Joanna (1968)

Interesting facts

Joanna is a 1968 British comedy-drama film directed and written by Michael Sarne, and starring Geneviève Waïte, Christian Doermer, Calvin Lockhart and Donald Sutherland.

Production

Sarne had an affair with Waïte during the making of the film and was physically violent towards her during the shoot. In a 1968 interview with New York magazine, he said that hitting Waïte was "the only way to direct this girl, otherwise she's very cheeky. She has to be shown. I mean she knew that unless she behaved herself she'd get slapped down. One is polite to girls so long as they behave themselves".

Waïte was paid £2,000 for her work on the film (equivalent to £30,587 in 2025).

Candice Bergen filmed a small scene but it was not included in the final cut due to problems with the studio, 20th Century Fox, and Equity, the British actors' union, because Bergen did not have work permit.

In a 1968 article in The Illustrated London News about film financing in the United Kingdom, Robert Lacey highlighted Joanna as an example of a British film that should have received financing from British rather than American companies.

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