 However the studio did not have any major stars under contract apart from Buck Jones, Boris Karloff and Edward Everett Horton, and needed to borrow some from other studios.The studio's original choice to play Irene, the part eventually played by Carole Lombard, was Constance Bennett, and Miriam Hopkins also was considered, but the director Gregory La Cava only would agree to Bennett if Universal borrowed William Powell from MGM.Powell, for his part, only would take the role if Carole Lombard played Irene.