alive and unwilling to surrender, fatally shoot each other in the flooded crypt. Cast Production Development The screen rights to the novel Seven Men at Daybreak by Alan Burgess were acquired by Warner Bros in mid-1973. Filming on the wartime-action movie based on the book, itself based on a factual story, was announced to be starting in November 1974 with screenplay by Ronald Harwood, and based on the factual events of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The film was produced by Carter Dehaven and directed by Lewis Gilbert. Casting In November 1974, Timothy Bottoms signed to star in the film. To prepare for the role of Kubiš, leader of the group and eventual hero who does the killing, Bottoms spent three months on location in Czechoslovakia. The castings of Anthony Andrews, Martin Shaw and Nicola Pagett were announced in December 1974, who all had acting experience from London's West End theatre. Anton Diffring was cast as Heydrich and was familiar to viewers due to being frequently cast as Nazi officers in war films of the 1950s and 1960s. Diffring, being born in 1918, was in his mid-50s when he took on the role, despite Heydrich being 38 when he died. In January 1975, Gilbert announced that the actor chosen to play Adolf Hitler had to be replaced, as the original actor turned out to be too small for the role. Calls were made to Gunnar Möller and George Sewell, the latter of who went on to play Heinz Pannwitz. The size of the cast was around 3,000 which also included actors of German, French, Finnish and Czech origin. Filming The film was entirely American produced and financed and was shot on location in Prague, Czechoslovakia, using various places that were part of the real assassination. Scenes outside of Prague were filmed in the town of Karlovy Vary. During filming, cast and crew were accommodated in Prague's Alcron Hotel, with little opportunity to explore the city. Bottoms was accompanied with his wife Alicia, who described the local population as "very guarded" and unprepared to handle tourists. They struggled to find accommodation, eventually settling on a tiny apartment that they rented for $1,000 a week. The Swastika flag was hung around Prague and in particular at Prague railway station. Younger extras on set, who had no experience of the war, showed little emotion. In one instance, an elderly woman arriving from the