Gangster Movies: (ca. 2009) This is the story of the last few years of the depression era bank robber John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp). He loved what he did and could imagine little else that would make him happier. Living openly in 1930s Chicago, he had the run of the city with little fear of reprisals from the authorities: as long as he paid off the right people and followed the rules. It’s there that he meets Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) with whom he falls deeply in love. In parallel we meet Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the relentless FBI agent who would eventually track Dillinger down. The FBI was is in its early days and Director J. Edgar Hoover was keen to consolidate his power, prestige and influence, at the same time promote the clean cut image that so dominated the organization through his lifetime. Purvis eventually realizes that if he is going to get Dillinger, he will have to use street tactics and import like minded heavy-handed authorities who are unafraid to use any means necessary. After a few near misses, Dillinger is eventually betrayed by an acquaintance who tells the authorities just where to find him on a given night.

As a result of the writers’ strike, director Michael Mann was able to cast Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard once their respective projects had been postponed. Depp was preparing to film Shantaram (2011) with Mira Nair while Cotillard was rehearsing for Rob Marshall’s musical, Nine (2009).

Leonardo DiCaprio was initially attached to star in a leading role when this project was put into development in 2004.

In the trailer Johnny Depp says to one of the bank customers, “We’re here for the bank’s money, not your money.” This line was in a previous Michael Mann film. It was said by Robert De Niro in Heat (1995). In the finished film, this line is reversed to “We’re not here for your money, we’re here for the bank’s.”

This is the third time Johnny Depp and James Russo work together on a film. They both appeared in Donnie Brasco (1997) and The Ninth Gate (1999).

John Dillinger was actually left-handed. The gun holding by Johnny Depp is backwards.

Not only was the line, “we’re here for the bank’s money, not yours” used in a previous Michael Mann film, but an almost identical phrase was heard in Arthur Penn’s classic, Bonnie and Clyde (1967). In the latter, Clyde, upon seeing a pile of cash at a teller’s window, asks the customer if that’s his money or the bank’s.

While filming on location in Oshkosh, WI a boy aged 11 told Johnny Depp he loved his fedora hat and would like to have one like it. Depp told the boy he would see what he could do about that. After filming finished, Depp sent the boy the hat in the mail.

Contains a spoiler to the Clark Gable movie Manhattan Melodrama (1934).

Former Ethiopian Emperor and Rastafari Messiah Haile Selassie appears in an uncredited role in a newsreel.

In the scene where Baby Face Nelson kills FBI Agent Carter Baum, Nelson really did say “I know you sons of bitches wear vests, so I’m gonna hit you high and low!” Also, the gun Nelson uses in that scene, a .45 Automatic modified into a mini-machine gun, was something Nelson actually used (as did Homer Van Meter). It was made especially for Nelson by a gunsmith in San Antonio, Texas.

Although Billie Frenchette was never given “third degree” interrogation by the FBI as shown in the movie, the FBI agents did in fact perform similar tactics on Helen Nelson (the wife of Baby Face Nelson), Alvin Carpis, and an Dillinger associate in Chicago named James Probasco. In the instance of Probasco, he ended up falling to his death from a upper-floor window. Offically, it is believed he committed suicide in order to avoid further interrogation. However, some historians believe that the FBI agents interrogating Probasco attempted to make him talk by hanging him out of a window and that the agents lost their grip on Probasco.

Dillinger’s quote “we’re here for the bank’s money, not yours” is based on a real statement he made during the course of a bank robbery in Greencastle, Indiana. Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde would later use a similar quote in one of his gang’s robberies, as he reportedly idolized Dillinger.

It’s true that Dillinger enjoyed taking photographs of police officers when the opportunity presented itself, and even late in his career he would often attend Cubs games and frequent bars in Chicago, but he probably didn’t enter the offices of the Dillinger Squad, as depicted in the film. Dillinger also tended to brag about his exploits. As with many other events in his life, he would have surely related such a fantastic thing to his family, his lawyer, or his lawyer’s investigator, Art O’Leary, a man Dillinger often confided in. However, according to Burrough’s book, he did enter the same building as the Chicago police department on a few occasions, and he did accompany Polly Hamilton into the building to get her waitress’s license.

After his embarrassment before the Senate Appropriations Comitte, J. Edgar Hoover is telling his assistant to release a press statement through Walter Winchell to discredit the senator who humiliated Hoover. Walter Winchell was famous radio show host and New York news columnist who was friends with Hoover. Winchell also hung around with famous New York gangsters like “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello.

In the movie, John Dillinger and other bank robbers are seen having friendly relations with the Chicago Mafia. Specifically with Phillip D’Andrea, a top lieutenant in the Al Capone mob. In real life, Al Capone was said to admire bank robbers and would often allow bandits safe haven in Chicago under the mob’s protection. However, as also shown in the movie, after Frank Nitti took over the mob following Al Capone’s conviction for tax evasion, he cut off such resources to outlaws like Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Alvin Carpis because of the “heat” that was being brought down on the mobs because of the FBI’s furious hunt for these men.

John Hamilton was actually mortally wounded in a gun battle with police near Hastings, Minnesota, hours after leaving Little Bohemia. Hamilton died three or four days later, depending on the source, at the apartment of Barker-Karpis gang member Volney Davis in Aurora, Illinois. Dillinger and Van Meter, along with members of the Barker-Karpis gang, buried Hamilton in a gravel pit in Oswego, Illinois. In an attempt to prevent identification of the body, 10 cans of lye were poured on the corpse and the right hand was cut off. Agents recovered the body on August 28, 1935. The Bureau was able to identify Hamilton by his teeth. Hamilton’s teeth were later exhibited at the 1939 midwinter meeting of the Chicago Dental Society. Where Hamilton’s choppers are presently located is unknown. A gruesome FBI photo of the recovered body can be seen in the photo section of Dary Matera’s “The Life and Death of America’s First Celebrity Criminal.”

Billie Frechette (real name Mary Evelyn Frechette) was actually married to one Welton Spark at the time of her relationship with Dillinger. She married Spark in July 1932. He was convicted shortly thereafter for mail theft and received a 15-year term in Leavenworth, with a transfer to Alcatraz in September 1934. Her divorce from Spark wasn’t finalized until the early ’40s. She later married a man named Wally Wilson, the name she took to the grave. Wilson died unexpectedly, cause unknown, date unknown. Billie married Art Tic in 1965, a state game warden and barber from Shawano, Wisconsin. She died January 13, 1969, of mouth cancer. Mysteriously, her grave marker lists her name as Evelyn Tic (apparently against her wishes) and has the incorrect date of death as 1970.

Dillinger’s lawyer at Crown Point, Louis Piquett (pronounced “pick it”), never went to law school. He passed the bar on his fourth attempt, receiving his license to practice in 1920.

For John Dillinger’s famous escape from Crown Point Jail, the film makers decided to film at the real jail which had been closed and left in ruins for years. They restored the jail to it’s original condition as it would’ve appeared in 1934. They also filmed the Little Bohemia shoot out at the real lodge. Johnny Depp was actually staying in the same room the real Dillinger stayed in.

When Melvin Purvis shoots down “Pretty Boy” Floyd, he asks Floyd for info on the whereabouts of Harry Campbell. In reality, Floyd was never associated with Campbell who robbed banks with Alvin Karpis and “Ma” Barker’s sons. The reason for this question may’ve been to simplify the narrative of the story. In real life, “Pretty Boy” Floyd was wanted by the FBI for his alleged part in the “Kansas City Massacre” on June 17th, 1933 in which an FBI agent, two Kansas policemen, a retired Oklahoma sheriff, and their captive Frank “Jelly” Nash, were ambushed and killed. This was the crime that set into motion the rise of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI and the start of the “War On Crime”. Since this fact would (or could) possibly make the story on film more convoluted, the film makers instead have Purvis question Floyd about Campbell rather than the massacre as he did in real life.

