Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were comedy gold in the 1970's and 1980's. It's not surprising that Paramount wanted them to star in its latest comedy Trading Places.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pryor was going through a difficult time. He had just had a drug related incident in which he accidentally set himself on fire. He was in no shape to do any film at the time, so Paramount turned to a younger comedy duo- Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
