The Romance Of The Pink Panther
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The Romance of the Pink Panther was to be the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and would have starred Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his sixth Panther appearance. Herbert Lom probably would have also reprised his role as Charles Dreyfus. However, the unexpected death of Peter Sellers in July 1980 stopped this film from ever becoming reality and only two script drafts were completed.
The film, written by Peter Sellers and Jim Moloney, was scheduled to have began filming in September or October 1980, for a Summer release in 1981. It was rumoured that Sellers was to have directed the film, but most reports claim that Sidney Poitier was attached to direct it.
After Peter Sellers died, Blake Edwards attempted to assume control over the film, and MGM pushed him to offer the role of Clouseau to Dudley Moore, but Moore turned it down, saying that in his opinion, Peter Sellers was the only man who could play Clouseau. Edwards then scrapped the script for Romance, and began work on a tribute to Peter Sellers using cut footage from 1976's The Pink Panther Strikes Again, which culminated in 1982's Trail of the Pink Panther.
Romance of the Pink Panther is referenced in the 2004 biopic The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, but the film depicts Sellers as being uninvolved (and uninterested), and Blake Edwards is depicted as pushing for Sellers' involvement.
[edit] The two drafts
Two drafts were written. One was finished in December 1979 and the other one was finished in July 1980, eight days before Sellers' death. Both drafts have the same basic storyline but are very different, most notably in their endings.
The plot of the film reportedly involved Clouseau falling in love with a female jewel thief called "The Frog" (to be played by Pamela Stephenson). Smitten by her, he helps her to commit her crimes, and in the end (in the second draft), Clouseau leaves law enforcement and turns evil, himself (similar to the ending of 1983's Curse of the Pink Panther).
