 During the editing stages, producer Scott Rudin (qv) received a  call from author Michael Cunningham (III) (qv) requesting to see  some of the footage. Cunninghams mother (on whom the character  Laura Brown was originally based) was entering into the final stages  of terminal cancer and Cunningham dearly wanted his dying mother to  see something he had written committed to film. Rudin hastily  assembled 20 minutes of footage and had it sent over to the  Cunninghams.