Trivia / Angel Heart (1987)

• Acclaimed Flop: The film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics; however, this wasn't enough to save its box office take. This might also have to do with the presence of The Cosby Show actress Lisa Bonet being given explicit material. Regardless, the $18 million budget was not recouped, grossing just short at $17.2 million.
• Banned in China: Weeks before its theatrical release, the film faced censorship issues from the MPAA for one scene of sexual content. Parker was forced to remove ten seconds of footage to avoid an X rating and secure the R rating that the film's distributor Tri-Star Pictures wanted. Though the X-rated version was released on videocassette alongside the R-rated theatrical cut. As Roger Ebert noted, the X-rated version hardly deserved an X rating.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Robert De Niro was offered the role of Harry Angel.
• Cast the Expert: The famous Blues musician Brownie McGhee plays blues musician Toot Sweet, who's introduced singing and playing a guitar with his ensemble.
• Channel Hop: The film rights to the novel had been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans slated to produce the film, John Frankenheimer hired to direct, and William Hjortsberg acting as screenwriter. Frankenheimer was later replaced by Dick Richards, and Dustin Hoffman was being considered for the lead role. It was later made by Carolco Pictures.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: Mickey Rourke vs. Robert De Niro.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • In 2019, Mickey Rourke claimed in the Italian talk show Non è la D'Urso that Robert De Niro had acted poorly on the set and that De Niro had insisted Rourke not touch him during a scene requiring slight contact. "Now, I don't look up to him no more, I look through him". He also said that because of this he turned down a role in The Irishman, in which De Niro appears in.
  • Alan Parker described working with Rourke as "a nightmare".
• The Other Marty: Shirley Stoler was originally cast in the part of Izzy's wife, but was replaced by Judith Drake. Stoler's voice can still be heard at the end of the scene, singing the song, "I Cried For You".
• Playing Against Type:
  • Lisa Bonet was using this film as an opportunity to get away from her Contractual Purity.
  • Also, arguably, director Alan Parker, who even now is best known for directing musicals, like Bugsy Malone, Fame, The Commitments and Evita. Nonetheless, Angel Heart is still a very musical film, with musical cues serving as clues to solve its overarching puzzle.
• Referenced by...: Harry's cries of "I know who I am" are sampled in the bridge of Nine Inch Nails' song "The Becoming" from their album The Downward Spiral.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, Marlon Brando was considered for the role of Louis Cyphre.
  • Alan Parker offered the role of Harry Angel to Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino before Mickey Rourke was cast.
  • After Paramount's option expired, William Hjortsberg discussed the project with Robert Redford and wrote two drafts.

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