He was the original director of Vill er vinden (1957), but on March 15, 1957--only a week before shooting was scheduled to begin--he withdrew from the film due to illness, according to contemporary news items. George Cukor took over direction and stated years later in a interview that Sturges left the project to replace Fred Zinnemann on Den gamle mannen og havet (1958), but a Cukor biography states that Sturges left the project when it became apparent that the film would be more of a love story than an action picture.
