Trading Places Trading Places Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet. Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis also star. The storyline is often called a modern take on Mark Twain's classic 19th-century novel "The Prince and the Pauper". The film was written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod and was produced by Aaron Russo. It was released to
Trading Places rich master who tried to steal Figaro's bride to be. The music from "The Marriage of Figaro" is used as a cinematic narrative in the film when the viewers are introduced to the daily routine of protagonist Louis Winthorpe's privileged life with the opera's overture playing in the background. The work also takes inspiration from Twain's "The Million Pound Bank Note". American philosopher and professor at Harvard University Stanley Cavell wrote about "Trading Places" in his 2005 book "Cavell on Film". Cavell postulates that film is sometimes used as a new technology in the production and experience of an opera.