The Black Dahlia (film)

This article is about the film directed by Brian De Palma. For other uses, see Black Dahlia (disambiguation).

The Black Dahlia
Promotional poster
Directed by	Brian De Palma
Produced by	Art Linson Rudy Cohen Moshe Diamant
Written by	Josh Friedman
Based on	The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
Starring	Josh Hartnett Scarlett Johansson Aaron Eckhart Hilary Swank Mia Kirshner Mike Starr Fiona Shaw
Music by	Mark Isham
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by	Bill Pankow
Studio	Millennium Films Nu Image
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	September 15, 2006 (2006-09-15)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000
Box office	$49,332,692

The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo noir crime film directed by Brian De Palma. It is based on the novel of the same name by James Ellroy, writer of L.A. Confidential and starred Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. The story is based on the murder of Elizabeth Short. The film had its world premiere as the opening film at the 63rd Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2006. The film's wide release was on September 15, 2006. Despite the film being both a critical and financial failure, the film was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 79th Academy Awards, but lost to Pan's Labyrinth.

Plot

In Los Angeles, California, on January 15, 1947, two LAPD Police Officers Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), investigate the murder of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner). As Lee is investigating the case, Bucky falls in love with Lee's girlfriend Katherine 'Kay' Lake (Scarlett Johansson). Lee grows more obsessive and abusive and soon disappears, and is later found dead.

Meanwhile, Bucky meets Madeline Linscott (Hilary Swank), who looks like Elizabeth and is obsessed with the Glasgow smile, the same smile that Elizabeth had when her body was discovered. He also meets her parents and her sister. Bucky starts dating Kay and is soon caught by her when he and Madeline are about to have sex. Kay also questions him about Madeline looking like Elizabeth. Bucky finds a barn below the Hollywoodland sign and a drawing of a man with a Glasgow smile drawn on the wall with blood. It is also the picture that Madeline has in her parents' house.

After accusing Madeline's father Emmett (John Kavanagh), Madeline's mother Ramona (Fiona Shaw) reveals the truth. Ramona tells Bucky how she killed Elizabeth. A few days later, Bucky goes to the Linscott's house, and after speaking with Madeline's sister and working out the truth about Lee's murder, he finds Madeline at a motel and shoots her dead.

While going into Kay's house, Bucky sees a crow chirping by Elizabeth's body, then realizes that it was only a hallucination. Then he closes the door as the film ends.

Cast

• Josh Hartnett as Police Officer Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert
• Scarlett Johansson as Katherine 'Kay' Lake
• Aaron Eckhart as Police Officer Lee Blanchard
• Hilary Swank as Madeleine Linscott
• Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Ann Short
• Mike Starr as Detective Russ Millard
• Fiona Shaw as Ramona Linscott
• Patrick Fischler as Deputy DA Ellis Loew
• James Otis as Dolph Bleichert
• John Kavanagh as Emmett Linscott
• Troy Evans as Chief Ted Green
• Pepe Serna as Tomas Dos Santos
• Angus MacInnes as Captain John Tierney
• Rachel Miner as Martha Linscott
• Victor McGuire as Sgt. Bill Koenig
• Gregg Henry as Pete Lukins
• Jemima Rooper as Lorna Mertz
• Rose McGowan as Sheryl Saddon
• Steve Eastin as Detective
• Ian McNeice as Coroner
• Richard Brake as Bobby DeWitt
• William Finley as Georgie Tilden
• Joost Scholte as Madeleine's GI
• Fatso-Fasano as Dealer

Development and production

The movie was originally in pre-production with David Fincher attached as director and Mark Wahlberg attached to play Lee Blanchard. Wahlberg was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the planned filming of The Italian Job. Fincher originally envisioned "a five-hour, $80-million mini-series with movie stars."

When De Palma became director, he replaced Wahlberg with Aaron Eckhart shortly before shooting began in April 2005.

The Black Dahlia shooting on location in Hollywood, June 2005. Black Angel is on the marquee.

This film was shot in Los Angeles, California and in Pernik, Bulgaria, at an estimated cost of $50 million. Only a handful of exterior scenes were filmed in Los Angeles; MacArthur Park, Pantages Theatre (and adjoining bar The Frolic Room) at Hollywood and Vine, and the Alto-Nido Apartments are perhaps the most recognizable landmarks. A standing set on the backlot of Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria, was used to represent Leimert Park.

James Horner was originally on board the project to score the film's music but in February, 2006 it was reported that Mark Isham had replaced him.

Scenes from the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs appear in this film.

Reception

Critical response

A location shot for the movie The Black Dahlia, showing a rainmaking rig, a sprinkler system used to create the appearance of rain on the set -- a commonly employed practical effect.

Highly anticipated by many after the success of L.A. Confidential, the film was panned by critics. At Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 32% "Rotten" rating.

David Denby of The New Yorker described it as "a kind of fattened goose that’s been stuffed with goose-liver pâté. It’s overrich and fundamentally unsatisfying... There are scenes that display De Palma’s customary visual brilliance... (b)ut the movie is so complicated, the narrative so awkward, that when the pieces of the puzzle fall into place we get no tingle of satisfaction." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented "De Palma throws everything at the screen, but almost nothing sticks." J. Hoberman of Village Voice stated that the film "rarely achieves the rhapsodic (let alone the delirious)."

However, the performance of Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short was praised by many critics. Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com, in a largely negative review, notes that the eponymous character was "played wonderfully by Mia Kirshner..." Mick LaSalle wrote that Kirshner "makes a real impression of the Dahlia as a sad, lonely dreamer, a pathetic figure." J. R. Jones described her performance as "haunting" and that the film's fictional screen tests "deliver the emotional darkness so lacking in the rest of the movie." In a round table discussion by The San Francisco Brian DePalma Theory Collective, all three scholars agreed that she should have been considered for an Academy Award.

Box office

The film opened on September 15, 2006 in 2,226 theaters. It came in second place over its opening weekend (losing out to Gridiron Gang), with an estimated $10 million gross box office. It ended its theatrical run after domestically grossing $22,545,080, and grossing $26,787,612 in foreign theaters for a global total of $49,332,692.

The film is a slight box office failure, coming up short (by $650,000) of its $50,000,000 budget.

External links

• Official movie site
• The Black Dahlia at the Internet Movie Database
• The Black Dahlia at AllRovi
• The Black Dahlia at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Black Dahlia at Box Office Mojo
• A Dark Moment in the Harsh Hollywood Sun - New York Times, February 5, 2006