the last book I ever read (The Sound of Music Story, excerpt five)

from The Sound of Music Story: How A Beguiling Young Novice, A Handsome Austrian Captain, and Ten Singing von Trapp Children Inspired the Most Beloved Film of All Time by Tom Santopietro:

No, none of the names suited Wise, and he decided to screen test British stage actor Keith Michel, whose test delivered the goods in spades. Onscreen, the well-trained actor revealed a warm, masculine presence, one nicely suited to the role of a stern yet loving father. In the end, however, Michel’s screen test registers like the fascinating screen test Robert De Niro underwent for the role of Sonny in The Godfather: the actor hits all the right notes, fills the frame nicely, and yet somehow doesn’t fit the character closely enough. Talented though he was, Michel wasn’t quite right, although certainly closer to the role than Walter Matthau, whose January 1964 test landed wide of the mark. No, Wise’s first choice remained, as it had throughout the casting process, the highly respected but then relatively unknown stage actor Christopher Plummer. Said Wise: “I just knew he would give it an edge, a bit of darkness.”