 Pearce , a merchant seaman who later became a counterfeiter and safe cracker , wrote the novel Cool Hand Luke , about his experiences working on a chain gang while serving in a Florida prison . He sold the story to Warner Bros. for US $ 80 @,@ 000 and received another US $ 15 @,@ 000 to write the screenplay . After working in television for over a decade , Rosenberg chose it to make it his directorial debut in cinema . He took the idea to <unk> Productions , owned by Jack Lemmon . Since Pearce had no experience writing screenplays , his draft was reworked by Frank Pierson . Conrad Hall was hired as the cinematographer , while Paul Newman 's brother , Arthur , was hired as the unit production manager . Newman 's biographer Marie Edelman Borden states that the " tough , honest " script drew together threads from earlier movies , especially Hombre , Newman 's earlier film of 1967 . Director Stuart Rosenberg altered the original ending in the script , adding " an upbeat ending that would reprise the protagonist 's ( and Paul Newman 's ) trademark smile . " 
