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 "Network". I saw the promise of a comeback for me in the deglamorized face of Wanda, a woman of sweet vulnerability." The film was a small success at the box office, but received excellent reviews from critics and Dunaway earned her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. Pauline Kael wrote that "Dunaway plays the self-destructive Wanda with a minimum of fuss... she wins your admiration by the simplicity of her effects", and Roger Ebert felt that both Rourke and Dunaway "take their characters as opportunities to stretch as actors, to take changes and do