Wittliff agreed to write a script based on Nelson's album Red Headed Stranger (1975).

Wittliff finished a draft in 1979 and Universal Studios green-lighted the film with a budget of $14 million.

The studio wanted Robert Redford to play the Red Headed Stranger, a role Nelson had envisioned for himself.

Redford turned the part down and Nelson and Wittliff returned their advances to buy the script back.

In 1959, he was initiated as a member of the Tau chapter of Kappa Sigma at the University of Texas and in 2012 became the fraternity's 79th recipient of the Man of the Year distinction.