If The Present and A Easy Plan are Sam Raimi’s most neglected motion pictures, then Darkman needs to be his most progressive and forward of the curve. Give it some thought. The movie stars Liam Neeson in his first main motion position 30 years earlier than Taken, and the 1990 superhero film was made effectively earlier than the modern-day Marvel and DC cinematic industrial complicated dominated Hollywood. In fact, it wouldn’t be a authentic Raimi outing with out a dose of hair-raising horror, which is why, primarily based on Darkman’s unheralded deserves, he’s the right director to meld the supernatural with the superhero style with the second and third Physician Unusual motion pictures. And you already know what else, he nonetheless ought to get the chance to make a Shadow film as he’s all the time needed.
As for Darkman, it’s all the time been curious why the gritty, gory, grungy cult basic by no means acquired the immense reward it deserved, nor justified a theatrical sequel. In any case, the film was a modest crucial and business hit, incomes principally optimistic opinions and grossing $48.8 million towards a $16 million funds. As a substitute, two lackluster direct-to-video sequels and a bunch of media spin-offs had been spawned and launched with little fanfare. Worse but, Raimi was unafforded the prospect to direct The Shadow for a similar studio, Common, a number of years later.
Now, as Raimi continues to arrange Physician Unusual 3 and his new horror film Ship Assist, it’s time to marvel “Who is Darkman?” and ask, What Occurred to this film 35 years in the past!
As alluded to, Darkman was conceived following Sam Raimi’s failed try and adapt The Shadow comedian e book right into a film for Common Footage. On the time, Robert Zemeckis, recent off Again to the Future Half II was connected to helm a big-screen Shadow film, forcing Raimi to create a brand new superhero from complete fabric. As soon as Common denied Raimi rights to The Shadow, he mixed qualities from varied superheroes whereas paying deliberate homage to the Thirties and Forties horror motion pictures that impressed him as a child.
Fusing attribute components from The Shadow, The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Elephant Man, Frankenstein, and extra, Raimi conjured Darkman as a soul-tormented antihero combating his inside demons together with villainous mobsters, a person of science who begins as a kindhearted do-gooder and morphs right into a raging maniac to a self-loathing monster pressured to look inward into his personal coronary heart.
To convey this inside battle onscreen, Raimi got here up with the concept to present the protagonist Peyton Westlake, aka Darkman, the power to change the visage of his face to seem as different people. When the 40-page brief story advanced, Raimi modified the self-esteem to have Westlake struggling to adapt after dropping his authentic face after creating artificial pores and skin that deteriorates when uncovered to gentle. Partially a sufferer of his bold folly, Darkman grapples along with his embattled soul as he channels his face-altering expertise to battle deranged criminals Louis Strack and the sadistic finger-snipping mobster Robert G. Durant.
Whereas Raimi was adamant that Darkman was not a horror film within the conventional sense, he couldn’t cover his affinity for traditional Common monster motion pictures. When describing his inspiration from outdated 30s and 40s horror motion pictures, Raimi acknowledged:
“They made me fear the hideous nature of the hero and at the same time drew me to him. I went back to that idea of the man who is noble and turns into a monster.”
At its core, Raimi insists Darkman is:
“More a tragedy than anything else. Sure, he looks terrible, he looks hideous, but really, what the movie turns out to be is the story of a man trying to recapture his lost love.”
Whereas a number of manufacturing mishaps occurred throughout principal pictures, essentially the most troublesome facet of constructing Darkman was writing the screenplay and enhancing the image for a fickle take a look at viewers. With no less than 12 screenplay drafts, the primary was written by Chuck Pfarrer, who Raimi employed primarily based on his work on Navy Seals. A number of subsequent drafts had been penned by Sam Raimi and his brother, Ivan, who integrated his medical experience as a real-life physician to make sure Westlake’s burn injury was correct.
