The original 1987 source play for the 1989 film Steel Magnolias was originally a one-set scenario (which had taken place entirely in Truvy's beauty salon) and also didn't feature any male characters on-stage (although the characters spend a great deal in the original play talking about the men in their lives). As such, screenwriter Robert Harling, who wrote the original play with this serving as his first produced screenplay, found himself having to heavily rewrite past the original scenario. Scenes were increased and the beauty salon sequence was more tightly linked with major holidays than the play. In addition, male characters were added and the increased characters beyond the original's all-female play cast caused dialogue changes between on-screen characters. Harling even served as an example himself as he not only wrote the script but actually played one of the male characters added, namely the preacher. Stay tuned!
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