 Walter Mirisch hired veteran Fred Zinnemann to produce and direct  the movie in 1960. Zinnemann brought with him screenwriter Daniel  Taradash, they had already successfully partnered in bringing "From  Here To Eternity" to the screen. But Taradash was not able to  condense the epic book by James A. Michener, into a workable story.  When Mirisch hired Dalton Trumbo to take over the script, Zinnemann  after two more years of development, left the project when United  Artists rejected his concept of a four