bakshi had originally intended to cast drew barrymore and brad pitt in the film's leading roles. brad pitt was cast as frank harris instead, with gabriel byrne as deebs and kim basinger as holli. the film's voice cast includes maurice lamarche, charlie adler and candi milo. according to bakshi, basinger had attempted to rewrite the film halfway into its production because she "thought it would be great [...] if she would be able to show this picture in hospitals to sick children [...] i said, 'kim, i think that's wonderful, but you've got the wrong guy to do that with.' [...] [mancuso] was sitting there with kim [...] agreeing with her."