MOVIES - Aug. 23, 1988

The National Stuttering Project wanted an explanation why one of the main characters in the hit Anglo-American comedy “A Fish Called Wanda” had a serious stutter that’s consistently ridiculed in the film. But now the organization said it has received an explanation from the film’s makers asking forgiveness. “While we feel that the film accurately portrays, in the interest of comedy, how one person who stutters might react in certain absurd situations, it was never our intention that this be taken as a portrayal of all people who stutter,” the memo from producer Michael Shamberg said. The stuttering character, Ken (played by Michael Palin), finds that his stutter has disappeared after he runs over another man with a steamroller.