There was no stage show magician in the original script, but producer Howard was a fan of magic tricks and illusions, so a magician character was written in. Copperfield's character becomes the suspect at one point of the movie, but it turns out to be a red herring when the real killer is revealed to be Kenny Hampson. There is some confusion about David Copperfield's character's name. In the movie, the Conductor calls out to him twice as "Ken", but this is when it is believed by him and the passengers that he is Kenny Hampson, the murderer. Additionally, his assistant calls out to him as "Ken", but since his assistant is Kenny in disguise, this could have been an intentional misdirection. In the credits, he is simply listed as "The Magician".