While at the horse track in Florida, Frank Nitti asks Phillip D’Andrea whether or not it’s hot outside, saying “Ever since those pricks shot me, I can’t stay warm.” This is an allusion to a failed attempt on Nitti’s life by a corrupt cop named Harry Lang who tried and failed to murder Nitti during a police raid.

In preparation for his role as Melvin Purvis, Christian Bale met with Purvis’s son, Alston, and several close friends of the real Melvin Purvis in order to learn his attitudes, mannerisms, and speech patterns. By the same token, Johnny Depp went to the John Dillinger Museum in Indiana and was allowed to read some of his letters. According to Depp in the DVD documentary, he even tried on the pants Dillinger wore the night he was shot. With a laugh, Depp says the pants fit him perfectly.

The melodramatic dialog between Dillinger’s lawyer Louis Piquett (pronounced “Pickett”), prosecutor Robert Estill, and Sherriff Lilian Holley concerning the removal of Dillinger’s shackles and Piquett’s request to keep Dillinger at Crown Point are virtually word for word the interaction between them in the court records. This includes Sherriff Holley’s affirmation (which later proved a regretful statement) that Crown Point was “The safest jail in Indiana.”

The gunfight at the lodge in the woods was filmed at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, WI which is the actual location where the gunfight between Dillinger and the FBI took place in 1934. In fact, shell casings from the 1934 gunfight can still be found in the woods surrounding the lodge.

Channing Tatum (Pretty Boy Floyd), Billy Crudup (J. Edgar Hoover), David Wenham (Harry Pierpont) and Christian Stolte (Charles Makley) are the only actors in the film playing characters their own age. All of the other actors in the film play characters much younger than themselves. Melvin Purvis was 28 years old during the events in the film and Christian Bale was 35 during the shoot. John Dillinger was 31 at the time of his death, while Johnny Depp is 45 in the film. 35-year-old Stephen Graham is playing a 25-year-old Baby Face Nelson, Stephen Dorff, also 35, plays a 27-year-old Homer Van Meter, and Giovanni Ribisi, 34, plays 27-year-old Alvin Carpis.

The portrayal of the death of gangster George Baby Face Nelson in this film is completely fictionalized. Nelson died in bed having been mortally wounded in a shootout with federal agents months after the death of John Dillinger.

When Dillinger’s body was lying in the street outside the Biograph theater, many by-standers dipped handkerchiefs in his blood to keep as a souvenir.

Just before John Dillinger goes to the movies the night he is killed, when John is washing and shaving, the camera pans across a table where we see his pocket watch, gun, glasses, and a money belt. According to Anna Sage (aka “The Woman In Red”), Dillinger was wearing a money belt with $3,000 inside. However, when Dillinger was killed, the money belt was nowhere to be found. Historians have speculated that Sgt. Martin Zarkovich, who was a part of Purvis’s posse at the theater, stole the money.

At one point, Alvin Karpis is seen planning a federal reserve train robbery with John Dillinger. In real life, the robbery was set up by an underworld associate of Dillinger, Karpis, and “Baby Face” Nelson named William Murray. Interestingly, Murray had set up the exact same robbery back in 1925 with the Newton Brothers (as seen in the film The Newton Boys (1998)). Although John Dillinger was killed before he could take part in the robbery, Alvin Carpis did pull it off on November 7th, 1935.

John Dillinger was shot to death by FBI agents on the night of July 22, 1934 while exiting Chicago’s Biograph Theater, where he had attended a screening of Manhattan Melodrama (1934). While the Biograph Theater was still operating at the time of the production of ‘Public Enemies,’ the interior had been converted into a number of smaller venues, and no longer resembled the Depression-era movie palace it had been at the time of Dillinger’s death. Production scouts for ‘Public Enemies’ found that the Paramount Theatre in nearby Aurora, Illinois resembled the Biograph Theater of 1934 enough to double as that venue. For that reason, the interiors for two scenes were filmed there: The scene in which John Dillinger and his cohorts attend a movie and are alarmed to see themselves and their photographs featured during a newsreel, and the scene taking place immediately prior to Dillinger’s death. The exterior of the Biograph Theater during the latter scene, however, depicts that actual historic venue, ‘dressed’ to appear as it did in 1934.

Pretty Boy Floyd was killed after Dillinger, not before, as depicted in the film. He was shot and killed on October 22nd, 1934. Three months to the day after Dillinger.

Due to the concern of grave robbers, officials at Crown Hill Cemetery persuaded Dillinger’s father to have his famous son’s grave re-opened so as to place staggered concrete slabs, along with poured concrete and chicken wire, in and around the grave as a permanent deterrent. He’d already been offered $10,000 from a Wisconsin carnival man to “borrow” Dillinger’s body for his show, an offer that was fiercely rejected. The grave work was done within a day or two of the initial burial. The identity of who paid for this expensive preventative measure is unknown.

Most accounts have Dillinger dying within moments of getting shot outside of the Biograph. According to Special Agent Robert Gillespie, who was right beside the outlaw after he fell, it was approximately three minutes before Dillinger took his last gasp of air.

After ratting Dillinger out to the Bureau in exchange for assurances that she be allowed to stay in the U.S., Anna Sage (real name Ana Cumpanas) collected a $5,000 reward and was duly deported back to Romania 21 months after the Biograph shooting.

The film has a similar structure to Michael Mann’s _Heat (1995)_. In that film, criminal Robert De Niro and cop Al Pacino engage in a chase. They meet briefly at the halfway point, and it ends in a bloody confrontation with De Niro dead. Criminal Johnny Depp and FBI agent Christian Bale go through the exact same chain of events.

Stephen Lang revealed that it took 221 takes to get it right where Winstead fires point blank at Dillinger when leaving the theater.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2007) Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia, coming up with unique way of importing the drugs into the US, and establishing a reputation as having the purest, highest quality product at the lowest possible prices. At his peak, Frank Lucas claimed his organization was taking in 1 Million a day. Forging an alliance with the New York Mafia only further guarantees his position as an underworld kingpin. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.

Antoine Fuqua was originally set to direct this project in 2004 with Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro starring, but production was halted one month before shooting after Universal Pictures canceled the film over budget concerns.

Dania Ramirez was originally cast in the film when Antoine Fuqua was still directing the production.

After Terry George’s screenplay was turned down, Steven Zaillian was re-hired to write another draft of his own screenplay.

When Terry George was set to direct the film with Don Cheadle in the leading role, Joaquin Phoenix was a definite consideration for the role of Richie Roberts. Phoenix previously co-starred with Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000), which was also directed by Ridley Scott.

Russell Crowe requested tape recordings of Richie Roberts speaking in order to match his voice mannerisms accurately.

During the very first stages of production, this film had a number of different titles, such as “Tru Blu” and “The Return of Superfly”.

Screenwriter Terry George was brought on to rewrite the script in order to downsize the project’s budget to $50 million when it was first revitalized in March 2005. George had planned on reuniting with his Hotel Rwanda (2004) lead, Don Cheadle, to portray Frank Lucas, the Harlem heroin kingpin.

When director Antoine Fuqua was attached to the project, he pursued Ray Liotta and John C. Reilly for supporting roles. This was one of many budget-related concerns that lead to Universal’s cancellation of this production while it was under Fuqua’s management.

