In agreeing to direct Lust for Life, director Vincente Minnelli had to make several painful compromises, including the use of CinemaScope (which robbed some scenes of their intimacy) and Metrocolor (the vibrant hues of Technicolor would have been far better suited to the subject). Still, the infamous ear-slashing scene is handled with impeccable taste by the director, as is Van Gogh's climactic wheat field suicide. Likewise, star Kirk Douglas had to give in on several creative points; for example, the actor wanted to emphasize Van Gogh's latent homosexuality, but the MGM brass would hear none of this. Nominated for an Academy Award, Douglas lost out to Yul Brynner for The King and I. Miklos Rozsa's haunting musical score is the crowning touch on this superlative film. Also see Robert Altman's treatment of the same subject in Vincent and Theo (1990).