Tomorrow is another day, but TV is another matter. "Scarlett," the miniseries sequel to "Gone With The Wind," may not look much like "Scarlett," the book.
Producers and writers for the TV project, to begin shooting this fall, have told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they plan major changes in author Alexandra Ripley's story. Much of the critically blasted book's second half, which has Scarlett O'Hara in Ireland, is out, they said.Instead, she'll spend more time in Dixie, with the final installment perhaps sending her and Rhett Butler - business rivals by now - off to San Francisco and maybe another sequel.
"We want to bring it back to America 'cause we hope there will be a sequel," said Robert Halmi, the producer who paid a record $9 million for rights to Ripley's book.
"We felt `Gone With the Wind' is a quintessentially American story," said project writer Jim Henerson. "The book goes off to Ireland and never really comes back."
But the contract includes restrictions against changing the "Scarlett" story line without approval by the estate of "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell. And the Mitchell estate may not want Scarlett and Rhett in the Wild West.
"Until we see the script, we don't know if any changes are acceptable or not," said Herbert R. Elsas, an Atlanta lawyer who helps oversee the estate's interest in "Scarlett."
Ripley said the TV version is not her concern.
"I'm following in the footsteps of Margaret Mitchell, who sold the movie rights and would have no more to do with it," she said.
The original "GWTW" film followed the book closely, although it did jettison two of Scarlett's children and soften her character somewhat.
"Scarlett," the authorized sequel to Miss Mitchell's 1936 blockbuster, was published last year to largely bad reviews and huge sales.
The four-part, eight-hour miniseries is scheduled for broadcast worldwide in November 1993. No cast members have been selected, but Halmi has said a little-known actress will play Scarlett, while stars will play other roles.
Henerson said much of the book won't work on TV.
"The major question of the book is: `Will Scarlett be accepted by Atlanta society, Savannah society, Charleston society and Dublin society' - which is not going to be a burning issue for our audience," he said.
Henerson said the miniseries also plans to give Scarlett yet another husband, who appears in neither book - a nasty Anglo-Irish lord whom she eventually kills.