 The character of Dr. Van Horn was originally written for novelist  Salman Rushdie (qv), a good friend of Paul Auster (qv). Because  the fatwah issued against Rushdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in  1989 had not been lifted, production costs would have exploded  because of the necessary security to guard Rushdie. The part  eventually went to Willem Dafoe (qv).