When this project was canceled by Universal, actors Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro received their salaries nonetheless. A pay-or-play deal was stipulated in both of their contracts that Universal would pay Washington $20 million and Del Toro $5 million regardless of whether the film was made or not. Once this project was green-lit by Universal a second time, under Ridley Scott’s direction, Washington returned to the project without an upfront fee. He also received half of his $20 million salary for the previous year’s Inside Man (2006), another Imagine Entertainment production.

While filming on-location in the Chiang Mai province of Thailand, Ridley Scott hired many extras from the local villages, some of whom were actual participants in the drug-running operation of Frank Lucas during the Vietnam War.

Director Ridley Scott had read the first draft of Steven Zaillian’s screenplay before filming Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and instantly became interested in directing it. While filming his next feature, A Good Year (2006), Scott and Russell Crowe extensively discussed the project, which ultimately led to them signing on.

Russell Crowe and Brad Pitt were director Ridley Scott and producer Brian Grazer’s first two choices to portray Richie Roberts. Crowe was ultimately cast in the role.

James Gandolfini was offered the role of Detective Trupo, but turned it down.

Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts were on-set consultants to director Ridley Scott and the crew throughout filming.

The story was first inspired by an article in New York Magazine written by Mark Jacobson. He was introduced to the real Frank Lucas by author Nicholas Pileggi. Not long afterwards, Pileggi encouraged Steven Zaillian to write an adaptation of Jacobson’s article. While Zaillian was working on this, producer Brian Grazer bought the rights to the project.

Ridley Scott recalls that this production was one of the most massive undertakings of his career. There were 360 scenes filmed in over 180 different locations.

Clarence Williams III portrays Ellsworth ‘Bumpy’ Johnson in an uncredited appearance. Williams was in another Harlem crime drama, Hoodlum (1997), which was about ‘Bumpy’ Johnson. In that, he played a gangster named ‘Bub’ Hewlett.

The car driven by Richie Roberts is a Volkswagen 1600 Variant (Type 3). There was a dual-carbureted, air-cooled engine installed underneath the rear trunk.

In the much-forgotten sci-fi action thriller, Virtuosity (1995), Denzel Washington starred as a heroic policeman while a then-unknown Russell Crowe was cast as the villain.

Even though he plays his father, Common is only eight years older than T.I. in real life.

In the late 1980s, screenwriter Thomas Lee Wright wrote an outline of The Godfather: Part III (1990) for Francis Ford Coppola. Included in Wright’s version was a character based off of famed Harlem gangster, Leroy ‘Nicky’ Barnes (portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in this film). During the time that Coppola was considering this idea, Wright discussed the role with Eddie Murphy, who immediately accepted the role without reading a script.

In this movie the French Connection is mentioned at least two times. At first we hear about in Rossi’s voice-over when Trupo and his squad gets the heroin from the evidence room. Rossi talks about Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso. This were the real-life officers which busted the real French Connection between Octobre 1961 and February 1962. The second time is when Trupo visits Richie Roberts in his HQ he mentions again The French Connection and Fernando Rey. Fernando Rey was the actor portraying the french drug-kingpin Alain Charnier in William Friedkin ‘s blockbuster The French Connection (1971).

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Huey Lucas) and John Ortiz (Javier Rivera) both went on to play the title role in stage productions of Othello; Ejiofor in 2007 in London and Ortiz in 2009 in New York City.

‘Peter Berg’ met briefly with producers to direct this and was given the okay by Denzel Washington.

Not only did the real Richie Roberts serve as Frank Lucas’s lawyer after he went into private practice, he was godfather to Lucas’s son.

In the Madison Garden Sequence, only 650 of the spectators on camera were real extras, the other 1500 were inflatable dummies.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2007) The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) is a driver for one of London’s most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family’s fortunes are tested by Semyon’s volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai’s carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby’s lineage and relatives. The girl’s personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it. Anna’s mother Helen does not discourage her, but Anna’s irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him: who can, or should, he trust? Several lives hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.

The film, shot in England, marked the first time director David Cronenberg shot a movie entirely outside of Canada.

Naomi Watts discovered she was pregnant with her son Alexander two weeks into shooting this movie. She initially tried to hide it, but costume designer Denise Cronenberg found out about it.

To prepare for his role, Viggo Mortensen traveled alone to Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Ural Mountain region of Siberia, where he spent five days driving around without a translator. He read books on the gangs of the vory v zakone (thieves in law), Russian prison culture and the importance of prison tattoos as criminal résumés, and perfected his character’s Siberian accent and learned lines in Russian, Ukrainian and English. During filming, he used worry beads made in prison from melted-down plastic cigarette lighters and decorated his trailer with copies of Russian icons.

For the bathhouse fight scene, the scene was choreographed with the actors (not stuntmen), the actors had to train in specific fighting styles chosen for their characters and it took two days to shoot on location in London.

Naomi Watts spent time at the Whittington Hospital for the role as a midwife.

One day after shooting, Viggo Mortensen went to a pub without washing off his tattoos or even changing out of his costume. He claims that some of the patrons became very frightened of him, assuming he was a real member of Vory v Zakone.

The scene where Semyon demonstrates his musical skills to the little girls was not dubbed. Armin Mueller-Stahl does play the violin in real life, and was a noted concert violinist in his youth.

The full name of Viggo Mortensen’s character is Nikolai Luzhin. This is a reference to Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “The Luzhin Defense”.

Nabokov is also the name of a character who is mentioned in a conversation.

The tattoos around Nickolai’s (‘Viggo Mortenson’) ankles read “Where are you going?” and “What the fuck do you care?” in Russian. Mortenson thought that they were hilarious, that ‘one foot doesn’t respect the other’.

In the original script, Nikolai revealed himself to Anna as a double agent and Tatiana’s baby Christina was sent to live with her grandmother.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2006) In South Boston, the state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Billy quickly gains Costello’s confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there’s a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy-and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself. But is either willing to turn on the friends and comrades they’ve made during their long stints undercover? Great supporting cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin.

Martin Scorsese wanted to shoot the film in Boston, where the story is set. But due to concerns on setting up production and politics, the producers chose New York City to double for Boston because of the state’s 15% tax credit. The bulk of the movie was shot in New York City while a six week shooting schedule was split in two for Boston, shooting the first half in June and the second half in August. After the success of this film, Massachusetts created a 25% tax credit for film making.

As of 2007, this film had the highest grossing box-office opening and the highest total box-office gross in Martin Scorsese’s career.

A possible reason why Leonardo DiCaprio did not receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in this movie was because the Warner Bros. Studios initially did not want to favor DiCaprio over his co-stars and place him in the leading actor category. The studio favored DiCaprio’s leading performance in Blood Diamond (2006) (which eventually got him a nomination). DiCaprio himself refused to campaign against his male co-stars in the supporting actor category, so Warner bought no supporting actor ads for DiCaprio, and he did not receive a nomination.

The classroom scene, police academy graduation scene, and shooting range scene (all at the beginning of the film) were actually shot near the end of production. Historic Ft. Schuyler on the campus of State University of New York’s Maritime College was the back drop.

Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in the title role in The Good Shepherd (2006), but he dropped out to play Billy Costigan in this movie. Matt Damon then took the role. Robert De Niro turned down the role of Queenan to appear in The Good Shepherd.

Mark Wahlberg based his performance on the police officers who’d arrested him about two dozen times in his youth, and the reactions of his parents who had to come bail him out with their grocery money.

The comic book that Frank Costello gives young Collin Sullivan in the beginning of the movie is Issue #11 of the “Wolverine” series, which was published in September 1989.

This is the movie with the most uses of the word “fuck” and its derivatives (237) to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Warner Brothers bought the remake rights to the film for US$1.75 million in 2003.

