It was originally set to star Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder
Iconic comedy duo Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder headlined 1976 hit Silver Streak, 1980’s Stir Crazy and later See No Evil, Hear No Evil. When Trading Places first went into development, Pryor and Wilder were courted for the lead roles.
This changed after Pryor almost died in 1980, burned alive in what the comedian later admitted was a suicide attempt.
Director John Landis didn’t know who Eddie Murphy was
When John Landis was hired to direct Trading Places, executives at Paramount suggested he hire Eddie Murphy, who had recently filmed 48 Hrs. for them. Landis, however, was completely unfamiliar with the comedian, who at that point was best known for his work on TV’s Saturday Night Live.
Happily, Landis soon recognised Murphy’s ability and knew he’d be a great fit for the film.
When Murphy signed on, he insisted Gene Wilder be replaced
As an African-American stand-up comedian with a blunt, confrontational style and taste for broaching taboo subjects, Eddie Murphy had already been widely compared to Richard Pryor.
For this reason, when he signed on for Trading Places he refused to make the film with Gene Wilder, for fear that people would think he was literally trying to steal Richard Pryor's career.
Paramount thought Dan Aykroyd couldn’t carry a movie without John Belushi
With Wilder out of the frame, the only actor John Landis wanted to play Louis Winthorpe III was Dan Aykroyd, who he’d previously directed in The Blues Brothers. However, Paramount were initially worried Aykroyd couldn’t carry a film without his late co-star John Belushi.
Landis recalls, “conventional wisdom was that Aykroyd without Belushi was like Abbott without Costello, and that his career was over.”
The studio didn’t want Jamie Lee Curtis either
Dan Aykroyd’s casting in Trading Places wasn’t the only thing Paramount had a problem with, as questions were also raised about who John Landis chose for the female lead Ophelia: Jamie Lee Curtis, then best-known for slasher Halloween.
The director recalls, “I was called into the head of the studio’s office and he said, ‘This woman’s a B-movie actress,’ and I said, ‘Not after this movie!’”
The writers were inspired by a real-life pair of wealthy and competitive brothers
Although Trading Places is largely based around the three central roles of Louis, Billy Ray and Ophelia, these were not the characters the story was initially built around.
Co-writer Timothy Harris says that Trading Places really grew from the characters of Randolph and Mortimer Duke. Harris had real-life inspiration for the Dukes, modelling them on two snobby, wealthy brothers with whom he had played tennis.
The casting agent thought Don Ameche was already dead
When Landis suggested casting Don Ameche as Mortimer Duke, the casting director told him the actor was dead. Landis was fairly sure this wasn’t true, but it took a bit of digging for the director to finally confirm that suspicion.
In fact, Ameche, aged 74 at the time, hadn’t made a movie for over a decade, and had fallen off the Hollywood radar.
Landis found Ameche in the phone book and offered him the part
Ameche’s career had slowed down so much that he no longer had an agent, so Landis found him the old-fashioned way: he looked him up in the phone directory, called him directly and offered him the part of Mortimer Duke.
Appearing in Trading Places gave Ameche’s film career a second wind; 1985’s Cocoon followed, which won Ameche the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
The writers got drunk with real traders as research
As research, writers Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod had to school themselves in the complex art of commodities trading.
They also got wild hanging out with Los Angeles traders: “because it was three hours behind New York, (they) had their happy-hours very early in the day. You can imagine what they were like by, maybe, 2pm.”
Sir John Gielgud was offered Denholm Elliott’s part
Denholm Elliott, best known as Marcus Brody in the Indiana Jones movies, played Louis’ butler Coleman in Trading Places. The first actor offered the role was Sir John Gielgud, one of the most acclaimed British actors of the time.
However, Gielgud had not long since played a butler opposite Dudley Moore in 1981’s Arthur, and he wasn’t too keen to repeat himself.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Swedish accent was an ad-lib because she really couldn’t do an Austrian one
One scene sees Jamie Lee Curtis’ Ophelia disguise herslef in Austrian lederhosen. However, she introduces herself as “Inga from Sweden” – and the dialogue addresses this inconsistency.
These lines were improvised purely because Curtis was unable to do a convincing Austrian accent, but could manage a Swedish one.
Don Ameche apologised to the crew whenever he had to swear on camera
Don Ameche was an old-fashioned gentleman, so he was uncomfortable about using profanity in Trading Places. Jamie Lee Curtis claimed Ameche would show up to set early when shooting scenes that involved curse words.
His reasoning for this was so that he could apologise in person to every crew member beforehand. He also refused to shoot more than one take of his final scene, when Mortimer cries “f*** him!”
