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To direct the project, Paramount executives were convinced that they needed a general as much as an artist. They turned to Dan Curtis, 55. Though he had an unimpressive list of credits, including a couple of horror movies and the soap opera Dark Shadows, they felt sure that he had the passion, talent and physical stamina for the job. Wouk was put off by Curtis' record. Only after Paramount sent him two nonhorrific Curtis TV specials did the novelist agree to see him. "He came to my home, but he wasn't wearing the bar mitzvah suit I figured a producer would wear upon meeting the author," says Wouk. "I open the door, and there stands this man in black slacks, black shirt, a gold chain, curly black hair. Mr. Hollywood. This made an instant good impression. Here's a guy, I thought, who is what he is."
Among the major roles, Pug Henry was supposed to be solid and authoritative enough to stand alongside Presidents, Prime Ministers and dictators, yet young enough, 50 or so, to look like a rising naval officer. According to Wouk's book, he should also be shorter than his wife. The choice: the cool, laconic Mitchum, who is 65 and 6 ft. 1 in., but radiates authority with every word he does not speak.
Last year's That Championship Season, in which he played the basketball coach, is his most recent picture. After having lunch with him, says Curtis, "I knew he was the man, and I never looked for anyone else." Mitchum's characteristic reaction to the assignment, for which he was to be paid an estimated $1 million: "It promised a year of free lunches."
The woman who played Natalie Jastrow was supposed to be about 33, "a big, dark Jewish girl," in Wouk's words. He wanted her so Jewish-looking that her ethnic background would be immediately obvious in several key scenes. The choice: MacGraw, who, though she claims some Jewish ancestry, does not look Jewish. She is honest enough to admit to being 43, but she looks ten years younger.
MacGraw became a star with her first two movies, Goodbye, Columbus (1969) and Love Story (1971), then dropped out of the business during her marriage to the late Steve McQueen. In the late 1970s, she returned to do such pictures as Convoy, Players and Just Tell Me What You Want, the first two critical failures and the last a box-office flop. The Winds of War may be a turning point in her career, for better or for worse. "Whatever way it goes, it will be rather decisive," she says, "and that's a horrible pressure. I'm sick just talking about it. I've been given a great shot—a great script, a great director and a great company—and there is nobody to hide behind."