When receiving the top award from the Director’s Guild of America for this film, Martin Scorsese said that this “is the first movie I have ever done with a plot.”

Martin Scorsese said that he made this film to honor crime genre directors such as Robert Aldrich, Samuel Fuller and Don Siegel.

RZA was offered Anthony Anderson’s role, but turned it down because of scheduling conflicts.

Originally, Jack Nicholson turned down his role in the movie, but after a meeting with Martin Scorsese, William Monahan and Leonardo DiCaprio, he was finally convinced to play the role of Frank Costello. The main reason he joined the production was because he had previously done a few comedies, and wanted to play a villain again, and he considered the character of Costello to be the ultimate incarnation of evil.

The CD that Costigan mails to Colin is mailed in the cover for The Rolling Stones’ album “Exile on Main St.”. Earlier in the film, when Costello beats Costigan’s hand with his own shoe, a song from the album, “Let It Loose”, plays over the scene.

Ray Liotta was the original choice for the role of Dignam but had to reluctantly decline due to other commitments.

Denis Leary was offered the role of Dignam in this film, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with his television show, “Rescue Me” (2004).

Gerard McSorley was originally slated to play Queenan but had to drop out of the project.

As research for his character’s occupation, Matt Damon worked with a Massachusetts State Police unit out of Boston. He accompanied them on routine patrols, participated in a drug raid and was taught proper police procedures like how to pat down a suspect.

Martin Scorsese had originally wanted to cast a known actress, either Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt or Hilary Swank, for the part of Madolyn. But he later decided to go with someone new instead (Vera Farmiga).

Because Martin Scorsese was so pleased with technical advisor Thomas B. Duffy, he let him appear on-screen as the Governor of Massachusetts swearing in the new Police Academy graduates.

While shooting on location in Boston, Massachusetts, Martin Scorsese viewed the film’s dailies at Emerson College.

Jack Nicholson refused to wear a Boston Red Sox hat during filming and instead wore his New York Yankees hat.

Martin Scorsese put the finishing touches on this film a week before its theatrical release.

Colin Sullivan’s (Matt Damon) apartment does not exist. The view of the Massachusetts State House was an effect shot from the roof of Suffolk University, which is the law school where Sullivan says he is taking night classes. Michael Ballhaus, the film’s cinematographer, evaluated the shot during preproduction.

Originally Brad Pitt was cast as Colin Sullivan, but later dropped out to work with Alejandro González Iñárritu in Babel (2006). He continued to produce the film under his (and his then wife Jennifer Aniston’s) production company, Plan B.

The newscaster seen reporting the news story detailing the dumped body by Costello’s gang was a real Boston area newscaster at the time of filming. He reported for Boston’s Warner Brother’s affiliate station WB56.

When the main characters are shown in a police academy ballistics lecture at the beginning, the large flip chart illustrations seen in the background are Warren Commission exhibits of President John F. Kennedy’s head wounds, prepared by medical illustrator H.A. Rydberg under the direction of Dr. James Humes, the chief examiner of Kennedy’s autopsy.

After completing The Aviator (2004), Martin Scorsese kept Alec Baldwin in mind for future collaboration and ultimately decided to cast him in the role of Ellerby which was offered to Mel Gibson first, but Gibson was unable to accept the part because he was starting production on Apocalypto (2006) at the time.

The scene where Frank Costello throws cocaine on hookers was one of many bizarre ideas contributed by Jack Nicholson, who also suggested wearing a strap-on for the scene with Matt Damon in the porn theater.

According to his file, Billy Costigan’s birthday is November 7, 1984. Although a second shot of the same screen then labels his date of birth as November 7, 1980 (See “Goofs” section).

The movie’s title does not appear until almost 18 minutes into the film.

At the beginning of the film Frank Costello instructs the store clerk to fill a white paper bag with various groceries for the kid Colin Sullivan, notably a couple of loaves of bread and a couple of quarts of milk. In the last scene of the film we see adult Colin Sullivan walking into his apartment with a white paper bag full of groceries, two of the items you can see in the bag during this scene are a couple of loaves of bread and a couple of quarts of milk.

In the dinner scene with Madolyn, Colin states that “what Freud said about the Irish is we’re the only people impervious to psychoanalysis.” Despite what you may find on a Google search or the Boston Globe, Sigmund Freud didn’t actually ever say that. In a clever act of investigative journalism, a man named Dr. Charles wrote to the director of research at the Freud Museum in London, and asked him about the legitimacy of the quote’s attribution. His response (which is also stated on the FAQ section of the museum’s Website): “There is no evidence Freud said [the quote]. The only documentation seems to be Anthony Burgess, in his introduction to a book of Irish short stories: ‘One of [Freud's] followers split up human psychology into two categories – Irish and non-Irish.’”

Chris Messina met with Scorsese to discuss taking on one of the roles in the film.

William Monahan has stated that Sgt. Dignam’s first name is Sean.

The film’s technical advisor was Thomas B. Duffy, a retired Massachusetts State Police major who worked out of Boston for nearly thirty years and specialized in organized crime. He was particularly involved in the case against notorious South Boston mob boss James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, whom Frank Costello is partly based on. Duffy appears as the Governor who delivers a speech to the graduating police cadets. There was an unconfirmed sighting of Bulger, one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, at a theater showing the film by a deputy sheriff in San Diego, California.

When Madolyn meets Colin in the elevator, she gives Colin her business card. The logo of the American Psychological Association is clearly visible on it.

During the exchange with the Chinese gangsters, Sullivan sends a text message to Costello saying that all cell phone calls are being monitored. The number dialed by Sullivan is actually a real Boston area code (617).

The real mob boss Frank Costello was a contemporary of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, in New York City.

The only remake of a foreign film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

On the DVD commentary for Gone Baby Gone (2007) (shot in Boston the year after this movie), Ben Affleck says that Jay Giannone (who has small roles in both films) was also the Boston accent coach for Leonardo DiCaprio for The Departed (2006).

When Queenan and Dignam are interviewing Costigan, Costigan says “Families are always rising and falling in America.” Queenan wants to know who said that, and it turns out to be Nathaniel Hawthorne. Dignam quips, “What’s the matter smart ass, don’t know any fuckin’ Shakespeare?” Later, as Queenan hands the clipboard to Sullivan, it is Queenan who quotes William Shakespeare with “the readiness is all,” from Hamlet’s “Fall of a sparrow speech,” Act V, scene ii.

Many scenes with Jack Nicholson were improvised. Nicholson was given the opportunity to do whatever he wanted to add to the character’s unpredictability. The scene where Billy and Frank are talking was loosely scripted, and many surprises happened in it, including Frank pulling out the gun.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2002) Having witnessed the death of his father in a major gang fight, young Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) is spirited away for his own safety. As a young man, he returns to the scene of his father’s death, the notorious Five Points district in New York. It’s 1863 and lower Manhattan is run by gangs, the most powerful of which is the Natives, headed by Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (a mesmerizing Daniel Day Lewis). He believes that America should belong to native-born Americans and opposes the waves of immigrants, mostly Irish, entering the city.

It’s also the peak of violence during the Civil War and forced conscription is the impetus for the bloodiest riots in US history. Amid the violence and corruption, young Vallon tries to establish himself as gang leader, at the same time seeking revenge for his father’s death. Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent and John C. Reilly also star.

When the film was first conceived in 1978, Martin Scorsese originally planned to cast Dan Aykroyd as Amsterdam Vallon and John Belushi as Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting. The project fell apart after Belushi died. A cast reshuffle had Mel Gibson as Amsterdam Vallon and Willem Dafoe as The Butcher. Eventually, Leonardo DiCaprio was cast as Amsterdam Vallon and Daniel Day-Lewis was cast as The Butcher.

