Gene Kelly screened "The Red Shoes" (1948) at least fifteen to twenty times to different executives at MGM to persuade them to accept the script for Vincent Minnelli's "An American in Paris" (1951). He was told by the executives that the success of "The Red Shoes" was mainly due to the lead actress being foreign & if it were an American actress in that part, the movie would have bombed.
Here is Michael Powell talking about it:
"The American distributors put our films on their shelves, saying they were too British: a calculated insult, difficult to refute, because they were British. That was the point of a picture like 'The Red Shoes' (1948). It could never have been made in Hollywood in 1947. Hollywood had made films about art and life and love, but I can't remember a single one, and I have total recall. Gene Kelly told me that he ran 'The Red Shoes' fifteen to twenty times for different executives at MGM before he got acceptance of his script for Vincente Minnelli's 'American in Paris', and then it was mainly because he had a foreign ballerina for the part- Leslie Caron. He was told that the success of 'The Red Shoes' was due to the girl being foreign. An American girl in the same part would have bombed. He didn't argue, but took the money and Leslie Caron and ran. The film was a huge success. I never saw it, but Gene told me that it was full of quotes from 'The Red Shoes'. Art! But it had Gene Kelly."
("A Life in Movies", Michael Powell, 1986)
P.S: On this day, 78 years ago, "The Red Shoes" (1948) premiered in London, UK.
Glen Powell to Star in Lou Gehrig Biopic Movie From Richard Linklater https://t.co/YEDOUY3QBo
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell are re-teaming to take on the Pride of the Yankees. The pair, who previously collaborated on “Hit Man” and “Everybody Wants Some,” will join forces on an untitled Lou Gehrig film for Universal Pictures.