Movers & Shakers

Joe Mulholland

Herb Derman

Saul Gritz

Nancy Derman

Sid Spokane

Livia Machado

Marshall

Arnie

Larry

Louis Martin

Dorothy

Doctor

Freddie

Robin (as Peter Marc)

Ray Berg

Betty Gritz

Violette

Board Member

Other Executive

Other Executive

Other Executive

Man at Dedication

Secretary

Truck Driver

Nurse

Fabio Longio

Reva

Delivery Man (uncredited)

When the film was finally ready to go in front of the cameras, original lead actor Peter Falk was no longer available. Another well known comic actor had to drop out when he didn't pass his insurance physical. Walter Matthau agreed to star at the very last minute, receiving $1 million, half his usual fee at the time for his work.

In the mid Seventies, Paramount Pictures paid a great amount of money to secure the rights to Alex Comfort's sex manual The Joy of Sex just so they could use the title, which they found to be highly commercial. In 1978 they hired Charles Grodin to write a script, telling him the movie 'could be about anything'. Grodin decided to use this exact situation as the premise: a Hollywood writer struggles to write a script based on a sex manual after a big studio acquires the rights. When he finished his first draft, Paramount passed. The title was finally used for a teenage sex comedy 1984 (Joy of Sex (1984))

After Paramount Pictures put Grodin's script in turnaround in 1978, he was free to offer it to other studios. However, since Paramount held the rights to the title 'The Joy of Sex', the film was retitled 'Dreamers'. Columbia Pictures showed interest to produce 'Dreamers' with Peter Falk playing the leading role of the producer. But when the deal with Columbia fell through, Charles Grodin ended up pitching his screenplay to every studio several times over the course of the next 7 years.

The huge prop dinosaur that is mounted on the lawn of the movie studio lot changes position in respect to nearby buildings several times throughout the film.