"I heard that Streisand had a large amount of say regarding her screen time compared to other cast members and that she and director William Wyler fought like cats and dogs throughout production."
Actually, Streisand and Wyler got along quite well. In the documentary DIRECTED BY WILLIAM WYLER (produced by Wyler's daughter, Catherine), he had nothing but good things to say about her -
WYLER: I didn't have to tell her how to play a scene, I didn't have to tell her how to sing a song - this girl knew her stuff!
It was reported Streisand wasn't too familiar with Wyler's work when he was being considered for the FUNNY GIRL project (for a time it looked as though Sidney Lumet might direct the film, but things didn't work out), but she happened to see WUTHERING HEIGHTS on television and was duly impressed. Streisand was no dummy - once she became acquainted with Wyler's work and discovered how many Oscar-winning performances he'd directed, she knew she was lucky to have him directing her first feature. She was also happy to be working with cinematographer Harry Stradling, and she made sure he was the DP on her next three films.
As for Streisand demanding reduced screen time for her co-stars, this was a story that appeared in gossip columns at the time. Ray Stark produced both the Broadway show and the film, and he went on the record stating that the cuts made in the film reflected the cuts made for the show when it was playing its pre-Broadway engagements. FUNNY GIRL went throught many changes on the road, and the creators discovered the show worked better when they stuck with Streisand. Kay Medford, Danny Meehan and Jean Stapleton had more musical moments on stage simply because Streisand was already carrying such a heavy load, and she needed a break now and then. As for the role Anne Francis played, it was also in the stage version - and ended up being cut. They tried to work the character into the film, but it ended up being cut there, too. Unfortunately for Anne Francis, the character of Georgia was superflous.
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