Bellamy and Ameche didn’t know who Eddie Murphy was either
Like director John Landis, Eddie Murphy’s older co-stars were unfamiliar with his work. Ralph Bellamy once recounted that on the first day of shooting, he was shocked to learn that this was Murphy's debut acting performance.
Bellamy recalled: “I said, ‘Why, this is my 72nd movie.’ And Don [Ameche] answers, ‘Why, this is my 56th.’ And Eddie Murphy looks embarrassed and said, ‘Boys, this is my first. Ever.’ It broke everybody up, and the movie became my biggest hit.”
There are a number of hidden cameos in the film
Trading Places squeezes in a number of fun, fan-pleasing cameos. These include Frank Oz (director, actor and Muppeteer behind Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and Star Wars’ Yoda) as a cop.
We also see Jim Belushi, brother of Landis and Aykroyd’s late friend John; although he’s unrecognisable behind a gorilla suit. There’s also a cameo from Kelly Curtis, Jamie Lee’s sister, as country club girl Muffy.
Louis’ arrest number is a tribute to John Belushi
Whilst The Blues Brothers sees Belushi’s Jake Blues being released after completing his sentence, Trading Places sees Aykroyd’s Louis Winthorpe jailed.
Take a close look at the mugshots for Belushi’s character and Aykroyd’s character, and you may notice they have the exact same number on their mugshot cards: 7474505B. This was an affectionate tribute to the sadly missed Belushi.
Part of the film was shot during real-life trading hours at the World Trade Center
Some of Trading Places’ most memorable moments take place on the Commodities Exchange floor in New York’s World Trade Center. If these scenes seem realistic, this would be because the cast and crew shot there for real, during actual trading hours.
The director recalls being “quite taken aback at how physically rough it was – they really elbowed one another… It was like a contact sport.”
The Duke Brothers return in Coming to America as vagrants
John Landis and Eddie Murphy reunited on 1988 smash hit comedy Coming to America. This film refers back to Trading Places with a brief cameo appearance from Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as Randolph and Mortimer Duke.
The cameo shows that these formerly rich characters are now living rough on the street, where they are given some money by Murphy’s character Prince Akeem.
The film inspired a new financial regulation dubbed ‘the Eddie Murphy rule’
In Trading Places, the Duke brothers’ nefarious scheme is “to profit from trades in frozen concentrated orange juice futures contracts… using an illicitly obtained and not yet public Department of Agriculture orange crop report.”
New regulations introduced in 2010 banned any such activity, and this came to be known as ‘the Eddie Murphy rule.’ Ironically, Murphy himself admitted he didn’t understanding trading at all.
Landis directed Murphy and Aykroyd on several more occasions
The key players of Trading Places haven’t made another movie together, but Landis directed Murphy again in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III, and directed Aykroyd again in Into the Night, Susan’s Plan, and Blues Brothers 2000.
Aykroyd also appeared in Twilight Zone: The Movie for Landis, shot before Trading Places but released later due to that film's notorious problems behind the scenes.
Aykroyd and Curtis reunited on screen three more times
Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy have yet to make another film together, but Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis have done several.
They first reunited in 1991 family drama My Girl, then reprised those roles in 1994 sequel My Girl 2. To date, their last collaboration was on 2004 festive comedy Christmas with the Kranks.
The film has become perennial Christmas viewing in Italy
Though it opened in July 1983, Trading Places is set at Christmas, and for many fans the film has become a Christmas classic. Interestingly, it has become standard Christmas TV viewing not in the US or UK, but in Italy.
It has screened every year during the festive season on channel Italia 1 since 1997, and always draws a huge audience.
It was one of the biggest box office hits of 1983
Having cost $15 million to make, Trading Places ultimately made $90 million at the US box office alone. This made it the second highest-grossing R-rated film of 1983, behind Flashdance (which made just over $92 million), and the fourth-biggest US box office hit of 1983.
The other top three earners were box office bangers Flashdance, Terms of Endearment ($108.4 million) and Return of the Jedi (a whopping $252.5 million).
It made Murphy and Aykroyd major movie stars
After the huge success of Trading Places, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy went on to become two of the most bankable stars of the 80s. Aykroyd would next make his signature movie, Ghostbusters, whilst Murphy took the lead in comedy thriller Beverly Hills Cop.
These two movies would be the top two highest-earning box office hits of 1984.
It won two BAFTAs
For her turn as Ophelia, Jamie Lee Curtis was named Best Supporting Actress at the 1984 BAFTA Film Awards, the UK’s equivalent of the Oscars, beating significant competition from Maureen Lipman, Teri Garr and Rosemary Harris.
