers was originally cast in four roles, but couldn’t perfect the Texas accent to play Major T.J. “King” Kong. So director Stanley Kubrick decided to find an iconic actor who naturally fit the role. They approached John Wayne, who didn’t respond, and Dan Blocker (Bonanza) – who passed because of the script’s politics. Recalling an actor from his work on the Brando western One-Eyed Jacks (1961), Kubrick finally cast Slim Pickens as the gung-ho hick pilot. Pickens was never shown the script or told it was a black comedy and was directed to play it as a serious drama. George C. Scott based General Buck Turgidson on the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Curtis LeMay. Peter Sellers based President Muffley on Adlai Stevenson. Kubrick intended the film to end with a pie fight between the Russians and Americans in the War Room. The footage was shot, but he ended up going with the Peter Sellers’ ad lib – when Dr Strangelove stands up from his wheel chair and shouts, “Mein Führer! I can walk!” The idea to play, ‘ We’ll Meet Again’ sung over a series of nuclear explosions was suggested by Spike Milligan – Peter Sellers’ fellow ex-Goon. The film’s first test screening had been scheduled for November 22, 1963, coincidentally the same day that President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. So the premiere got pushed to January 1964 and the film was re-edited so that Major Kong’s line, after going through the survival kit contents check: “Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff,” was changed to: “Vegas”.
