According to Terry Southern, who co-wrote the film, in his essay “Notes From The War Room” (via Criterion), Columbia Pictures had been impressed with the success of Kubrick’s 1962 film “Lolita,” but it wasn’t the directing that caught their eye. Instead, the studio believed that the real reason the film was successful stemmed from how Peter Sellers played multiple parts in the film. They wanted this for “Dr. Strangelove.”
So, the studio agreed to greenlight the film on the condition that Sellers take on four major roles. Sellers’ roles as Mandrake, Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove were sure things, but the fourth role caused him some degree of trepidation. The legendary comic actor was supposed to tackle the role of Air Force Major T. J. “King” Kong, a part best remembered for the character riding a nuclear bomb down to the ground while waving a cowboy hat.
Sellers’ concern, per Metaflix, was that he wouldn’t be able to do a proper Texan accent, or at least not one that would be up to snuff with that needed to make the character memorable. Kubrick — likely remembering Columbia’s “four roles” condition — managed to get Sellers to agree to the part, and even had Terry Southern work with Sellers to perfect the accent, as Southern had grown up in the Lone Star state.
