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Had Paramount cast MIDNIGHT RUN the way it wanted to, it would never  have been the unique buddy movie we still recall today.

The 1988 action comedy, which opened July 20, 1988 via Universal, was directed by Martin Brest (BEVERLY HILLS COP) and written by George Gallo (WISE GUYS). It starred Robert De Niro & Charles Grodin as the perfect odd couple, which Jay Scott explained in his Toronto Globe & Mail review: “De Niro has the time of his acting life lightening up (and) Charles Grodin, master of the double-take and maestro of the slow burn, (is) the best light character comic since Jack Benny stopped playing himself.”

Paramount specified casting an A-List star opposite De Niro, who’d been looking to do a comedy after THE UNTOUCHABLES. He originally wanted to do Penny Marshall’s BIG and she almost agreed — but 20th Century-Fox disagreed. Then Tom Hanks was cast, making BIG a very BIG hit.

When De Niro was cast as MIDNIGHT’s bounty hunter, Jack Walsh, the buzz was that every other A-List actor had been considered — including, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone.

In MIDNIGHT, a bail bondsman hires De Niro to find accountant Jonathan Mardukas (Grodin) and bring him back to L.A. It seems that Duke embezzled $15M from a Chicago mob boss and then skipped town, ignoring his $450,000 bail.

At first, Paramount wanted to make Duke a female role and cast Cher, who was sizzling hot after three hits — THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, SUSPECT & MOONSTRUCK. Paramount also liked the idea of adding some sexual overtones to the characters’ relationship.

Brest refused to do it. Paramount then tried to cast Robin Williams, who’d just had a big hit with GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM. Williams liked MIDNIGHT and agreed to audition, but before that could happen Brest saw Grodin. He loved the chemistry between De Niro & Grodin and cast Grodin immediately — without having Williams come in.

Paramount finally put MIDNIGHT in turnaround. The rights were bought by Universal, its partner in the international distributor UIP. Universal gave the De Niro/Grodin casting a quick green light. Universal studio chief Casey Silver liked Brest, having worked with him on BEVERLY HILLS COP during Silver’s days in development & production at Simpson-Bruckheimer Productions.

Looking back at making MIDNIGHT, Grodin wrote in his autobiography that De Niro researched his role by going out on drug busts with L.A. detectives. He also visited Chicago to observe some police action there. As for Grodin, he said his preparation for MIDNIGHT was just a quick call to his business manager to ask how someone could actually transfer millions of embezzled dollars.