Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1971 April 25 : carbon copy typescript.

Announcing "a great piece of news," that they are to begin shooting a film in the U.S. on May 10, Joe Saleh has obtained funding, and they should be able to finish shooting in 5 weeks; explaining how all this came about, beginning with a project meant as a vehicle for Holly Woodlawn "worked up" by Merchant, George Trow, and Waris Hussein, among others; how, after that project fell through and Ivory and Trow came up with an idea for a film to be shot at an old mansion near David Swope's home, which Swope had show Ivory and Shashi Kapoor when the latter visited New York; saying Holly Woodlawn was to have had a part in this new project, but she demurred; describing the plot of the film in detail, involving a group of people from a primitive society who discover a manor house in their jungle; telling her Joe finds the ending nihilistic, but insisting that it will be done "in a spirit of fun"-- "I think, what would Godard do, and Bun̋uel"; telling her Walter Lassally is coming from England to shoot it, and repeating that they'll start May 10th; thanking her-- in a handwritten postscript at the top of the first page-- for sending him Nirad Chaudhuri's autobiography, and saying he will send her a copy of "The Americans" as soon as he can find one, along with James' own dramatization of the novel.