the only major hawkeye project to see the light of day was "the telephone". essentially a one-handed comedy-drama, it depicted the gradual mental disintegration of an out-of-work actor. it was written with robin williams in mind but williams turned it down. nilsson and southern then learned that comedian whoopi goldberg was keen to take the part and she asked nilsson and southern to rewrite it for her. new world films agreed to produce it and rip torn signed on as director.