Vivien Leigh friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance. Olivier and Leigh began an affair while acting as lovers in "Fire Over England" (1937), but Olivier was still married to actress Jill Esmond. During this period, Leigh read the Margaret Mitchell novel "Gone with the Wind" and instructed her American agent to recommend her to David O. Selznick, who was planning a film version. She remarked to a journalist, "I've cast myself as Scarlett O'Hara", and "The Observer" film critic C. A. Lejeune recalled a conversation of the same period in which Leigh "stunned us all" with the assertion that
Gone with the Wind (novel) adapted into a television mini-series in 1994. A second sequel was authorized by Mitchell's estate titled "Rhett Butler's People", by Donald McCaig. The novel parallels "Gone With the Wind" from Rhett Butler's perspective. In 2010, Mitchell's estate authorized McCaig to write a prequel, which follows the life of the house servant Mammy, whom McCaig names "Ruth". The novel, "Ruth's Journey", was released in 2014. The copyright holders of "Gone with the Wind" attempted to suppress publication of "The Wind Done Gone" by Alice Randall, which retold the story from the perspective of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the