De Palma’s films are known for trios or quartets who come together in curious ways. Drawing side number two to the Bucky-Kay-Lee love triangle is actor Aaron Eckhart, someone De Palma describes as a “young Kirk Douglas.”
The director knew he wanted to cast a performer who could give a manic quality to Mr. Fire, Lee Blanchard. The actor chosen would need to fuel the Benzedrine-popping, hotheaded cop with an explosive sense of regret and rage… a man who could provide a strong parallel to Bucky’s by-the-book detective. As the Dahlia case unfolds, we learn that Lee has had a string of women in his life that he couldn’t save, including a sister who died at 15. Eckhart chose the physically challenging role (with Mr. Fire’s own boxing record of 43-4-2) because Blanchard is “a fast-talking, hard-drinking, quick-witted, no-bull kind of guy—which is very fun to play as an actor.”
Discussing his interest in the films noirs era of the ’40s, he relates, “Their cadence was faster than today. If you watch Cagney or Edward G. Robinson, they had this way of speaking that was rapid-fire.”
His partner-in-crimefighting Hartnett laughs, “Aaron would be a great Iago. He doesn’t hesitate to go over the top in a performance. He’s a big personality who has this on-screen presence that makes you believe he could bring down anyone in his path.” With the testosterone-fueled roles cast, De Palma was next on the lookout for three dames who could play anything but damsels in distress. Of his leads, the director commends, “The girls are just magical, so mysterious. There’s always something unsaid.”
To find his Kay Lake, the wounded lady that Lee takes in and Bucky covets, De Palma decided he needed a young woman with a world-weary look in her eye. He had met Scarlett Johansson years earlier when she was in the film The Horse Whisperer. The actor had made such an impression on him, he tucked into the back of his mind the idea of one day working with her.
Producer Linson finds Johansson a reminder of an era gone by, specifically “an old soul. There’s something that is a visual throwback about her. She has that look that pulls you right back in time.” Giving credence to his observation, when filmed through cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond’s lens, Johansson startlingly evokes an era through sheer physicality.
The actor offers, “When I read Josh’s script, I just connected with the type of passion you find in Kay. She is this painfully lonesome, woefully romantic woman who just wants to be kept safe from harm. She never knew she’d find in Bucky the opposite of what she sees in her boyfriend, Lee.”
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