L.A. Confidential (1997)
- The lead role in L.A. Confidential was originally offered to a massive A-list star who turned it down because they didn't understand the script.
- The studio almost pulled funding for L.A. Confidential midway through the shoot, convinced that the audience wouldn't connect with the unconventional tone.
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American neo-noir crime film directed by Curtis Hanson, based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel. Set in 1950s Los Angeles, the film follows three very different LAPD officers β the brutish, justice-obsessed Bud White played by Russell Crowe, the ambitious, by-the-book Ed Exley played by Guy Pearce, and the celebrity-courting Jack Vincennes played by Kevin Spacey β whose separate investigations into a mass shooting at a coffee shop converge to expose a conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the police department.
Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland's Academy Award-winning screenplay distilled Ellroy's dense, labyrinthine novel into a taut, precisely plotted thriller that rewarded attentive viewing. Kim Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Lynn Bracken, a call girl surgically altered to resemble Veronica Lake. L.A.
Confidential received nine Academy Award nominations and earned $126 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. The film is consistently ranked among the finest crime films ever made.