Trading Places also landed Denholm Elliott with the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA, with Elliott beating Bob Hoskins, Burt Lancaster and Jerry Lewis.
It’s a new take on an old story
Trading Places is an update of Mark Twain’s 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper, in which two boys from different walks of life switch places temporarily. The premise has also been compared to that of Mozart’s 1786 opera The Marriage of Figaro.
The opera sees a wealthy master attempt to marry the bride-to-be of his lowly servant, until the servant strikes back.
Jamie Lee Curtis' sister Kelly has a small role
Viewers may remember the Trading Places tennis club scene, when the four men sing like a barbershop quartet. One of the four women they are serenading, Muffy, is played by Kelly Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis' younger sister.
While Kelly never achieved the same success as her sister, she took a series of small film and TV roles before retiring in the late 90s.
They actually shot the film over the Christmas period
Often, movies set at Christmas are shot earlier in the year, and it's not too hard to spot the fake snow.
If the wintry setting of Trading Places looks unusually authentic, there's a reason for this: it did indeed begin principal photography in cold, snowy Philadelphia in December 1982, and ran until March 1983.
The Dukes wear corresponding shirts and ties throughout
Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche don't exactly look alike, but watch closely and you may spot one thing the two of them share in Trading Places: the patterns of their ties.
In every scene, the two actors wear ties of the same material, although Bellamy's is always a bow tie whilst Ameche's is a neck tie.
Al Franken still gets royalty payments for his minor role
Trading Places features one of the earliest appearances from Al Franken as a baggage handler. Franken went on to enjoy success as a comedy actor and writer, including Saturday Night Live and The Al Franken Show, before moving into politics and becoming a US senator for a time.
Releasing his tax records in 2012, Franken revealed he still receives royalty payments for Trading Places.
The Dukes’ scheme is inspired by a real-life trading scandal
The scheme of the Duke Brothers to corner the market on orange juice is reminiscent of a real-life Wall Street scandal that occurred not long before Trading Places was made.
On what became known as Silver Thursday in March 1980, the Hunt brothers tried something similar on the silver market.
An early music cue hints at the film's central theme
Early on in Trading Places is a clever use of music which ties in with the film's plot.
Mozart's overture from The Marriage of Figaro plays over the opening titles; this opera, controversial in its day, sees the servants rise up to overthrow their masters, much as Aykroyd's Louis and Murphy's Billy Ray do to the Duke brothers.
Curtis admits feeling "embarrassed" by her nude scenes
Jamie Lee Curtis performed her first nude scenes in Trading Places.
In a 2022 interview, she admitted feeling uncomfortable about this: "Did I like doing it? No. Did I feel embarrassed that I was doing it? Yes. Did I look OK? Yeah. Did I know what I was doing? Yeah. Did I like it? No. Was I doing it because it was the job? Yes.”
John Landis made the film whilst facing manslaughter charges over Twilight Zone: The Movie
It's hard to believe now that John Landis was given the job of directing Trading Places whilst he was facing charges of manslaughter over an infamous accident on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1982.
Actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed by a falling helicopter when a stunt sequence went wrong. Landis was eventually cleared of all charges in 1987.
The crew borrowed a neighbor's wreath for Louis' house
Because the movie was actually shot at Christmas time, the Trading Places crew didn't need to make much effort to make Philadelphia look festive.
However, when shooting the exteriors for Louis' home in a very affluent area, they realized the wreath they had picked out for the door was too small and didn't look fancy enough, so they borrowed one from a neighboring house.
Jamie Lee Curtis dressed up as Ingeborg for a 2023 charity event
Jamie Lee Curtis might have been unable to do an Austrian accent in Trading Places, but she later befriended the most famous Austrian of our times, her True Lies co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
At a 2023 charity event, Curtis posed for selfies with Schwarzenegger in a costume similar to Ingeborg, posting the pics to Instagram with the caption, "Ya, my name is Ingeborg, I'm from Stuttgart."
Blues legend Bo Diddley cameos as a pawnbroker
Back in 1980, Dan Aykroyd and director John Landis famously collaborated on The Blues Brothers, which featured cameos from many legendary figures from rhythm and blues and soul music.
One such figure also pops up in Trading Places: blues singer and guitarist Bo Diddley, who briefly appears as the pawn shop owner to whom Aykroyd's Lewis sells his watch.
There's a factual error when Louis tries to sell his watch
Dan Aykroyd is famous for his knack for reeling off long, complex sentences at a fast pace. He does just this when Louis tries to sell his watch, noting, "it tells time simultaneously in Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome and Gstaad."
There's one problem with that statement: Monte Carlo, Paris and Rome are all in the same time zone.
