Did the original concept for this movie get changed?

I always had the impression that this film started out as a fairly serious study of the nature of heroism and integrity, but somewhere along the line it got changed, maybe studio interference, re-editing, script re-writes etc.

And I am sure I saw an early trailer that was minus the jaunty music, and did not emphasise the comedy element at all.

In fact, remove the somewhat obvious, schmaltzy and over-the-top score completely and you could almost view the movie in a completely different way.

Hoffman's character seems to be a cross between his famous Ratso Rizzo character from Midnight Cowboy, and Max Dembo from Straight Time...but with a bit more quirkiness to it.

But above all, this just does not seem like the sort of project that director Stephen Frears usually makes. It's just not his style. The end product is just too light and frothy for a director like him.