However it required a major rewrite of the script changing from the real-life savant model, Kim, whom Morrow had written about to a new, composite character. That, of course, was a crucial and significant change and as it turned out, a very successful one. Also, autism would create an opportunity for a more complex interaction between the two brothers. A variety of persons, especially Dustin Hoffman, felt that the portrayal of an autistic person, with all the typical associated rituals, obsessiveness, resistance to change and relatively affectionless behaviors might make a more interesting character for Raymond Babbitt, one the public had never really been exposed to on screen. First of all, that early version had Raymond Babbitt’s mental handicap as mental deficiency rather than autism. That October 1986 version of the script was very different from the finished product. The producer was interested then, and remained so throughout the movie’s production, that the story remain accurate, authentic and credible. It was this October 25, 1986, draft of Rain Man, which was the initial one sent to me for my reaction and comment because of my interest and involvement with Savant Syndrome. It turned out to be a splendid bit of casting. Tom Cruise was cast as the savant’s younger brother. He wanted to play the part of the savant, not the brother. But Dustin Hoffman had seen the 60 Minutes piece on Leslie Lemke done in October 1983 and was very moved by it - “moved to tears,” he stated, in fact. When the script ultimately reached Dustin Hoffmann’s agent, he sent it to Hoffman with the idea that Hoffman play the part of the younger brother, Charlie Babbitt. The Rain Man script was inspired by another mentally handicapped young man -Kim Peek - whom Morrow had come to know in Salt Lake City, and who had striking savant skills as described elsewhere on this website. The first version of Rain Man was written by Barry Morrow, who had earlier written the original story for the award-winning TV movie Bill, in which Mickey Rooney played a mentally retarded person. Just as Raymond’s wall of autism has yielded a bit, so has Charlie’s wall of callousness yielded as well. Charlie, like Raymond, also has learned something more about feelings and affection. Raymond is a bit more self-sufficient and tolerates some affection Charlie is trying less to stamp out his brother’s odd behavior learning more to accommodate to it. But it is clear both Raymond and Charlie have changed. Raymond returns to the institution at the end of the movie. There is no six-day cure of autism (and realistically there ought not to be). After this for-the-wrong-reasons reunion at the hospital, a six-day cross-country tour ensues from Cincinnati to Los Angeles in a ’49 Buick with a variety of adventures wherein some of Raymond’s autistic rituals and savant skills are an asset, and some an impediment.īy the end of the movie Charlie has changed from referring to his brother as “weird” or a “retard” to viewing him as only different and in many ways very special. So young was Charlie at that time that he, in typical childlike manner, called his brother “Rain Man” because that’s the way the name Raymond sounded to him. Charlie traces Raymond to the institution where he lives, discovering once again a brother he did not even remember since he was so young (age 2) when Raymond, then age 18, was placed into long-term care. Their father has died leaving $3 million in a trust fund for Raymond’s care in the institution where Raymond has spent almost all of his adult life. The movie is the story of two brothers, Charlie Babbitt and his brother, Raymond Babbitt, an autistic savant.
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