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 a ship heading for Africa. The cast also includes Robert Curtis-Brown as Todd, Winthorpe's romantic rival for Penelope; James Belushi as Harvey, a party-goer on New Year's Eve; Jamie Lee Curtis' sister Kelly Curtis cameos as Penelope's friend Muffy; Frank Oz as a police officer; James Eckhouse as a police officer; Giancarlo Esposito as a cellmate; Muppet performer Richard Hunt as Wilson; and Bo Diddley as a pawnbroker. Tom Davis and Al Franken, also "Saturday Night Live" cast members, cameo as train baggage handlers. The storyline of "Trading Places"—a member of society trading places with another whose socio-economic status stands