through si litvinoff, southern optioned the book for the bargain price of $1,000 (against a final price of $10,000) and lieberson and david puttnam set up a development deal with paramount, who underwrote a draft by southern and cooper. actor david hemmings was briefly considered for the role of alex—much to the chagrin of cooper and the stones—and the director's chair was initially offered to richard lester, who turned it down. southern's old friend ted kotcheff was then approached, but at this point the project stalled – under the british censorship regulations of the time, the treatment had to be submitted to the lord chamberlain, who returned it, unread, with a note attached that said: "i know this book and there is no way you can make a movie of it. it deals with youthful incitement, which is illegal." as a result, paramount put it into 'turnaround' and it was eventually picked up by kubrick three years later.