Portions of the film were shot at the Morton Estate, in Pasadena, California, which was also the location where the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup was shot. The project was filmed under the title Lame Ducks, but Paramount later changed the title to Brain Donors because it was "catchier", according to sources consulted by the Los Angeles Times. Dugan originally sought to cast Adam Sandler in the film, but the studio did not agree to it; however, this established a rapport with Sandler that led to Dugan directing several films with him. Mickey Gilbert was the stunt coordinator, and Max Balchowsky was among the stuntmen involved in production. The opening credits and closing scene of the film are claymation sequences designed by Will Vinton. The film is scored by Ira Newborn; Mark Mothersbaugh contributed the main and end titles and additional music. Initially scheduled for release on July 26, 1991, the film was pushed back without a reschedule date; multiple news reports noted the imminent departure of David and Jerry Zucker, whose contract with Paramount expired in August 1991, as a likely reason. Turturro was also frustrated with the project, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune. Brain Donors eventually opened in theaters nine months after the original schedule date, on April 17, 1992. The Los Angeles Times remarked that the studio's handling of the film resembled "dumping", despite the high profile of the films that the screenwriter and executive producers had worked on (such as the Naked Gun and Hot Shots! franchises); the film was not screened for critics, was given minimal publicity support, and only opened in 523 American theaters. Reception Contemporaneous reviews of the film were mixed. Positive reviewers included Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, who thought that the film was "an audacious attempt actually to make them like they used to - with no apologies, no nostalgia. It's no masterpiece, but neither was every Marx Brothers movie." In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Brain Donors will stop at very little to get its laughs, and Mr. Turturro has just the right silliness for the occasion." A positive review in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel noted, "It doesn't have one believable, well-rounded character, it doesn't appeal to our nobler emotions, and it doesn't have anything politically correct to say about any important social problems. These seeming faults, however, are exactly the