Goodbye Girl

 I knew that the character Elliott Garfield in the movie The Goodbye Girl was inspired by Dustin Hoffman. What I did not know was that before Richard Dreyfuss was cast, the role was to be played by Robert DeNiro! After a few table readings, though, it was recast, because then director Mike Nichols thought that, while DeNiro was funny, he was the wrong kind of funny. 

The outrageous production of Richard III in the film was based on Michael Moriarty's performance of the role.