 Humphrey Bogartss part in this movie was originally intended for  Paul Muni (I) (qv). Muni did not like the first draft of the  screenplay which was authored solely by John Huston (I) (qv) and  given to him by Hal B. Wallis (qv), so Wallis got the books  author W.R. Burnett (qv) to assist John Huston (I) (qv) in a  second rewrite. This rewrite was presented to Paul Muni (I) (qv)  who still disliked it and turned the movie and the role down  completely. In the meantime, On May 4th, 1940,  Humphrey Bogart (qv) sent a telegram to Hal B. Wallis (qv)  reiterating his continuing desire, which he had mentioned several  months earlier, to play the part of Roy Earle. After Muni turned  down the script the next person on the list for Warner Brothers was  George Raft (qv). Bogart, knowing that Raft was trying to change  his image and move away from gangster roles, found out about this  and mentioned to Raft when he saw him next that the studio was  trying to get him do another gangster movie where the gangster gets  shot at the end. Raft marched into Hal B. Wallis (qv) office and  flatly refused to do the movie. Bogart finally ended up with the  role he wanted all along by default.