Editing Traffic (2000 film) (section)

===Casting===
Harrison Ford was initially considered for the role of Robert Wakefield in January 2000 but would have had to take a significant cut in his usual $20 million salary.<ref name="Daly" /> Ford met with Soderbergh to flesh out the character. Gaghan agreed to rework the role, adding several scenes to the screenplay. On February 20, Ford turned down the role, and the filmmakers brought it back to [[Michael Douglas]], who had turned down an earlier draft. He liked the changes and agreed to star, which helped greenlight the project.<ref name="Daly" /> Gaghan believes Ford turned down the role because he wanted to "reconnect with his action fans".<ref name="Divine" />

The filmmakers sent out letters to many politicians, both [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], asking them to make cameo appearances in the film. Several of the scenes had already been shot using actors in these roles, but the filmmakers went back and reshot those scenes when real politicians agreed to be in the film.<ref>Conversations with Ross: [http://www.rosscarey.com/2011/02/09/episode-24-featuring-sam-jaeger "Featuring Sam Jaeger"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424061938/http://www.rosscarey.com/2011/02/09/episode-24-featuring-sam-jaeger |date=2011-04-24 }}. ''RossCarey.com''. Retrieved 2012-03-03.</ref> Those who agreed, including U.S. Senators [[Harry Reid]], [[Barbara Boxer]], [[Orrin Hatch]], [[Charles Grassley]], and [[Don Nickles]], and [[Massachusetts]] governor [[Bill Weld]], were filmed in a scene that was entirely improvised.<ref name="Lemons" />