White Hunter Black Heart Eastwood, is based on real-life director John Huston. Jeff Fahey plays Pete Verrill, a character based on Viertel. George Dzundza's character is based on "African Queen" producer Sam Spiegel. Marisa Berenson's character Kay Gibson and Richard Vanstone's character Phil Duncan, are based on Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, respectively. This was the last film that James Bridges worked on writing down a screenplay before dying in 1993. In the early 1950s, world-renowned film-maker John Wilson travels to Africa for his next film bringing with him a young writer chum named Pete Verrill. Part of his travel plans include hunting elephants
Clint Eastwood in the 1960s the role, inflating his earnings up to $250,000, another Ferrari and 10% of the profits in the United States, when eventually released there. Eastwood was again encountering publicist disputes, between Ruth Marsh, who urged him to accept the third film of the trilogy, and the William Morris Agency and Irving Leonard, who were unhappy with Marsh's influence on Clint. Eastwood banished Marsh from having any further influence in his career. He was forced to sack her as his business manager, via a letter sent by Frank Wells. For some time after, Eastwood's publicity was handled by Jerry Pam of Gutman