How Casablanca Almost Wasn’t a Classic

Casablanca is now considered one of the greatest films ever made — but during production in 1942, almost nobody involved thought they were making anything special.

The script was reportedly still being rewritten during filming, with actors sometimes receiving pages the same day they had to shoot them. The ending wasn’t finalized until deep into production, and lead actress Ingrid Bergman later said she didn’t know which of the two male leads her character was supposed to end up with until filming was nearly complete.

Chaos That Became Iconic

Despite — or perhaps partly because of — that uncertainty, the film became a critical and commercial success, later winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, and its lines have become some of the most quoted in film history.

It stands as a reminder that some of the most polished, iconic results come out of far messier productions than audiences ever realize.

How many “instant classics” were actually just chaos that happened to work out?