Martin Scorsese recreated 19th-century New York on the lot of Cinecitta studios in Rome. When George Lucas visited the massive set, he reportedly turned to Martin Scorsese and said “Sets like that can be done with computers now.”

Most of the gangs mentioned by name were real 19th century New York gangs. Bill “The Butcher” Cutting is based largely on real-life New York gang leader Bill Poole, who also was known as “The Butcher” and had much the same prestige as Daniel Day-Lewis’ character.

The draft riots depicted in the film are largely accurate, but the real-life Bill “The Butcher” Poole (the basis for Daniel Day-Lewis’ character) was killed several years before the riots took place.

The film was conceived in 1978, and intended to be produced sometime in 1980 or 1981, but the box office failure of Heaven’s Gate (1980) made studios wary of expensively ambitious historical dramas, so the idea was shelved.

During filming Daniel Day-Lewis talked with his film accent during the entire time of production, even when he was not on the set.

Director Cameo: [Martin Scorsese] the wealthy man at the head of the table being “turtledoved” by Jenny (look for the big eyebrows)

Martin Scorsese was a big fan of the film O Lucky Man! (1973), and considered casting Malcolm McDowell as Amsterdam. Had Scorsese been able to make this film in 1978, he planned to cast Robert De Niro as “Amsterdam.”

Robert De Niro and Willem Dafoe were considered for the part of Bill “The Butcher” Cutting.

Leonardo DiCaprio accidentally broke Daniel Day-Lewis’ nose while filming a fight scene. Day-Lewis continued to film the scene despite the injury.

Elmer Bernstein was commissioned to write the score, which was recorded at London’s Abbey Road studios, but it was replaced by a new soundtrack at the last minute.

The POV shot where Amsterdam re-emerges into the Five Points after recuperating from his wound (specifically, the four or five men loafing on either side of the alley) is a visual reference to a Jacob Riis photo, “Bandit’s Roost,” used as cover art on some editions of Herbert Asbury’s “Gangs of New York.”

Daniel Day-Lewis said in an interview that he listened to the music of Eminem to prepare for his role.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio both took salary reductions to preserve the budget.

The original budget was $83 million.

During the scene at the Chinese theater, Bill the Butcher calls for his boys to play some “American music” and extols it as “patriotic.” The tune they play is “Garry Owen,” a Gaelic drinking tune, which became the official song of the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, chock full of Irishmen and infamous for their defeat, along with their commander, Gen. George Armstrong Custer, by Indians at Little Big Horn.

Tobey Maguire was at one time considered for the role of Johnny Sirocco.

The scenes where Bill the Butcher taps his glass eye and where he yells, “Whoopsie daisy!” during the knife-throwing act were both ad-libbed.

Bill’s hard “New Yok” accent wasn’t entirely fabricated. Martin Scorsese actually did some research by listening to a voice recording of Walt Whitman and by reading an old play in which the dialog was spelled out phonetically.

Bill says his father was killed by the British on 25 July 1814. This was probably in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, which was fought on this date in the Niagara Falls area, and was the bloodiest battle in the War of 1812.

When Amsterdam takes his medal back from Jenny, the blood on her neck is digitally added.

The original cut of the film ran an hour longer.

Martin Scorsese ends the film with a shot of the New York skyline which includes the World Trade Center Towers, even though the film was finished after the buildings were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Scorsese chose to end on that shot rather then continue with a skyline without the WTC because the movie is supposed to be about the people who build New York, not those who tried to destroy it.

Many of the characters portrayed in the movie are actually buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The view of the skyline shown at the end of the movie would not be visible from this location, but rather from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

When Boss Tweed considers being with a prostitute, Bill The Butcher warns Tweed that she’s been “frenchified”. Frenchified was an 18th century term for venereal disease.

The movie was originally planned for Christmas 2001 release. In June 2001, trailers were released in theaters along with posters being displayed with “Christmas 2001″ and “December” listed on them. At the last moment the film was pulled off the release schedule. It was released unchanged for Christmas 2002.

During the boxing scene, there is a cutaway to a man drawing a caricature of “Boss” Tweed. This is a reference to the political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who was primarily responsible for the eventual downfall of Tweed.

Martin Scorsese got interested in the project in the early 1970s after he read the book while house-sitting on Long Island one New Year’s Eve.

To make sure his facts were accurate, Martin Scorsese contacted Tyler Anbinder, a professor of history at George Washington University and author of the book “Five Points”.

In one scene Boss Tweed is describing to a few men the city’s need for a grand new courthouse before being interrupted. This is a reference to the infamous old New York County Courthouse, now known as the Tweed Courthouse, where Tweed and Tammany Hall had stolen millions from the city that was earmarked for the construction of the building, which became the most expensive civic building of the 19th century because of Tammany’s theft of funds.

Martin Scorsese was influenced by American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.’s groundbreaking gangster film short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), directed by D.W. Griffith. Biograph is the oldest movie company in America and still in business.

Martin Scorsese hired “The Magician”, an Italian man famous for a 30-year career as a pickpocket, to teach Cameron Diaz about the art of picking pockets.

Bill the Butcher has a scene with every main and supporting character in the film, a symbol of his vast influence in the Five Points.

The name has a second meaning rooted in Irish American vernacular 1857. The word “Rabbit” is the phonetic corruption of the Irish word ráibéad, meaning “man to be feared”. “Dead” is a slang intensifier meaning “very.” “Dead Ráibéad” means a man to be greatly feared.

Due to the shortage of English speaking actors in Italy, some of the extras were U.S. Air Force personnel from the 31st Fighter Wing, stationed at nearby Aviano Air Base.

Elmer Bernstein’s original unused score was released as a limited edition CD along with Bernstein’s unused scores for The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) and The Scarlet Letter (1995) in 2008.

Some of the remaining scaffolding on the back lot at Cinecittà Studios was reused by Mel Gibson for The Passion of the Christ (2004). The Roman praetorium is one of them.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was offered a part before production, but turned it down because he said he was too busy with other projects.

Sarah Polley had the role of Jenny but lost it to Cameron Diaz when Martin Scorsese was forced to go with a more bankable star.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was originally given the role of Jenny. However, with scheduling complications between the film and Gellar’s TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997), she backed out. Martin Scorsese then chose Sarah Polley for the part but later went with Cameron Diaz after studios insisted he pick a more “bankable star”.

Bill Cutting, the film’s xenophobic antagonist, has a particular dislike for Irish immigrants. Daniel Day-Lewis is a naturalized citizen of Ireland.

During the final fight scene, Amsterdam is shown wearing a cestus on each hand. A cestus is a Roman combat glove used in gladiator battles. They are essentially leather straps wrapped around the hands, but when the Romans improved on the Greek’s design and added metal spikes, they became a more deadly weapon. You can clearly see Vallon’s cesti when he is praying before the fight.

When Boss Tweed is talking to Bill, Bill says to him “I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.” though never mentioned, this is a direct quote from The Holy Bible; Revelations 3:16

Bill’s last words, “I die a true American”, were the last words of his true-life counterpart, Bill Poole.

