What famous comedic actor was offered the role to play Fred in Drop Dead Fred?

1991's Drop Dead Fred is a movie that could only have been made in the '90s.

It definitely was not the kid-friendly comedy I thought I was heading into, but instead a pretty dark and strange journey into one woman's mental health. I mean, sure, maybe Fred turns out to be possibly real, but there's a lot of dark stuff along the way.

And the practical effects — frankly pretty disturbing.

Yet it's a movie that many look back on fondly, or at least with a sense of "oh yeah, that movie!" And it was almost quite different had this actor accepted the part of Fred. Who was it?