 In the process of casting the characters of Rosewood and Taggart,  the director paired up various finalists and asked them to do some  improvisation to get a feel for the chemistry between the actors. He  paired up Judge Reinhold and John Ashton and gave them the following  direction: "You are a middle aged couple, married for years. You are  having a conversation on an average evening." Judge Reinhold  immediately picked up a nearby magazine and the two improvised the  "5 pounds of red meat in his bowels" bit almost verbatim as it  eventually appeared in the movie. This got them the parts.