One line of dialogue in the World Trade Center scene was cut after 9/11
After the events of September 11th, 2001, any movie in which we see the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center has taken on a different feel.
Out of sensitivity for the victims of the attack, some TV screenings of Trading Places have since removed the line when Louis tells Billy Ray, "In this building, it's either kill or be killed."
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas were originally meant to play the baggage handlers
For the scene with the baggage handlers, the original plan was to cast Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, who would appear in character as the Mackenzie Brothers, their celebrated comedy double act from SCTV (Canada's rival to SNL).
When for some reason this couldn't happen, Tom Davis and Al Franken were cast instead, possibly at the recommendation of their old SNL co-stars Aykroyd and Murphy.
Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito makes an early appearance
Following Billy Ray's arrest for vagrancy, the young man he shares his cell with is Giancarlo Esposito, then a 24-year-old unknown.
After working his way up through bit parts (notably appearing in several Spike Lee movies), Esposito really found fame on TV's Breaking Bad in 2009, and has since appeared on The Mandalorian, Better Call Saul and The Boys.
The movie posters in Ophelia's apartment is a John Landis running joke
Look closely in Ophelia's apartment and you may spot an old movie poster that reads See You Next Wednesday. This non-existent film is a recurring joke in John Landis' work.
It's the name of the movie playing at the adult theater in An American Werewolf in London, and the words are even spoken out loud in the Michael Jackson music video Thriller.
Jamie Lee Curtis' future brother-in-law has a small role
Jamie Lee Curtis' sister Kelly isn't the only member of her family to appear in the tennis club scene.
One of the four wealthy men singing the barbershop quartet, Harry, is played by Nicholas Guest, the brother of actor, comedian and filmmaker Christopher Guest, who would go on to marry Curtis in 1984.
John Landis cast Jamie Lee Curtis after working with her on a horror movie documentary
Trading Places was the first feature film John Landis and Jamie Lee Curtis made together, but they had previously worked together on 1982's Coming Soon, a video documentary about studio Universal's horror classics, which Curtis hosted.
Landis recognized Curtis' star potential and insisted on casting her as Ophelia, although studio executives were nervous as Curtis was considered a B-movie scream queen at the time.
Harley Quinn actress Arleen Sorkin briefly appears
At the end of the party scene, Denholm Elliot's Coleman puts a fur coat on a blonde woman as she leaves. This very brief role is the film debut of Arleen Sorkin, who would later be better known as the wife of Christopher Lloyd.
Sorkin is also well known as the voice actress who originated DC character Harley Quinn on Batman: The Animated Series. Sorkin sadly died in 2023.
Sopranos actress Edie Falco makes an early appearance in the bus scene
In the scene where Louis is on a bus, drunk and disheveled in a Santa suit, we briefly see a young woman look at him in disgust. This is Edie Falco, who became a familiar face in 1999 as Carmela Soprano on hit HBO series The Sopranos.
Falco has since enjoyed further small screen success as the lead in drama Nurse Jackie.
A restaurant inspired by the movie later opened in Philadelphia
Trading Places is among the most famous movies shot and set in Philadelphia, which is enough of a point of pride for a restaurant inspired by the movie to open there.
Named after Aykroyd and Murphy's characters, Winthorpe & Valentine is based in Philadelphia's Westin Hotel in Liberty Place.
Jamie Lee Curtis spent some of the shoot living in Marlene Dietrich's apartment
Jamie Lee Curtis is famously the child of celebrated actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, and at the time she was dating another figure with notable Hollywood family roots: production designer J. Michael Riva, grandchild of silver screen star Marlene Dietrich.
When production on Trading Places moved to New York, Curtis stayed in an apartment owned by Dietrich (who was still alive at the time).
The original title was Black or White
The original script for Trading Places, as developed for Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, was entitled Black or White. John Landis thought this was a terrible title, and reportedly offered $100 to anyone on set who could think of something better.
Trading Places was picked, in part because of its double meaning: both the characters switching roles, and the key theme of commodities trading.
Paul Gleason's role was offered to G. Gordon Liddy
Paul Gleason (later better known for The Breakfast Club and Die Hard) appears in Trading Places as Clarence Beeks, but this role almost went to an unlikely candidate: G. Gordon Liddy, the lawyer and FBI agent infamous for his role in the Watergate scandal.
Liddy dropped out over Beeks' final scene, in which he is assaulted by a gorilla.
Writer Tim Harris worries people missed the anti-greed message
The Wall Street broker lifestyle became very popular in the 80s, and Trading Places may have had a part to play in that.
Writer Tim Harris has misgivings about this, noting in 2013 that he finds it strange how "a film written as satire of that world ends up inspiring somebody to go into that world and make a lot of money."