Priest’s murder was originally much more violent. During the opening battle, just before Bill stabs Priest Valon, an axe severs his left arm at the elbow, then Bill hacks him limb from limb. The shot of the arm being severed is still in the film moments before Bill yells for Priest to turn around.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2002) This is the beautifully shot and crafted story of a gangster named Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) who is seen by his son (Tyler Hoechlin) on one of his jobs. Michael’s boss, John Rooney (Paul Newman), thinks things will be okay but his jealous son Connor Rooney (Daniel Craig) sets both his father and Michael up, leading to the death of Michael’s wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and second son. Michael thinks Rooney is responsible and Rooney has to choose for himself and sends a hit-man Harlen Maguire (Jude Law) to finish the job. Since Michael is a respected man within the organization he tries to win some friends who can help him including mob boss Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci).

According to author Max Allan Collins, real-life gangsters John and Connor Looney’s names were changed to Rooney for the film.

In the reverse shots of Mike Sullivan, Jr., when he’s being driven through the snowy town by his father, an angel can be seen in the frost on the rear window over his left shoulder.

Prior to the brief travel scene along the “Road to Perdition,” with Michael Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) hanging out a car window as they near their destination, the local road commission oiled the gravel surface of rural road, shoulder-to-shoulder, to prevent dust clouds. But when filming began, the Model A was attached to an equipment trailer pulled by a large utility truck and a member of the crew was squatting near the rear of the antique car armed with a canister and making fake dust.

Director Trademark: [Sam Mendes] Water marks the event of a death

The photographs shown in Harlen Maguire’s (Jude Law) apartment also appear in a book by Luc Sante titled “Evidence.” According to Sante, the photos are part of a collection held by the Municipal Archives of the City of New York and were taken by members of the NYPD during the years 1914-1918.

The shot of The Reporter drawing a gun and approaching the Geneva Hotel shows a grocery store behind him. In reality, it is a Starbucks that was covered up and closed for four days. It was used as the craft service area and the employees were kept on to serve the crew (and Tom Hanks) coffee.

Director Cameo: [Sam Mendes] as one of John Rooney’s bodyguards in the rainy shootout towards the end of the film.

Robson Green was considered for a role.

The scene where John Rooney (Paul Newman) and Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) are playing the piano together, was originally supposed to be an Irish dance sequence shared between the two of them.

To create a villain that could challenge the physically imposing Tom Hanks, director Sam Mendes wanted Jude Law to seem rodent-like.

Up until the killing in the warehouse, Michael Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) has little access to his father. Consequently Sam Mendes made sure that the father figure was always filmed from afar, or through doorways and mirrors, to emphasise this distance. Once father and son find themselves on the run, this changes, and close-ups are employed more and more frequently.

The iconic shot of the Sullivan’s car driving into Chicago involved 120 period cars on a quiet Sunday morning on Chicago’s main thoroughfare.

The town of Perdition is only mentioned once.

The diner where Tom Hanks and Jude Law meet was bought on the internet by production designer Dennis Gassner for $20,000.

The bead of sweat that rolls down Tom Hanks’ face during his first encounter with Jude Law was not make-up but Hanks’ own sweat.

Jude Law hooked up with a magician to learn how to lace a coin through his fingers, a trick he performs in the film.

Jude Law hated his appearance for the film and insisted on wearing a cap every time he wasn’t on camera. Director Sam Mendes insisted that Law also remain paler than all of his co-stars.

Paul Newman was unanimously the producers’ first choice for the part of John Rooney.

Tyler Hoechlin won his part after a nationwide casting call that encompassed over 2,000 young actors.

Make-up artist Daniel C. Striepeke’s first instruction to the cast was to stay out of the sun as much as possible, as the film is set in the mid-winter.

One of the locations for one of the bank robberies was physically perfect but the wrong way round. There was only room to shoot from right to left and not vice versa. So production designer Dennis Gassner and his team had to dress the location, reversing street signs, license plates and even switching steering wheels on all the cars.

For the bank robbery sequences, Tyler Hoechlin had to learn to drive, something he was only too happy to do. Hoechlin mastered it all easily but, just to be on the safe side, a stunt driver was sitting in the back with his own set of driving controls.

Temperatures occasionally dropped to -30 degrees while filming took place. This didn’t necessarily mean that they had all the snow they required. The special effects department still had to make many tons of the fake stuff.

The submachine gun that Sullivan uses is in fact a Thompson M1921.

Frank Nitti was a chain smoker so Stanley Tucci had to get through about 80 cigarettes in one day.

Frank Nitti’s office is based on the office of Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The pistol used by Maguire (Jude Law) is a Savage .32 ACP model.

The movie is loosely based on actual events and a real enforcer for mobster John Looney, who was betrayed by him.

The piano piece that Paul Newman and Tom Hanks play at the opening funeral was actually performed by the two actors (after much practice).

The film is set in 1931, and costume designer Albert Wolsky had real trouble finding distinctive clothing from the period. As this was the height of the Depression, fashions lacked the flamboyance of the 1920s and the style of the later 1930s when gangsterism was “fashionable”. Failing to find any usable real clothes from 1931, Wolsky came across a weaver in upstate New York who was able to make all the required clothes using the same weight of fabrics that were used in that period. Once woven, the costumes then had to be aged and dyed.

Filmed on location in Illinois and Michigan. Even the interiors were filmed on a sound-stage constructed in Chicago’s Armory.

Anthony LaPaglia filmed a scene in which he played Al Capone, but it was decided to leave Capone off-screen and so his scene was deleted. LaPaglia is listed first in the “special thanks” section of the credits as a result.

Tom Sizemore was strongly considered to play Al Capone, as was Alfred Molina.

One day, when cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was setting up a shot of Paul Newman, Hall looked through his viewfinder and began to cry. When asked what was wrong, he just said, “He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful.” Tom Hanks said that when he walks onto sets, he’s used to walking over wires and cables and other lighting and camera equipment; he said he never had to do that on the set of this film because Hall was so organized.

Director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall sought to give the film the look of the works of artist Edward Hopper.

According to author Max Allan Collins, the “Road to Perdition” graphic novel was an American homage to the Manga series “Lone Wolf and Cub” by Kazuo Koike. Collins quotes Koike at the beginning of the book: “You must choose a road for yourself”.

The lake house in Michgan was actually reconstructed from existing foundations and then taken down after the shoot to preserve the history of the site.

Maguire’s crime scene photography work is based on Arthur ‘Weegee’ Fellig, a famous crime-scene photographer in the 1920s and 1930s who was licensed to possess a “scanner” radio that allowed him to listen to frequencies used by the police and fire departments. This enabled him to arrive (by car) at crime and fire scenes, sometimes before the authorities did, as if informed by telepathic powers, to which his nickname, a corruption of “Ouija”, alludes. He sold his photos to the tabloid newspapers. The photos in Maguire’s apartment are real 1930s crime scene photos, some of which were taken by Weegee himself.

The movie is dedicated to its cinematographer, Conrad L. Hall, whose last film this was.

Paul Newman had an assist with his accent from Irish writer Frank McCourt, the author of “Angela’s Ashes”, who gave him a tape of him speaking. McCourt has lived in the US for many years but still has some vestiges of his native Irish accent, which is what Newman wanted to emulate.

Producer Dean Zanuck had never seen a graphic novel before until he was pitched the idea of “Road to Perdition”. Flicking through the pages of the novel, he was immediately hooked. He then sent a copy to his father, Richard D. Zanuck, who was on location in Morocco at the time. He also was smitten with the project and instructed his son to dispatch a copy of the novel to Steven Spielberg, who called back two days later, saying that he wanted to do it.

Jude Law’s character, Maguire, is not in the original graphic novel. He is a creation of writer David Self.

The final feature film (on-screen acting) project for Paul Newman.

