Rafelson then spent more than a year researching a film that would never be made about the slave trade in Africa. He traveled over five thousand miles in West Africa and has said that he "lived the life of many of the characters that I'd read about." Rafelson then "wanted to turn to something more cheerful, to project a more exhilarating aspect of myself."[6] His next film was Stay Hungry, based on the novel by Charles Gaines and adapted by Rafelson and Gaines, featuring Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Scatman Crothers.