Stack. According to the producers, Stack was "doing an impression of John Byner doing an impression of Stack". Stack was not initially interested in the part, but ZAZ persuaded him. Bridges' children advised him to take the part. Graves rejected the script at first, considering it tasteless. During filming, ZAZ had explained to Graves that his lines spoken to a young boy, like "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?", would "be explained later in a part that you aren't in". On the DVD commentary, Abrahams said: "I don't understand. What did he think was tasteless about pedophilia?" For the role of Dr. Rumack, ZAZ initially suggested Dom DeLuise, Christopher Lee, and Jack Webb, all of whom turned it down, before they considered Nielsen, who was "just a fish in water" in his role, according to Jerry Zucker. Nielsen's career to this point had consisted mostly of serious leading roles but he wanted to work in comedy and was looking for a film to help in the transition. He was considered a "closet comedian" on set, pranking his fellow actors between shots, but immediately adopted his somber, serious persona when performing as Rumack. During filming, Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro". Christopher Lee would later acknowledge that turning down the role (to star in the film 1941) was a huge mistake. The role of Ted Striker was written for David Letterman, who had auditioned for a news anchorman role in Kentucky Fried Movie. Letterman did a screen test in 1979, but ultimately was not selected. Bill Murray and Fred Willard were also considered for the role. Caitlyn Jenner also read for the part. Instead, ZAZ opted for Robert Hays, co-star of ABC situation comedy Angie. Elaine's part was auditioned for by Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long but eventually went to Julie Hagerty. The directors advised the pair to play their roles straight. Hays and Hagerty developed an on-screen chemistry that worked in the film's favor; they spent time to practice and perfect the bar dance routine set to "Stayin' Alive", among other scenes. For the "red zone/white zone" send-up of curbside terminal announcements in which public address announcers "Betty" and "Vernon" argue over the red and white zones, ZAZ went through the usual process of auditioning professional voice actors but failed to find ones who