As a preponderance of subplots piled up, Raimi and producer Robert Tapert felt they’d sufficient story materials to increase Darkman right into a superhero film franchise. As soon as that calculation was made, they employed screenwriting siblings Daniel and Joshua Goldin to flesh out the narrative arcs. The Goldins contributed new dialogue, recent characters, and motion scenes earlier than Sam and Ivan wrote a number of extra drafts. Lastly, Raimi’s longtime pals and roommates on the time, Joel and Ethan Coen, helped develop the screenplay and polished the ultimate draft, though they by no means wrote a whole script.
As Tapert informed The Hollywood Reporter throughout a 30-year retrospective:
“There are 5,000 names on that script. It was constantly being rewritten. In hindsight, I am not sure it ever got better; it just incorporated more people’s pisses. The Coen brothers were not credited by the guild, but they were instrumental early on with building the structure. The idea sprung from Sam’s head, and Joel and Ethan coaxed him along that road. Chuck Pfarrer was the best at the villains.”
Raimi attributed the grueling screenwriting course of to the bold nature of Darkman’s story evolution, stating:
“I decided to explore a man’s soul. In the beginning, a sympathetic, sincere man. In the middle, a vengeful man committing heinous acts against his enemies, and in the end, a man full of self-hatred for what he’s become, who must drift off into the night, into a world apart from everyone he knows, and all the things he loves.”
When it was time to solid Darkman, Raimi envisioned his outdated pal Bruce Campbell to play the half. Nonetheless, regardless of starring in Raimi’s two Evil Useless motion pictures, Common didn’t assume Campbell was well-known sufficient and compelled Raimi to rent another person. Gary Oldman and the late nice Invoice Paxton had been thought-about for the position. Nonetheless, Raimi settled on the comparatively unknown Liam Neeson, who may credibly painting “A monster with the soul of a man.” Raimi additionally appreciated Neeson’s “old Gary Cooper charisma.” Legend has it that Invoice Paxton informed his good friend Neeson concerning the audition after he almost received the position, and was so mad when Neeson gained the half that Paxton didn’t communicate to him for years. Paxton would star in Raimi’s A Easy Plan eight years later.
Regardless of Common denying Bruce Campbell’s casting, Raimi received the final snort by giving Campbell a cameo as disguised Darkman within the last scene. Campbell additionally voices a number of background screams within the film, stating he earned good studio cash for his sound work behind the scenes.
As for Neeson’s attraction, he acknowledged:
“The script appealed to the little boy in me because I know it would have been something I would have loved to have seen on a Saturday matinee growing up in Ireland, and it was a big fat juicy lead in a movie.”
For Westlake’s romantic curiosity and company lawyer Julie Hastings, a number of big-name actresses had been thought-about. Julia Roberts was Common’s first alternative however she had lately damaged up along with her boyfriend Liam Neeson in actual life. Throughout their audition, Neeson and Roberts grew to become so emotional that Roberts’ agent instantly withdrew her title afterward. In 1990, Roberts shot to superstardom with the discharge of Fairly Girl. Kathy Bates, who gained an Oscar for 1990’s Distress, was initially solid because the burn sufferer physician alongside a masked John Landis however left earlier than filming started. At Landis’ request, Bates was changed by Jenny Agutter, who starred in his basic horror outing American Werewolf in London.
Different actors thought-about to play Julie Hastings included Kelly Lynch, Bridget Fonda, Demi Moore, Geena Davis, Melanie Griffith, and Virginia Madsen. Frances McDormand was in the end solid after demonstrating explosive chemistry with Neeson within the auditions. In fact, McDormand was married to Joel Coen on the time, who famously edited Raimi’s characteristic debut Evil Useless. Raimi, McDormand, and the Coens lived collectively whereas making Darkman, which McDormand admitted helped her win the position. Alas, Raimi and McDormand would conflict on set throughout filming. In the meantime, Bridget Fonda ultimately co-starred with Paxton in Raimi’s A Easy Plan.
