In later years, Mary Pickford reminisced about the making of Wilful Peggy. She said that, originally, when her character Peggy was ordered by her mother to marry the much-older aristocrat, she was supposed to meekly submit. On the set, Mary remarked that in reality she would give her mother "a good shake" if she ordered her to marry an old man for money. Director D.W. Griffith urged her to follow her instincts, so when the cameras rolled, Mary fought the actress playing her mother, and chased her around a tree. Griffith loved the resulting scene, which went to the finished film.