Notice that Michael Jr. isn’t eating his pie and ice cream in the diner when he and his father are talking about the money. According to Sam Mendes, in earlier takes Tyler Hoechlin gobbled up his pie, not considering that he would have to perform the scene again and again. By the time they got to the take that’s in the film Hoechlin was stuffed and couldn’t take another bite. Tom Hanks by contrast knew to put small amounts of food into his mouth and eat slowly.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 2001) The son (Barry Pepper) of a mobster (Dennis Hopper) and his best friend (Seth Green) lose half a million dollars that they were sent to pick up for Pepper’s father. If Pepper is not able to get the money back, his father will be killed.

So Pepper puts the call out to his best friends who assist him in the desperate search for the money. Unfortunately, the money is somewhere in a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt sheriff, and to make matter worse, the towns citizens aren’t exactly excited about Pepper and company presence.

Vin Diesel turns in a good performance as Taylor Reese and John Malkovich camps it up as a very gangster Uncle Teddy.

Although production wrapped in late 1999, the movie sat on the shelf for nearly three years before it was finally released.

When Seth Green is in the plane drinking coffee, you see him wince a little – not because the coffee is hot – but because Vin Diesel had put his cigarette out in the coffee, prior to the filming of that scene

Three actors in the film have played Tom Ripley, the character introduced by Patricia Highsmith in her 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Dennis Hopper played Ripley in Der amerikanische Freund (1977), John Malkovich played Ripley in Ripley’s Game (2002), and Barry Pepper played Ripley in Ripley Under Ground (2005). Ripley has also been played by Alain Delon in Plein soleil (1960) and ‘Matt Damon’ in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).

Gangster Movies: (ca. 1999) North Jersey mobster, Tony Soprano, a self-described waste management consultant, seeks a psychiatrist’s help after blacking out. Lest he appear weak, he must keep his therapy a secret from the rest of the Mob. He’s stressed: his teenage daughter is giving his wife fits; his mean-spirited mother refuses to move to a retirement community; his aging Uncle Junior, jealous of Tony’s rise to the top, won’t stay in line and engineers a plot to kill Tony; and the feds, armed with RICO, are circling. In therapy, Tony must come to terms with his father’s example, his mother’s manipulations, and his own fears of death and loss of family.

The “Bada Bing” strip club is actually a go-go bar in Lodi, NJ, called Satin Dolls. It used to be a nightclub called Tara’s. Before that it was a diner called Hearth 17.

Originally, creator David Chase was going to call the key character Tommy Soprano. He later changed it to Tony.

David Chase was a longtime fan of Steve Van Zandt’s music and had always wanted to write a role for him. When Chase saw Van Zandt induct ‘The Young Rascals’ into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he invited Van Zandt to audition for Tony Soprano even though he had never acted before. Van Zandt did not want to take a role away from a real actor, so Chase wrote the role of Silvio Dante for him.

Grace Johnston was first choice for the role of Meadow but she turned it down to finish school.

Before David Chase chose “Woke Up This Morning” by UK band Alabama 3 (from their 1997 debut album “Exile on Coldharbour Lane”), he originally wanted to use a different song in every episode’s opening sequence. HBO executives convinced him that viewers needed to be able to identify the show with a theme song.

Tony Sirico only agreed to sign on for the show if it was guaranteed that his character Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri would not be a “rat”, an informant.

In January 2000 the Coalition of Italian-American Associations issued a joint statement condemning the show for perpetuating negative Italian-American stereotypes.

Struggling screenwriter Christopher Moltisanti is portrayed by screenwriter Michael Imperioli.

Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) is based on a character of the same name in a short story that Van Zandt wrote and showed to series creator David Chase.

Michael Rispoli originally auditioned for the role of Tony, but David Chase liked Rispoli’s audition so much that he adjusted the role of Jackie Aprile Sr., originally a much older character, to fit Rispoli’s age.

Lorraine Bracco was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano, but she felt that the part was too similar to her character in Goodfellas (1990). She decided the role of Dr. Melfi would be more challenging.

David Chase had planned a major story line for the third season concerning Tony’s efforts to prevent Livia from testifying against him in court. But Nancy Marchand’s death caused Chase to revise a large portion of the season.

The Sopranos live at 633 Stag Trail Road, North Caldwell, New Jersey. The house used in exterior shots is actually located at 14 Aspen Drive in North Caldwell.

Jamie-Lyn Sigler was credited as ‘Jamie-Lynn DiScala’ in Season 5 due to her marriage to A.J. Discala, but took back her maiden name in Season 6 due to her divorce.

During seasons 2 and 3, Steve Schirripa had to wear a fat suit, in order to play Bobby Baccala.

David Chase claims the relationship in the story between Tony and his mother Livia is based on his relationship with his own mother, who was also named Livia.

HBO was worried that the title of the series would make the audience think it was about music. That is why the gun image is in the title logo. The network also considered other titles for the show such as “Made in New Jersey”.

Max Casella, who plays Benny Fazio, originally auditioned for the parts of Matt Bevilaqua and Jackie Aprile Jr. Both characters were only lasted one season but Benny remained until the final episode.

Steve Schirripa, who plays Bobby Bacala originally auditioned for the role of F.B.I. agent Skip Lipari.

Joe Pantoliano was told when he first took the role of Ralph that the character would only last two seasons.

In Season 5 a story about Feech La Manna was told, concerning his killing a New Jersey longshoreman for refusing to give up his favorite seat in a bar. This story was based on a true-life incident involving former Philadelphia/Atlantic City crime boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo.

The first cable-television series to win the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series.

Many local New Jersey businesses are used as locations in the series. In the opening credits, we see a shot of a pizza shack known as Pizza Land. They get calls for pizza orders from all over the country as a result. In one episode, an actual sporting goods store was portrayed as going out of business. So many people thought the real store was closing, the store owners had to place ads to explain they were still open!

The character ‘A.J. Soprano’ was ranked #10 in TV Guide’s list of “TV’s 10 Biggest Brats” (27 March 2005 issue).

Drea de Matteo had to spend four hours in hair and makeup before shooting each episode in order to achieve her “mob girl” look. It took two hours to prepare her hair, and in the instances in which her arms, legs, and/or torso were uncovered, an hour and a half to apply makeup to cover her tattoos.

Joseph R. Gannascoli (Vito Spatafore) was originally cast in season one cameo as Gino the bakery customer, when Christopher shot the worker in the foot. He was then recast as Vito Spatafore in season two and continued in the role until the end of season six, part one.

In Season 5, the race track they go to is actually Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, Long Island. In the episode it was sold, but in real life it wasn’t. So many people called the track wanting to know if it had been sold that the owners had to put a sign up saying that they hadn’t sold.

During several episodes a high-pitched squealing sound can be heard in some outdoor scenes. That is the sound of the Elevated #7 train going around a turn one block from the studio where the indoor and some outdoor scenes are filmed in Queens, NY.

Ray Liotta was the top choice to play Tony Soprano but he turned it down stating he did not want to commit to a television series.

The show was originally going to be a cable series on FOX starring Anthony LaPaglia before HBO picked it up.

The cast was #9 on the annual Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 list in 2006.

Paulie’s first name is Peter. Paul is his middle name.

Tony, A.J. and Junior all have the middle name John. Silvio’s middle name is Manfred.

Six of the regular cast members appeared in Goodfellas (1990): Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent, and Joseph R. Gannascoli. Ten recurring cast members also appeared in the film: Nicole Burdette, Tony Darrow, Tony Lip, Frank Pellegrino, John ‘Cha Cha’ Ciarcia, Suzanne Shepherd, Paul Herman, Marianne Leone, Daniel P. Conte, and Frank Albanese. Eleven one-time guest stars also appeared in the film: Nancy Cassaro, Anthony Caso (as Martin Scorsese), Chuck Low, Tobin Bell, Gene Canfield, Gaetano LoGiudice, Vito Antuofermo, Frank Adonis, Anthony Alessandro, Victor Colicchio and Angela Pietropinto.

