Midnight Run
Short description
Jack Walsh is a former Chicago police officer who now works as a bounty hunter in Los Angeles. He takes on what looks like a straightforward job: bring in Jonathan Mardukas, an accountant known as "The Duke," who skipped bail after taking fifteen million dollars from a mobster. Walsh has only a few days to deliver him from New York to Los Angeles. The task quickly becomes complicated, because an FBI agent, a rival bounty hunter and the mobster's men are all after the same man, for reasons of their own.
Martin Brest directed and produced the film, from a screenplay by George Gallo. It followed Brest's Beverly Hills Cop and came before Scent of a Woman, Meet Joe Black and Gigli. Robert De Niro plays Walsh, with Charles Grodin as Mardukas, Yaphet Kotto as the FBI agent Alonzo Mosely, John Ashton as the rival bounty hunter Marvin Dorfler, Dennis Farina as the mobster Jimmy Serrano and Joe Pantoliano as the bail bondsman Eddie Moscone. The production involved 63 credited cast members and 152 credited crew.
Made for 30 million dollars, the film took in about 38 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.5 from over 92,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 7.2 from more than 1,300 votes, and a critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 57 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Almost the entire train scene, where the characters played by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin discuss whether they could ever be friends, was improvised on the spot. Martin Brest told Grodin to come up with something that would definitely make even De Niro laugh, and Grodin delivered his now-famous question about sex with animals.
- The idea to show Jack Walsh constantly checking his watch—as well as the backstory that explains this habit—was conceived by Robert De Niro himself.
- Bruce Willis also auditioned for the role of Mardukas.
- During the filming process, Charles Grodin had to spend long periods in handcuffs, leaving permanent scars on his wrists. Grodin wore real handcuffs, even though props were available. He did this on the advice of Robert De Niro, a proponent of the method acting technique originally developed by Konstantin Stanislavski.
- The film rights were initially owned by Paramount Pictures. For the sake of box office returns, they wanted to cast a top-tier movie star as the partner of Robert De Niro (who played Jack Walsh). A suggestion was then made to change the gender of the character and give the role to Cher, who had recently made a splash in George Miller's comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987), Peter Yates' thriller "The Suspect" (1987), and Norman Jewison's romantic comedy "Moonstruck" (1987). Director and producer Martin Brest categorically rejected the idea of a gender swap, and the studio management suggested Robin Williams, who had recently starred in Barry Levinson's comedy-drama "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987). Williams liked the script and agreed to an audition. Meanwhile, Brest independently arranged a screen test for the less famous actor Charles Grodin and was delighted by the chemistry between De Niro and Grodin on set. Paramount Pictures subsequently decided to exit the project and sold the rights to Universal Pictures, whose management had no objections to the De Niro-Grodin duo in the lead roles.
- In preparation for his role, De Niro spent considerable time with real bounty hunters.
- According to John Ashton, who played Marvin, Robert De Niro got so into character that he actually hit him during the filming of the train fight.
- As part of his preparation for the role, Robert De Niro joined real police officers on raids against drug dens and dealers, befriended a detective from the LAPD homicide division (who provided him with information regarding daily murder statistics in Los Angeles), and traveled to Chicago (his character's hometown), where he also worked with local police. Grodin's preparation for the role consisted of a ten-minute phone call to his manager asking how one could transfer millions of stolen dollars via bank transfer.
- Universal Studios insisted that Robin Williams play the role of Mardukas; Williams himself also wanted to be involved in the project. However, Martin Brest, impressed by the joint audition of De Niro and Charles Grodin, cast Grodin in the role against the wishes of the producers and the studio.
- All scenes with Dennis Farina were filmed in Las Vegas; at the same time, the actor was filming there for the series 'Crime Story' (1986).
- During filming, Charles Grodin frequently had to wear handcuffs, resulting in him sustaining several scars.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
