The comic tempo was already building up nicely, when Crystal had a sudden mischievous urge to pluck a hair from his co-star's notoriously hirsute chest. Crystal may also have been motivated by envy: he confides that he himself has never been able to sprout more than two pectoral hairs in his entire life.

Crystal thought it would be the perfect property for himself and Williams who enthusiastically agreed after seeing the French original for himself. Next step was to contact producer Joel Silver who owned the American rights: he needed no persuasion after learning that Crystal and Williams were available. Then Crystal happened to meet Canadian director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Twins) at a dinner party; it turned out that Reitman was a big fan of the story and would love to direct it.

Crystal, 50, says that in many ways he's the straight man to Williams' displays of comic angst -- which means he's following in the noble tradition of Jack Benny, Dean Martin, Oliver Hardy and Bud Abbott. In fact, in preparing for the role he looked at a lot of old movies featuring popular comedy teams. He wanted to see how Martin reacted to Jerry Lewis and how Hardy dealt with the comedy of Stan Laurel.