Primal Fear

Gregory Hoblit came from television, directing and producing on Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue; this was his first theatrical feature. The courtroom passages hand the floor to a large ensemble in turn, a television habit. Edward Norton heard about the part by chance: his friend Connie Britton, auditioning for another role in the film, called from a pay phone to say it was made for him. Norton walked in already in character and invented Aaron’s stammer there. The role had gone to Leonardo DiCaprio first and he passed; Richard Gere pushed for casting it right, not for protecting his own share. Norton won the Golden Globe for supporting actor. The film took a single Oscar nomination, in that category, and it went to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire. The William Diehl novel behind the film does not stand alone: two more follow the same lawyer and defendant, Show of Evil and Reign in Hell. A good fit if you sit down knowing the whole construction serves one piece of information in the last scene, and count the re-watch, where earlier scenes change meaning, as the payoff. Not for you if you want the corruption thread from district attorney Shaughnessy to the archbishop’s land dealings followed through; beside the courtroom it stays in the background.