Casablanca (film) color ended up being much blander in appearance and, overall, much less visually interesting than its 1942 predecessor." Bogart's son Stephen said, "if you're going to colorize "Casablanca", why not put arms on the Venus de Milo?" Several rumors and misconceptions have grown up around the film, one being that Ronald Reagan was originally chosen to play Rick. This originated in a press release issued by the studio early on in the film's development, but by that time the studio already knew that he was going into the Army, and he was never seriously considered. George Raft claimed that he
Casablanca (film) seats and a retractable roof. As Tangier was in Spanish territory, the theatre's wartime bar heaved with spies, refugees and underworld hoods, securing its place in cinematic history as the inspiration for Rick's Cafe in "Casablanca"." The scene of the singing of "La Marseillaise" in the bar is attributed by the film scholar Julian Jackson as an adaptation of a similar scene from Jean Renoir's film from 5 years before titled "La Grande Illusion". The first writers assigned to the script were twins Julius and Philip Epstein who, against the wishes of Warner Brothers, left at Frank Capra's request early