Blake Edwards’s romantic comedy 10 was originally built around actor George Segal, with production scheduled to begin on October 2, 1978, and an initial budget estimated at $5–6 million. Segal failed to appear, however, and the entire production was halted and canceled before filming could properly begin. The collapse forced Edwards and the producers to find a replacement quickly: Dudley Moore was brought in at the last minute, and the screenplay was rewritten to accommodate him and his particular comic persona. Moore’s casting ultimately transformed the film, making his anxious, self-deprecating performance central to its success, but the emergency recasting came at a serious financial cost because the project had to be stopped, reworked, and restarted with a larger-than-planned budget. Edwards responded by suing Segal over the aborted production and won a reported $270,000 judgment. The episode became an unusually expensive example of how a leading actor’s failure to show up could disrupt an entire studio production before cameras had even begun rolling. Ironically, the replacement that created the crisis helped turn 10 into one of 1979’s biggest box-office hits, earning more than $74 million in the United States and Canada and over $107 million worldwide.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
George Segal Walked Away from 10 and Triggered a $270,000 Lawsuit
10 (1979 film) / 1970s
Blake Edwards’s romantic comedy 10 was originally built around actor George Segal, with production scheduled to begin on October 2, 1978, and an initial budget estimated at $5–6 million. Segal failed to appear, however, and the entire production was halted and canceled before filming could properly begin. The collapse forced Edwards and the producers to find a replacement quickly: Dudley Moore was brought in at the last minute, and the screenplay was rewritten to accommodate him and his particular comic persona. Moore’s casting ultimately transformed the film, making his anxious, self-deprecating performance central to its success, but the emergency recasting came at a serious financial cost because the project had to be stopped, reworked, and restarted with a larger-than-planned budget. Edwards responded by suing Segal over the aborted production and won a reported $270,000 judgment. The episode became an unusually expensive example of how a leading actor’s failure to show up could disrupt an entire studio production before cameras had even begun rolling. Ironically, the replacement that created the crisis helped turn 10 into one of 1979’s biggest box-office hits, earning more than $74 million in the United States and Canada and over $107 million worldwide.
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