The great director and the actors who were at one point related to the classic comedy THREE AMIGOS!

Three Amigos! is a perfect classic comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin BriefAnd Chevy Chase as actors who accept an invitation to a Mexican village to play their roles as on-screen bandit fighters, unaware that it’s the real thing. She has singing, dancing, gunfights, romance and so much more. And while the three stars are spot on and the comedic timing couldn’t be better, it turns out the film went through many stars and a big name director before settling on the movie we know and love today.

In an old interview with Vulture, we learn that Steve Martin first mentioned the project, then named The three caballerosin a 1980 Playboy interview. In the course of Three friendsAfter the long road to release in 1986, the film was renamed, saw numerous actors in and out (along with a certain famous director), and was cut down by the studio due to the excessive length of the initial version, which resulted in a few well-known artists were completely cut out of the film.

Martin was always going to star in the film and was initially going to be a couple Dan Aykroyd And John Belusci, who were looking to make another movie together (which would be their third). Belushi and Aykroyd ended up starring alongside each other in the comedy Neighborhood instead, which did not do very well at the box office. It is unclear whether Aykroyd and Belushi have dropped out Three Caballeros before Belushi’s death or if they were still related at the time of his death.

Iconic director Steven Spielberg he was considering helming Three friends in the early 1980s, planning to make it his next directing project after that Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg’s top casting choices for the Amigos were Bill Murray for Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase character), robin williams for Ned Nederlander (Martin Short’s character) and Steve Martin for Lucky Day (the same role he played in the actual film). Although he had seriously considered directing the film, Spielberg chose to make it ET instead, a good move in everyone’s opinion.

Murray and Martin were amazing together The Little Shop of Horrors, and in Steve Martin’s TV specials, so it would have been fun to see them collaborate in a bigger way. Williams may have been a difficult actor to play in an ensemble, as he had such a huge personality and took improvisation to a whole new level.

John Landiswho became the director of Three friends after Steven Spielberg’s death, he said Rick Moranis would have been his choice for the third Amigo if Martin Short hadn’t been available. Moranis and Short are both alumni of SCTV extension, and Moranis also had a history with Steve Martin. Moranis would have been great in the film, but his career was taking off while he was making hits like the ghost Buster movie, Space ballsAnd Honey, I shrunk the kids at the moment.

It was all good, like Three Amigos! it’s comedy gold. So as fun as it might have been in all these other iterations, I’m glad it got to where it did.