Will Smith was a contender to play Stan Actor Mitchell Whitfield landed the role of My Cousin Vinny’s Stan, the youngster charged alongside Ralph Macchio’s Bill as an accessory to first-degree murder.
From then on, Pendleton turned down parts that required him to stutter, no matter how good the rest of the material was. Much of “My Cousin Vinny” was shot on location in the Deep South: but primarily in various small towns in Georgia, rather than Alabama.
My Cousin Vinny features Fred Gwynne in what would prove to be his last film role as Judge Chamberlain Haller. Gwynne was a seasoned comedy actor, who first achieved fame in TV series Car 54, Where Are You? However, the role he will always be remembered for is that of the benevolent Frankenstein monster Herman in TV’s The Munsters.
My Cousin Vinny gave Macchio one of his few major roles in the wake of The Karate Kid, and director Jonathan Lynn insists Macchio’s earlier role had nothing to do with it. “I must confess, I had never actually seen The Karate Kid,” Lynn later admitted.
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