Bill Pullman‘s turn within the 1995 hit rom-com “While You Were Sleeping” can have been iconic, but he was desperate to get out of it pre-production.
The film’s producer, Jonathan Glickman, revealed that the “Casper” alum, 70, was not allowed to quit the movie — because he’d just abandoned a previous project.
According to Glickman, the initial screenplay was a dumpster fire, having undergone many rounds of edits and even a screenwriter change.
“We went to Chicago and we did a read-through, a table read of the script,” Glickman said on the “Hollywood Gold” podcast. “And the script was sort of a cut-and-paste of the stuff that the unique guys had written and the brand new person had written.
“After which Jon [Turteltaub, the director], I feel, did type of a polish to make it make sense,” he added.
The previous MGM executive recalled that the table read was “certainly one of the worst” of all time.
He continued: “It just tanked. Nothing got amusing. The energy was dead. We had these incredible skilled actors there, real pros — it was painful. And we knew it didn’t work.”
That very same day because the table read — during a launch party for the movie — Pullman and co-star Peter Gallagher asked Glickman about reversing their roles in an effort to fix the storyline.
“The O.C.” actor, 68, portrayed Pullman’s character’s sibling within the film.
“While You Were Sleeping” followed Sandra Bullock as Lucy, while Pullman appeared as Jack, the brother of a person whose life she saves on a Chicago train.
Gallagher starred as Peter, the person who Lucy saved from the accident.
“Bill Pullman said — he had just quit a movie that he was making before — said his agent said he wasn’t allowed to quit one other movie, otherwise he would quit this movie,” Glickman recalled.
Nevertheless, at one point, the unique writers were re-hired and adjusted the script again.
The feature became an fast success, grossing $182 million on the box office.