in early 1964 southern was hired to collaborate with british author christopher isherwood on a screen adaptation of evelyn waugh's satirical novel "the loved one", directed by british filmmaker tony richardson. when filming was postponed in spring of 1964, southern returned to east canaan and continued work on a rewrite of the script for the film version of john fowles' "the collector" but he eventually dropped out of the project because he disagreed with the change to the story's ending.