In fact, he (Madsen) remembers going to a dinner party that producer Lawrence Bender held for Beatty so that he could meet the actor and "hang out and feel if we were comfortable with each other, seeing that we had to be brothers and all." The meeting went well and about three days later Madsen got a phone call from the director.

"He goes, 'Well, I just fired Warren.' And I said, 'Oh my God. You did?' And he said, 'Yeah, yeah.' He said, 'He doesn't understand what the movie's about and I'm not going to go through this. He doesn't understand what the movie's about, he doesn't want to do it and I don't want him to do it,'" Madsen recalls.

"I said, 'Well who in the name of god is going to play Bill?' And he goes, 'Are you ready?' And I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready g**d**n it. Who is it?' And he said, 'David Carradine.' And I remember that I was completely and totally stunned. I mean it so took me off guard. I wouldn't of thought of David in a million years. At the same time I realized that it made more sense than anything," says Madsen. "And the first time I saw David I knew that he could handle it and obviously he did, because he's wonderful in the picture."