"Mankiewicz started his own independent company in Italy, and spoke to me a few weeks ago of being anxious to make another classic with me and (conceivably) Audrey Hepburn. He suggested Twelfth Night but I tried very hard to woo him to the idea of The School for Scandal, which I have long thought might be an excellent vehicle for the screen, especially with an all-English star cast. For on the stage one can never afford to cast it up to the hilt, whereas even the smallest parts could be played by stars in a picture. Sheridan's style is so much more leisurely than Shakespeare's as regards construction, and would allow of cuts and transpositions without harming the quality of the text. The order of scenes — so important in Shakespeare — matters far less in Sheridan, and the humour seems to me universally comprehensible today for audiences everywhere, whereas in Shakespeare — particularly the comedies — there are so many archaic jokes that you have to keep cutting or leaving dead wood, especially with the low comedy parts and passages."