Steven Soderbergh was first interested in directing
Charlie Kaufman's script back in late 1996, when Kaufman was still trying to get
Being John Malkovich (1999) produced. Soderbergh's considerations for casting were for
David Hyde Pierce in the role of Nathan Bronfman,
Chris Kattan in the role of Puff (likely due to his character Mr. Peepers on Saturday Night Live at the time), and
Marisa Tomei in the role of Lila Jute. He was about to go into pre-production when he was offered
Out of Sight (1998) and after much deliberation he left the project.
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