Why Martin Short Almost Wasn't Cast In One Of His Most Famous Movies
Martin Short is introducing himself to an entirely new generation thanks to Hulu's Only Murders In The Building. Thanks to a clever script, a worthy streamer, and the star-power of Selena Gomez, young people can finally see just how ridiculously funny and talented Martin Short (as well as his best friend and comedy partner Steve Martin) truly is. But Martin's older fans are well aware of his tremendous contribution to the film and television industry. While he's been a fantastic dramatic actor in projects like Damages and The Wind Rises, the former SCTV and Saturday Night Live alumnus is best known for his comedy.
Over his lengthy career, Martin Short has been in some of the most iconic comedies of all time. This includes Three Amigos! (which was his first big break in the movie industry), Father of the Bride, Innerspace, and, of course, Clifford. No, not the movie about the big red dog, the 1994 film about the bratty ten-year-old who deeply got on his uncle's nerves. Of course, Clifford is not everybody's favorite Martin Short film. After all, it featured an adult Martin playing a ten-year-old kid. It also was a remarkably strange movie that ended up being a massive box-office failure and the critics just loathed it. And yet, it remains one of Martin's most talked-about movies. The funny thing is, he almost didn't even star in it...
The Creation of Clifford
The origin of Clifford is found with Steven Kampmann and Will Aldis who co-wrote the story.
"We had an idea about doing a funny version of The Bad Seed, which is a movie with the idea of a child being evil," Steven Kampmann said in an interview with Vulture. "I guess I always thought it was funny. We decided to pitch it to Orion [Pictures], where we had done Back to School."
Because Back to School, which was co-written by the late-great Harold Ramis and PJ Torokvei, the studio was very excited to hear the pitch.
"I came in [to Orion], and I acted out every scene of the movie. Will and I loved to do the pitches. We’d basically outline where we wanted it to go. It wasn’t every perfect scene, but it was enough to know the basic structure of it so they could see it. They got the comedy of it," Steven explained.
Why Martin Short Almost Didn't Get The Role Of Clifford
It was producer Larry Brezner who really took the production and casting of Clifford under his belt. This is because he was also the manager of a lot of major comedic minds such as Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and, yes, Martin Short. But, at the time, the script called for an actual kid to play the role of Clifford and thus none of these talents, including Martin, were right for the role.
"Larry was funny, and he got the idea, and so he got attached to it. We messed around with it some more. Then we got actually greenlit by Orion to make it. So this was going to be casting a child with the storyline that pretty much is in the movie as it is," Steven said to Vulture. "But Larry got a little concerned that there was another movie coming out with John Ritter called Problem Child. So the concern there was, you know, do we try to get out before they get out? What happens if we don’t? He had decent concerns about it. It was my understanding Larry put a halt to it. We actually had a greenlit movie that got a halt, which you don’t see every day. It was suddenly going to be shelved. And I had the idea … of Marty."
Steven decided that Martin Short was the right guy to play Clifford despite being older. In fact, this casting choice was supposed to give the movie an edge. Martin and Steven met at Second City years ago and built a friendship. This is why Martin was at the forefront of Stevens's mind.
The producers were conflicted about this idea, however. They thought it could either be a genius choice or something that could tank the movie in less than a second. Even Martin himself wasn't so sure.
"I wasn’t sure if this was just too insane an idea," Martin Short explained to Vulture. "And nor was my manager, who produced it. I tend to be very pragmatic. To me, it was like, Let’s do a screen test; we’ll have an answer."
The screen test proved that this was, in fact, a stroke of genius. While the film didn't pan out the way the creators wanted, it remains a project that Martin will be associated with for the rest of his life.
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