For years in the early 1990s Michelle Pfeiffer was attached to her own Georgia O'Keefe project with her then production company Via Rose Productions.
Georgia O'Keeffe was right handed and the actress who portrayed her (Joan Allen) was left handed.
After an extensive screenplay vetting process for historical accuracy, orchestrated by Maurer, Witlin and Allen, and after years of careful and sensitive negotiations and meetings in which they collaborated closely with the curator of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Foundation, the film received the blessing of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Foundation to portray almost 100 of her paintings, drawings and water colors. No film before or since has ever been granted this level of access.
The real inspiration behind this film was the result of producers Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin's first visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico in March, 2006 when they took their eldest daughter Sofia (then almost two years old) to see the collection. Maurer and WiltIn were visiting Sofia's grandparents in Santa Fe and it was her grandmother who made the suggestion that her first museum should be that of famed artists Georgia O'Keeffe. Sofia was so enthralled by the images and so captivated by what she saw, that it gave Maurer and Witlin the idea that to try to portray O'Keeffe's life as a film. As they were leaving the museum, Maurer pitched the idea to Witlin, who is also his producing partner and she agreed but felt the casting of Georgia had to be perfect otherwise it would not work. She asked Josh who he felt would be the ideal casting and Maurer immediately said - "Joan Allen" - and Alix agreed it was a perfect choice. Next Witlin asked him who would buy for development such a film and Maurer immediately responded back - HBO. Witlin agreed. As the Maurer, Witlin and Sofia were leaving the museum, right outside the front door... Maurer immediately called Joan Allen and pitched her the story as Josh and Joan had previously worked closely together on another film project for HBO that unfortunately did not go forward and were looking for another vehicle to collaborate. Joan listened carefully and reported back she loved the idea. Josh told her to hold a beat. He then immediately called Kerri Putnam at HBO and pitched her the idea with Joan attached to star and produce and HBO said yes on the spot. They informed Maurer that this story had been previously pitched over two dozen times but it never felt right to them both in terms of the creative approach by the producers and the casting - but this time it felt perfect. Maurer and Witlin, holding Sofia in their arms, then called Joan back and told her the positive news. Thus began an intensive and passionate development process with HBO and writer Michael Cristofer that resulted in a brilliant screenplay. Maurer, Witlin and Allen visited Santa Fe a few times to do extensive research and took Sofia with them. HBO then had had the project greenlit but when HBO president Colin Callender left the company the project was unfortunately put in turnaround. Disappointed but not defeated, 45 minutes later, Maurer reached out directly to Lifetime Television and sold the project to them in turnaround and then brought on Sony Pictures Television as their deficit financing partner. When the film was officially screened in Santa Fe... Joan Allen spoke and asked Sofia (now aged 4) to stand up and take a bow and the entire audience gave her a standing ovation.
The original HBO screenplay written by Michael Cristofer was ultimately rejected by HBO which doomed the project as pass. But Maurer then came up with an extensive and comprehensive new creative take and pitched it to HBO, who committed to this version and asked Maurer to try to convince Cristofer to come on board. Cristofer ultimately agreed the result was a brilliant draft that HBO then greenlit. But the original HBO draft budget exceeded what Lifetime/Sony were willing to spend. HBO's projected budget was $15 million and Lifetime/Sony were only willing to allocate $6 million. When Maurer, Witlin and Allen then sold it to Lifetime after HBO passed, they were committed to having Cristofer also direct. But Cristofer felt the projected budget was too low and passed. It was then left to Maurer to rewrite the screenplay to make the budget work and to retain the brilliance of the original Cristofer draft. This he accomplished but did so without asking for any writing credit. In the end, in collaboration with line producer Tony Mark, Maurer and Witlin were able to take full advantage of the New Mexico tax incentive and increase the budget by an additional million dollars, all of which was used to full advantage for production and post production and helped deliver this Emmy/Golden Globe winning film.