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 blind rage at the one sin Hollywood never forgives in its leading ladies: growing old." In his 1996 book "Making Movies", Sidney Lumet slammed Dunaway's reputation for being difficult as "totally untrue", and called her a "selfless, devoted, and wonderful actress". Director Elia Kazan described Dunaway as "a supremely endowed, hungry, curious, bright young talent", and added: "Faye is a brilliant actress and a shy, highly-strung woman. She is intelligent, and she is strong-willed." Like Lumet, Kazan felt she was not difficult, but a perfectionist who was never satisfied. "The artist is rarely, if ever, satisfied. The artist is frequently