Faye Dunaway had proved to be difficult and many actresses had been considered for the role, including Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley, Leslie Caron, and Natalie Wood. Penn loved Dunaway and managed to convince actor and producer, Warren Beatty, who played Clyde Barrow in the film, that she was right for the part. Besides her relative anonymity, Beatty's concern was her "extraordinary bone structure", which he thought might be inappropriate for Bonnie Parker, a local girl trying to look innocent while she held up smalltown Texas banks. However, he changed his mind after seeing some photographs of Dunaway taken by
Faye Dunaway extreme things". After "Barfly", which remained one of her favorite films, Dunaway tried to be careful about the roles she chose, but was also faced with the reality she had to work to support herself and her child. In 1988, she appeared in the period drama "The Gamble" but felt that the best part of this experience turned out to be meeting her co-star Matthew Modine. The following year, she produced and starred in an adaptation for television of Olive Ann Burns' historical novel "Cold Sassy Tree". Dunaway co-starred Richard Widmark and Neil Patrick Harris as an enchanting dressmaker who