On 11 Jul 1968, Var announced that independent producer Arnold Nathanson had optioned the film rights for Chaim Potok’s 1967 novel, The Chosen, and that Lester Colodny had been selected to write the screenplay. However, the project remained in limbo for four years, until the 23 Aug 1972 Var reported that the project had been taken over by producers Willard W. Goodman and Charles Roth, who planned to begin production on location in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, in Jan 1973.
       Four years later, the 22 Sep 1976 HR announced that Goodman, along with producers Roger Harrison and Steven Douglas Brown, had acquired the film rights to The Chosen. Pnina Spiegel was listed as associate producer at that time, but is not credited onscreen. Principal photography was expected to begin spring 1977. A 13 Oct 1976 Var article claimed that Goodman was actually the third party to obtain rights to the property, and that the previous owner, an associate of Goodman’s, had lost a financing and distribution deal with Paramount Pictures due to personal conflict. Harrison and Brown, New Orleans, LA, businessmen, optioned the work and raised $2.5 million from individual investors. At that time, the script was being completed by Edwin Gordon, and Walter Matthau and Eli Wallach had both expressed interest in directing. However, the 27 Jun 1977 HR announced that Paul Bogart had been hired to direct, with principal photography to begin spring 1978 in Brooklyn and New York City.
       Although a 21 Jun 1978 Var stated that comedian Marty Ingels had possession of Gordon’s completed script for The Chosen, Goodman wrote to Var on 5 Jul 1978 to clarify that Ingels played no involvement in the film’s production. However, on 26 Jul 1978, Var published a revision from Charles C. Garrison, an attorney for The Chosen Productions, claiming that as of 15 May 1978, Goodman was no longer serving as producer, and that Ingels had, in fact, been contributing as co-executive produce alongside Harrison and Brown since the time of Goodman’s depature.
       On 12 Mar 1980, LAT reported that producing partners Edie and Ely Landau had assumed producing responsibilities, and had hired Jeremy Paul Kagan to direct, with principal photography beginning 2 Jun 1980. A 31 Aug 1980 LAT article claimed that Edie and Ely Landau had purchased the rights to both Potok’s novel and the completed screenplay from a New Orleans stockbroker and his mother, who had been unable to raise sufficient funding. After the couple hired Kagan to direct, he also rewrote the script, which Potok approved, although Gordon receives sole onscreen writing credit. The 2 Jul 1980 Var stated that principal photography start date had been moved to 4 Aug 1980. A 28 Jul 1980 LAT news item included The Chosen among fourteen feature films that had been granted interim agreements and were allowed to continue production throughout the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike that began Jul 1980.
       A 7 Aug 1980 HR article and the 5 Sep 1980 Var production charts confirmed that principal photography began 4 Aug 1980. HR stated that although the Landaus were planning a nine-film, $100 million dollar distribution deal, The Chosen would be marketed and sold separately, and produced on a small budget of $3 million. According to a 31 Aug 1980 LAT article, Robbie Benson had agreed to perform the role of “Danny Saunders” for a salary of about one-fifth his usual pay. To prepare for their roles, actors reportedly studied Talmud with a rabbi and participated in Hassidic retreats, while casting director Joy Todd was given permission by SAG to hire Hassidic Jews as background actors. A news item in the 29 Aug 1980 DV stated that actor Rod Steiger spent eight hours a day for two weeks learning Yiddish.
       The 20 Nov 1980 NYT included the Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island, NY, and Polhemus Place in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood among filming locations.
       A few weeks after filming began, production manager Mel Howard was named associate producer, according to the 3 Sep 1980 HR. The 19 Sep 1980 HR stated that film’s seven-week production schedule had ended that day; however, a brief in the 1 Oct 1980 HR announced that filming had concluded in New York City on 25 Sep 1980.
       On 27 Aug 1980, Var reported that Israeli chairman of Rapid-American Corp., Meshulam Riklis, would release the film in 1,000 theaters across the U.S. and thirteen foreign countries for a special benefit screening that was expected to raise $50 million for various Jewish organizations. The 19 Sep 1980 HR stated the premiere would take place 11 May 1981. Despite Riklis’s efforts, the 24 May 1981 LAT reported that the benefit, name Celebration 33 after the coordinating non-profit organization honoring Israel’s thirty-third anniversary, yielded disappointing returns, raising between $5 million and $10 million, while the event itself cost Riklis $6 million “out of pocket.” Although 80% of each ticket purchase was intended to be donated to charity and the remaining 20% returned to Riklis’s Rapid-American Corp., Ely Landau stated in a 10 May 1981 LAT article that the producers’ share of any future box office profits would be divided among the cast and crew. Money recouped by Riklis would also be sent to the benefit’s many Israeli charities.
       On 26 Aug 1981, Var announced that The Chosen would be screened at the Montreal Film Festival. According to the 1 Sep 1981 HR, the film won the Grand Prix of the Americas. A 22 Mar 1982 DV brief stated that Rod Steiger had also won the festival’s Best Actor award.
       A news item in the 4 Dec 1981 DV reported that Analysis Film Releasing Corp. would distribute the movie in New York City’s Cinema 5 Theater in Mar 1982 and the Los Angeles, CA, Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Apr 1982, while Riklis would oversee nationwide releasing. However, the 22 Mar 1982 DV stated that Analysis Films would handle domestic distribution, and the film would open at the Los Angeles Music Hall 3 and New York City’s Cinema 3 and Beekman theaters on 30 Apr 1982.
       Following the creation of their International Classics distribution division in Apr 1982, Twentieth-Century Fox acquired rights to The Chosen and six other films, as reported in the 2 Jun 1982 DV. The 10 Aug 1982 DV announced that Fox expanded the film to the Greenwich 2 theater in New York City on 30 Jul 1982, and that Analysis Films was in the process of transferring rights to Riklis, who would then sign all distribution duties over to Fox. Contrary to the earlier 22 Mar 1982 DV report, the 10 Aug 1982 story stated that Riklis had been given distribution rights in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, FL. A wide release by Analysis Films would follow in the U.S. and Canada, if the initial openings were successful.
       At the time of the transfer, the film had reportedly grossed more than $1 million. According to the 22 Sep 1982 HR, The Chosen had earned $3,224,383 in box office returns in seventeen U.S. cities.
      End credits open with the following statement: “This has been an Edie and Ely Landau production,” followed by special thanks from producers to Robert Tofel and Burton Fine, as well as the members of the production team. Another statement of special thanks lists the Brooklyn Museum, Zion Talis Company, National Archives, New York Academy of Medicine, Martin Steinberg Center for Jewish Artists, and Nancy Littlefield, director of the New York City Mayor’s Office for Motion Pictures. End credits also indicate that excerpts from the film Thrill of a Romance (1945, see entry), were provided courtesy of M-G-M, and that The Chosen was “filmed entirely on location in New York City.” The name of location assistant Benoit Desuarte is misspelled as “Beniot Deswarte.”