In the early 2000s Miloš Forman developed Embers, an adaptation of Sándor Márai's novel with a distinguished international cast attached — Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Winona Ryder were named. The project carried the hallmarks of a prestige European co-production: literary source, cross-generational themes, and continental financing. Several months before shooting the production imploded because Sean Connery and the Italian producer had a falling-out. Sources say the dispute was significant enough that Connery withdrew. Forman, who reportedly believed Connery was uniquely right for the part, refused to proceed without him and pulled the plug a few days before the cameras were scheduled to start rolling.
The incident illustrates a production pathology familiar to mid- and late-career auteurs: financing tied to star names can paralyze a film when those names fall away, and a director's personal casting conviction can turn into an all-or-nothing gamble. Forman's cancellation cost producers and crew time and money and ended what could have been a late-career artistic statement. The casting, Connery's withdrawal after a producer dispute, and Forman's insistence on not making the film without Connery are reported in production histories and contemporaneous press items.
