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==Production== The film was made on a budget of $13 million.<ref name="numbers" /> Robin Williams was paid "less than $2 million", plus [[Hollywood accounting|gross participation points]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Good Morning Mail! |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-14-ca-42434-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 14, 1988 |access-date=2021-10-02 |archive-date=2021-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002080859/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-14-ca-42434-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1979, [[Adrian Cronauer]] [[Pitch (filmmaking)|pitched]] a [[sitcom]] based on his experiences as an [[Armed Forces Radio Service|AFRS]] [[Disc jockey|DJ]]. Although one of the most popular television programs of the era was the [[Korean War]] period piece, ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', the networks were not interested, because they did not see war as comedy material.<ref name="Urgent"/> Cronauer revamped his sitcom into a script for a TV movie of the week, which eventually got the attention of Robin Williams.<ref name="Urgent"/> Very little of Cronauer's original treatment remained after writer [[Mitch Markowitz]] was brought in.<ref name="cronauerharris">Harris, Paul. [http://paulharrisonline.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/adrian-cronauer.htm Adrian Cronauer interview], April 28, 2006, ''The Paul Harris Show'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225203157/http://paulharrisonline.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/adrian-cronauer.htm |date=2017-12-25 }} [[KMOX]]</ref> Commenting on the accuracy of the film, the real-life Cronauer commented, "I'm very happy with it. Of course, it was never intended to be an accurate point-by-point biography. It was intended as a piece of entertainment, and (Williams) was playing a character named Adrian Cronauer who shared a lot of my experiences. But actually, he was playing Robin Williams."<ref name=Mullen-Nov-10-2011>{{cite web|last=Mullen|first=Rodger|title=Heroes Homecoming: For 'Good Morning' guy Adrian Cronauer, Vietnam feels like yesterday|url=http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/11/10/1122748?sac=Mil|work=[[Fay Observer]] (The Fayetteville Observer) |date=November 10, 2011|publisher= | location=Fayetteville, North Carolina |access-date=26 December 2011|archive-date= 26 May 2012| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120526081434/http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/11/10/1122748?sac=Mil|url-status=dead}}</ref> Williams stated that his portrayal of Cronauer in the film was only about 5% character, 95% himself.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cooper|first=James|title=The life and laughs of Robin Williams|url=https://archive.org/details/GAT_1988031501/page/16/mode/2up|work=[[The Varsity (newspaper)|The Varsity]]|date=March 15, 1988|access-date=23 May 2023}}</ref> Commenting on his portrayal in the film, Cronauer said, "Anybody who has been in the military will tell you that if I did half the things in that movie, I'd still be in [[United States Disciplinary Barracks|Leavenworth]] right now. A lot of Hollywood imagination went into the movie. I was a disc jockey in Vietnam and I did teach English in my spare time. I was not thrown out of Vietnam; I stayed for my full one-year tour and I was [[Honorably discharged#Honorable|honorably discharged]]." None of the people in the film are based on actual people who Cronauer met, although he described them as [[stereotype]]s of military personnel who existed at the time. For the scenes in which Cronauer teaches his class to swear and use "street slang", his pursuit of a Vietnamese woman, and his Jeep being blown up in the jungle, among others, are constructs for the plot and never happened to Cronauer.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} He did, however, witness the bombing of a restaurant that he had only recently left, and clash with Army censors when prevented from reporting it.<ref name="ChicagoTribune">{{cite web|last=Beck|first=Barbara|title=Good Morning to the Real Adrian Cronauer|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-01-19-8803230431-story.html|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=January 19, 1988|access-date=March 1, 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614015000/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-01-19-8803230431-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Cronauer, he and Williams were forbidden by Barry Levinson to meet each other because Levinson "was afraid that if Robin and I met, that Robin would somehow start to do an unconscious imitation of me, which would change his characterization". Williams and Cronauer eventually met at the film's New York premiere.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schogol|first=Jeff|title=Real-life 'Vietnam' DJ recalls Williams' portrayal|date=12 August 2014|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/08/12/good-morning-vietnam-airman-reacts-robin-williams-death/13954271/|access-date=31 October 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107044237/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/08/12/good-morning-vietnam-airman-reacts-robin-williams-death/13954271/|url-status=live}}</ref> Filming took place entirely in Thailand, where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Although filmmakers had considered shooting in the Philippines, they decided against it due to a discouraging political climate. Locations included a meteorological station in Bangkok, Thailand, which doubled as military headquarters and dormitories.<ref>{{cite web |title=Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57630 |website=AFI Catalog |access-date=10 May 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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