Casablanca: Making one of Hollywood’s greatest movies

When Warner Bros assigned twin brothers and screenwriters Julius Epstein and Philip Epstein to adapt a stage play for the big screen in 1942, no one could have predicted the impact it would have.

Casablanca has since become one of the most recognisable and quotable films of all time, firmly embedded in Hollywood history. But what appears effortless on screen was anything but behind the scenes.

The late Leslie Epstein, son and nephew of Julius and Philip respectively, tells Louis Harnett O’Meara about the twins’ hijinks and the challenges involved in the making of an all-time classic. An Ember production.

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(Photo: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. Credit: United Achieves via Getty Image)