 Gerrit Graham (qv) has talked about the infamous "musical chairs"  casting, where William Finley (I) (qv) almost wound up with no  part to play. The studio considered casting  Paul Williams (III) (qv) as Winslow, Graham as Swan and  Peter Boyle (I) (qv) as Beef. Williams turned down the role of  Winslow not only because he didnt feel physically fit or menacing  for the role, but he didnt want to use the role of Winslow as a  message against the recording industry. Somehow, Boyle was  unavailable, Graham took the Beef role, and Finley ultimately took  the Winslow role. In fact, director Brian De Palma (qv) actually  wrote the part with his colleague Finley in mind.  William Finley (I) (qv) said in a recent interview that  Jon Voight (qv) was at one time considered for the role of Swan.