20 Things You Didn't Know About A Clockwork Orange

9. Malcolm McDowell Was The One And Only Choice For Alex

Directors always like to look lovingly back on a great lead performance and insist that there was nobody else they ever wanted to play the role. 99% of the time it's an entirely empty platitude and, often, a flat-out lie.

However, it's true for Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange. Mick Jagger (and most of the Stones) were already attached to the film, but when the director was brought on board he insisted on replacing him with McDowell, whose debut performance in If... had caught his eye.