Christian Maelen was David Chase’s second choice to play Christopher Moltisanti. He later provided the voice of Big Pussy’s son, Joey LaRocca, in The Sopranos: Road to Respect (2006) (VG).

The expression “oogatz” is occasionally used throughout the series. It derives from “un cazzo”, a very vulgar way to say “like hell” in Italian. The phrase literally means “a dick”.

The large mugshot on the wall of the Bada Bing back office is of a 23-year-old Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was arrested and charged with “Seduction of a Married Woman” in 1938.

Chris Moltisanti’s horror gangster movie is called “Cleaver”.

Tony’s boat is called “The Stugots”. “Stugots” derives from the Italian phrase “questo cazzo” meaning “this dick”

Ranked #3 on Empire magazine’s 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time (2008).

Gangster Movies: (ca. 1997) Snap-brim fedoras, vintage autos, blazing Tommy guns, corrupt public officials and greedy mobsters battling it out over turf rights recur throughout director Bill Duke’s violent, 1930s’ racketeering epic “Hoodlum,” a pictorially authentic action film that evokes memories of the classic Robert Stack television series “The Untouchables.”

“Hoodlum” boasts a top-drawer cast, including Laurence Fishburne, Vanessa Williams, Tim Roth, and Andy Garcia. The Chris Brancato screenplay introduces Bumpy in 1934 as he exits Sing Sing Prison. Duke and Brancato exert great pains to differentiate Bumpy from the typical African-American mobster. He peruses books, plays chess, and pens poetry. As literate as Bumpy is, he can pull a trigger or wield a knife without a pang of remorse when somebody threatens a person who he loves.

Like “The Godfather II” and “Once Upon A Time in America,” “Hoodlum” charts the rise of the Godfather of Harlem in a ruthless game of survival that claims his best friend Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride of “I, Robot”) and leaves Bumpy forever altered by the gory experience. Ostensibly, you won’t see anything in “Hoodlum” that you haven’t seen in dozens of other crime films. “Hoodlum” features notorious real-life racketeers such as Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth of “Pulp Fiction”) and Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia of “Godfather III”) as well as corrupt special prosecutor Thomas Dewey (William Atherton of “The Sugarland Express).

Though set in New York, the movie was filmed in Chicago because it still has buildings that are of the type that were in Harlem in the 1930s unlike present day New York.

In Lucky Luciano’s introductory scene, in which he pulls up to Dutch Schultz’s office in a limo, he gets out of the car and passes a pet Chihuahua dog to one of his men saying “Take Bambi for a walk.” In real life, Luciano did own a dog called Bambi. However, he bought the dog in Sicily after he’d been deported from the United States in 1946. Luciano had named the dog after the Disney movie character in 1942′s “Bambi”. Yet in this movie, he is seen with the dog in the 1934-1935 time period, before the release of that movie and before he actually bought the dog.

An old friend of the real Lucky Luciano allowed Andy Garcia to wear Lucky’s pinkie ring for one scene. You can see it when Lucky gives Thomas Dewey the bribe money at the whorehouse. (when the prostitute takes the cigar out of Lucky’s hand).

This is the second film in which Laurence Fishburne has played Harlem gangster Elsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. He first played him in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club (1984) as “Bumpy” Jackson in a small role.

In this film, actor David Darlow portrays Lucky Luciano’s accountant, Johnny. Darlow actually played Lucky Luciano in an episode of the syndicated series “The Untouchables” (1993) .

When Tyrone the runner gets killed, during the close-up of his face, a policy slip blows by him with the number 235 on it.

Although it is not specifically mentioned in the film, the reason Dutch Schultz was killed was because he planned on assassinating prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. Dutch was under indictment for racketeering and tax evasion charges and was such a volatile gangster that he was willing to risk unbearable heat from law enforcement to kill Dewey. However, when the organized crime syndicate – led by Lucky Luciano, Longy Zwillman and others – learned what Dutch was planning, Zwillman (who actually disliked violence) ordered his death, which was affirmed by the syndicate. Schultz was shot by two of Zwillmen’s trigger men, and died in the hospital after he contracted a staph infection as the result of his gunshot wounds.

Gangster Movies: (ca. 1997) This true story follows undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. Befriending Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone is able to embed himself in a mafia faction lead by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for ‘the bosses’. Eventually, the group hits the big time when Black himself is promoted to boss.

The trials and tribulations of the undercover work become more than Pistone can bear, as the goons surrounding him begin to suspect they have a mole in their midst. To further complicate matters, Pistone begins to identify and care for his mafia friends, especially Lefty. When he stops reporting to the FBI daily as is required, his superiors decide the time has come to pull the plug on the operation. The real dilemma is afforded to Pistone, who knows if he walks away from the mafia, Ruggiero will be the one punished.

In Joseph Pistone’s report, he lists Lefty, Lefty Guns, Lefty Two Guns, Half Cocked, and Horse Cock as false names for Benjamin Ruggiero (Pacino)

The word ‘fuck’ is used 185 times.

The film’s version of “Lefty” Ruggiero is an amalgam of the real “Lefty” and the real “Sonny Black” Napolitano.

When the project was in its first stages, Joe Pesci was the first and main choice for Nicky. But after the release of Goodfellas (1990), the idea gradually faded.

Joe Pesci was ‘Mike Newell (I)”s first choice for Nicky.

When Donnie and Nicky are looking at the headline in the Newspaper about the boss getting killed, they are looking at the picture of mob boss Carmine Galante who was killed in back of a Brooklyn, N.Y. restaurant in 1979.

Lefty’s real name is Benjamin which, in Hebrew, means “son of the right hand”.

Johnny Depp met with the actual Joseph D. Pistone a number of times to gain knowledge and expertise for the role. He also took gun firing lessons from the FBI.

The gangsters’ term for a counterfeit jewel, “fugesi,” was adopted by the filmmakers from the name of a local taxi service.

The scene of Joe Pistone practicing on the FBI’s firing range was inserted at the insistence of the studio, who wanted a shot of Johnny Depp firing a gun for the movie’s trailer.

This is the second film where Joe Pesci was considered for a role that eventually went to Bruno Kirby. The first was The Godfather: Part II (1974), the role in question being that of the young Clemenza.

During a two day break in filming, Michael Madsen impulsively proposed to and married DeAnna Madsen. According to Madsen, when he told Al Pacino, Pacino was disgusted with Madsen’s impulsiveness.

The breakfast scene where Donnie bets his kids $20 that they can’t get through the whole meal without saying “three words”- and his daughter replies “you lose”- is based on a famous incident involving President Calvin Coolidge and writer Dorothy Parker. Seated next to Coolidge (who was known as “Silent Cal” for his quiet manner and disdain of small talk), Parker turned to the President and said “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you” to which Coolidge allegedly replied, “You lose”.

At various points Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Andy Garcia were all previously attached to star; Stephen Frears to direct.

Despite the fact that this was filmed in Super 35, “Filmed in Panavision” is listed in the end credits.

The movie ends with the implication that Lefty was killed after being “sent for”. In real life, the FBI intercepted Lefty on the way to being killed and arrested him. Sonny Black, however, was “sent for” and subsequently murdered, his body turning up a year later on Staten Island. The individual who had orchestrated his murder, Joe Massino, wasn’t convicted until 2005. Lefty was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, and running an illegal gambling operation; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but received early parole in 1992 after it was discovered he was suffering from terminal cancer. He died of lung cancer in 1994.