Rain Man Behind The Scenes

The character of Raymond Babbitt was inspired by real-life American savant Kim Peek, born 1952, whom Rain Man writer Barry Morrow first met in 1986. When Barry Morrow won an Oscar for the screenplay of "Rain Man" in 1989, he gave his Oscar trophy to Kim Peek.

The director of the film, Barry Levinson, was an uncredited script doctor for the film.

Spielberg originally wanted to direct the film. He worked on script development, pre-production etc. and then had to hand the whole project over when he was unable to direct, instead honoring his promise to George Lucas to finish the Indiana Jones trilogy.

Jack Nicholson was originally intended to play Raymond.

After being interviewed by the psychiatrist, Raymond (Hoffman) leans his head against Charlie's and says "My main man Charlie". This was unscripted, and improvised by Hoffman.

The script originally had Raymond as happy and friendly, but mentally retarded. After an initial reading Dustin Hoffman successfully lobbied for Raymond to be a withdrawn autistic. Hoffman suggested that Raymond being autistic would be a more challenging and interesting plot line for the film's main characters.

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