Did You Know?
An entire day was spent shooting the trailer, which does not appear in the film. The trailer shows Freddy and Lawrence walking along the boardwalk, politely moving out of the way of other people, etc, with a voice saying something like "There are numerous distinguished gentlemen in the world... refined, cultured gentlemen... nice men... but nice men finish last". As these last few lines are spoken, Freddy pushes an old lady into the water, and Lawrence shoves a kid's face into his cotton candy.
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The scene where Steve Martin is posing with the bikini-clad women on the beach was shot twice. For the American release, the women all had their bikini tops on. For the European release, director Frank Oz filmed the same scene with the women topless. Oz states in the DVD commentary that when he commanded the women to remove their tops, he felt like the most powerful man in the world.
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This film originated as a project for Mick Jagger and David Bowie, after the success of their popular "Dancing in the Street" video in 1985. Studio bosses were anxious to put them in a movie together. Screenwriter Dale Launer was brought in based on the success of Ruthless People and asked to submit ideas. Launer had seen the original film, Bedtime Story (which starred Marlon Brando, David Niven, and Shirley Jones) on TV once before and suggested a remake. During development, however, Jagger and Bowie dropped out of the project. Steve Martin and Michael Caine were brought in as replacements.
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The crystal stemware used in the scene where Michael Caine is teaching Steve Martin how to act debonair is called Massena and is made by Baccarat.
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According to Sir Michael Caine's autobiography, the girl dancing next to him in the disco scene is Caine's real-life daughter, Natasha. She's the tall girl with straight black hair.
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The scene in the trailer, with Bensen and Jameison walking along the water where Benson pushes the pedestrian over the edge and in to the water, does not appear in the movie.
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The movie was used as the source for the musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" which opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on March 3, 2005, ran for 627 performances and was nominated for the 2005 Tony Awards for the Best Musical, Book and Score.
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Director Frank Oz and cast member Ian McDiarmid had previously both been in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, though their characters had no scenes together. They subsequently worked together in all three Star Wars prequels, during which McDiarmid was digitally inserted into Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, in which Oz already appeared.
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According to the DVD commentary, when Freddy is in jail trying to remember Lawrence's name, the entire scene was improvised by Steve Martin. Director Frank Oz was crouched out of camera range and tapped actor Anton Rodgers on the foot to interrupt Martin when Oz felt that he had gone as far as he could with the improv.
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The film was known as "King Of The Mountain" and "Dirty Rotten Criminals" during its early stages. John Cleese , Richard Dreyfuss and Michael Palin were considered for the role of Lawrence before Michael Caine was eventually cast.
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