Editing Klute (section)

==Production==
===Development===
[[Andy Lewis (screenwriter)|Andy Lewis]], a writer who had primarily worked in television, developed the screenplay for ''Klute'' with the goal of wanting to transition into feature films.<ref name=tru>{{cite web|url=https://trustory.fm/blog/a-qa-with-klute-co-writer-andy-lewis/|website=TruStory FM|title=A Q&A with "Klute" Co-Writer Andy Lewis|date=April 10, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230529062932/https://trustory.fm/blog/a-qa-with-klute-co-writer-andy-lewis/|archive-date=May 29, 2023}}</ref> His initial inspiration for the screenplay originated from a serial story he had read as a child in ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' about a man from the country who ventures into the city in an attempt to solve the murder of his brother who was killed there in an empty lot.<ref name=tru/> Lewis focused on two themes he felt were resonant to Americans, firstly "the [[Yokel|rube]] who turns the tables on the city slickers", and secondly, paranoia: "I'm sure this afflicts people all over the world, but I somehow think of it as typically American. The hidden pattern of things. The darkness. The people out there watching you, plotting against you, waiting to hurt you. Sounds you hear at night. Silences on the phone. All that stuff. I figured I would write this thing, however it went, to take the fullest possible advantage of this—what should we call it?—instinct. Deliberately."<ref name=tru/>

The [[spec script]] was completed by Andy Lewis in collaboration with his older brother, Dave.<ref name=tru/> The brothers corresponded by letters and phone—Andy from his [[Massachusetts]] residence, and Dave from his home in [[California]]—with Andy undertaking much of the scripting.<ref name=tru/> Andy commented that the writing was highly collaborative, concluding: "I'd have trouble attributing any part of the original script to one or the other of us solely."<ref name=tru/>

===Casting===
The casting of Jane Fonda, who had recently completed ''[[They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (film)|They Shoot Horses, Don't They?]]'' (1969) was announced in April 1970.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-calgary-albertan/125491738/|newspaper=[[The Calgary Albertan]]|date=April 23, 1970|page=11|title=Jane Fonda stars in Klute|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> At the time, Fonda had attracted significant scrutiny [[Jane Fonda#Opposition to the Vietnam War|for her activism against the Vietnam War]],<ref name=tobias/> and much of the publicity surrounding the film made note of this.{{sfn|Kachmar|2015|p=27}} To prepare for the role, Fonda spent a week in New York City observing high-class call girls and [[Procuring (prostitution)|madams]]. She also accompanied them on their outings to after-hours clubs to solicit men. Fonda noticed that none of the men showed any interest in her, which she believed was because they could see that she was really just an "upper-class, privileged pretender".<ref>{{cite video| title=Jane Fonda in Five Acts| title-link=Jane Fonda in Five Acts| author=Susan Lacy| publisher=[[HBO Films]]| year=2018}}</ref>

Fonda had doubts about whether she could portray the role and asked Alan Pakula to release her from her contract and hire [[Faye Dunaway]] instead, but Pakula refused.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://dujour.com/cities/new-york/jane-fonda-on-klute-i-said-i-cant-do-it-hire-faye-dunaway/|magazine=[[DuJour Media]]|title=Jane Fonda on "Klute": I Said, "I Can't Do It. Hire Faye Dunaway"|last=Pascual|first=Ivy|date=September 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005192255/https://dujour.com/cities/new-york/jane-fonda-on-klute-i-said-i-cant-do-it-hire-faye-dunaway/|archive-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> One of Fonda's primary concerns was that she, as an emerging feminist, should not play a prostitute, but when Fonda admitted this concern to a longstanding feminist, she was told "If the script is good, and it's an opportunity to be three-dimensional, of course you should do it!" To overcome her doubts that she could play such a role, Fonda turned to her memories of several call girls whom she had known while living in France, all of whom worked for the famed [[Madame Claude]]. She remembered that all of them had been sexually abused as children, and Fonda used this as an "entry" to her own character and as a way to understand Bree's motivations in becoming a prostitute.<ref>{{cite interview|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/p7SAg5nyW_w|archive-date=November 28, 2021|url-status=live| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7SAg5nyW_w| title=In conversation with...Jane Fonda|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]| via=[[YouTube]]| date= November 16, 2018|last=Fonda|first=Jane|interviewer=Samira Ahmed|interviewer-link=Samira Ahmed}}</ref>

Donald Sutherland was cast as private investigator, John Klute, signing onto the project in May 1970.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-and-sun-bulletin/125491712/|date=May 23, 1970|title=Sutherland Signed|newspaper=[[Press & Sun-Bulletin]]|page=16|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Sutherland later admitted that he clashed with Pakula during the production, commenting that it "was a film where the director had a specific idea, which I didn't particularly understand, nor was I particularly interested in."{{sfn|Kachmar|2015|p=27}} Roy Scheider was cast as Bree's pimp, Frank Ligourin, a role that brought him significant attention and notably furthered his career.{{sfn|Kachmar|2015|pages=27–29}}

===Filming===
Principal photography of ''Klute'' began in December 1970 in New York City.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/125487395/|newspaper=[[Calgary Herald]]|title=Entertainment Stars Winging In And Out For Upcoming Christmas Holiday Season|via=Newspapers.com|date=December 11, 1970|page=30|last=Beck|first=Marilyn}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Windsor Star]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-windsor-star/125487324/|title=Klute film starts|date=December 22, 1970|via=Newspapers.com|page=38}}</ref> In March 1971, it was reported that filming had completed.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Dayton Daily News]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/125487264/|title=Poitier Plaint Ousts Director|via=Newspapers.com|date=March 6, 1971|last=Haber|first=Joyce|page=18}}</ref>

The film was shot by cinematographer [[Gordon Willis]], a frequent collaborator of Pakula known for his employment of darkness and shadows in his cinematography.{{sfn|LoBrutto|2021|p=55}} Film scholar Terence McSweeney writes in ''The Other Hollywood Renaissance'' (2020) that the film's cinematography is deliberately destabilizing and disorienting, utilizing close-up shots while lacking establishing shots, and that its editing style features abrupt transitions and a lack of traditional film cues.{{sfn|McSweeney|2020|pages=254–255}} Actor Sutherland, reflecting on the film, commented that, "there were a lot of things in ''Klute'' that didn't make any sense in terms of movies."{{sfn|McSweeney|2020|p=254}}