ATLANTA — A recently discovered early script version of the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” showed a much harsher depiction of slavery than what ultimately made it onscreen.
Historian David Vincent Kimel, who is completing his Ph.D. at Yale University and considers himself a “Gone With the Wind” obsessive, purchased the script for $15,000 after finding it on an online bookstore site three years ago.
The script shows how “Gone With the Wind” producer David Selznick negotiated differing opinions among his writers over how characters treated the slaves, the use of particular racial slurs or any reference to the Ku Klux Klan.
