“How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?”
The idea for this Oscar winning screenplay started with the concept of a movie poster of five guys in a lineup. Writer Christopher McQuarrie’s inspiration for the character of Keyser Soze was a real-life murderer named John List, who murdered his family and then disappeared for 17 years. The role of Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) was first offered to both Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, who declined. Al Pacino wanted the part and read for it but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. Michael Biehn turned down the role of McManus because of a previous commitment to Jade (1995). The long-haired Keyser Soze (in the flashback) was played by one of the grips. Director Bryan Singer chose him because he noticed that the man was unable to straighten his elbows, giving him a very surreal and powerful look. The name of the film’s production company (Blue Parrot/Bad Hat Harry Productions) is an inside reference to a line from Jaws (1975), when Chief Brody is mocked by an old man in a black bathing cap on the beach saying “That’s some bad hat, Harry.” The “Blue Parrot” is a reference to Casablanca (1942), as is the title of the film. The fingers on Kevin Spacey’s left hand were glued together to make his character’s disability more realistic and he filed down the soles of his shoes to look like they’d been worn by his character’s gimp. The role of Fenster was written to be older, but Benicio Del Toro’s audition idea of having him speak unintelligibly got him the part. Throughout the movie, ‘fuck’ and its derivatives are used 98 times.