As for the horrifying heavy Robert G. Durant, Raimi solid Larry Drake as a result of the actor reminded him of basic Hollywood actor Edward G. Robinson, stating:
“He looked so mean, so domineering, yet he had this urban wit about him. I thought, ‘My God, this guy is not only threatening-looking, he has a good physical presence – what a perfect adversary for the Darkman!’”
Whereas Drake was primarily recognized for enjoying the kindhearted, mentally impaired Benny on L.A. Legislation beforehand, he would go on to play horror villain Dr. Giggles after breaking kind in Darkman and its sequel and un-aired TV pilot.
In the meantime, Richard Dreyfus and James Caan declined the position earlier than Colin Friels was solid as archenemy Louis Strack Jr.
With the most important manufacturing funds of Raimi’s profession, Darkman entered principal pictures on April 19, 1989, with $14 million at his again, elevated from the green-lit $8-12 million funds. The shoot lasted till August 10, 1989, with Tim Burton’s industry-shaking superhero hit Batman launched in June, whereas Darkman was being filmed. In fact, each superhero motion pictures are scored by Oingo Boingo’s Danny Elfman, who praised Raimi’s visible model within the Thirtieth-anniversary retrospective.
“Sam has a wonderful visual style that lends itself easily to music. There was no reason to hold back on this one,” including “That idea was to create something sad and romantic. That was the fun of Darkman for me, the sad romanticism.”
Darkman was filmed in Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, California, and Toronto, Canada. Regardless of Common allotting Raimi his largest funds, the studio insisted Darkman didn’t look or really feel like his Evil Useless motion pictures. As such, Raimi tried to rent Barry Sonnenfeld as cinematographer, however Sonnenfeld prompt Invoice Pope, who made his characteristic debut on Darkman earlier than making Military of Darkness and the final two Spider-Man motion pictures with Raimi.
Raimi and manufacturing designer Randy Ser partially allotted the funds to construct a full laboratory the place Westlake works. In keeping with Ser, the lab pays homage to a different demented physician, declaring:
“If you look at Darkman’s lab that he moves into, which is an old warehouse, what was on my mind was Dr. Frankenstein. There were a number of references visually to what we were thinking about in regards to those films.”
Though Raimi vowed to tone down the whirlwind visible tableau created within the Evil Useless movies, his manic and kinetic camerawork continued to outline his distinctive directorial model. As Pope famous:
“We used the eyeball/flyball rig, the Perfalock dance-o-cam, the Perfalock drunken cam, snap zooms, whip pans, Dutch angles, cameras attached to sticks and blankets, and virtually anything that moved. We always moved the camera. I have a distinct memory of being told by our dolly grip on day 50-something that we were doing our first shot in the film where the camera didn’t move through space — and it was a 360-degree pan.”
Whereas the writing and enhancing processes proved essentially the most troublesome, Darkman’s shoot had distinctive challenges. First, the method was extremely demanding on Neeson, who spent 5 hours day by day within the make-up chair each morning earlier than cameras rolled. The method was decreased to 3 hours by the top, however Neeson was so bodily exhausted from coaching for his subsequent position, a bare-knuckle boxer in The Huge Man, that he spoke concerning the challenges:
“I was also preparing to play a bare-knuckle boxer in a film to be shot in Scotland immediately after completion of Darkman, so I was setting my alarm clock for about 3 a.m. in order to do a workout as preparation, so days were definitely long and for the most part tiring.”
Neeson labored 18 hours day by day in 10-piece make-up utilized by the good Tony Gardner, stating essentially the most troublesome half concerning the prosthetics was talking clearly with out spitting out his false tooth.
These days, superhero motion pictures are far too usually mired in synthetic CGI that appears overly animated, fully synthetic, and by no means resemble something near the true world. Darkman is the exact reverse, utilizing in-camera sensible results and bodily props that give the movie a timeless high quality whereas mirroring the zany visible comedian e book aesthetic. As Ser notes:
“We had no computer-aided pre-vis or drafting programs to help determine if a shot might work within the confines of a set. The lack of technology did not daunt our amazingly talented art department, which includes art director Phil Dagort and set decorator Julie Fanton.”
One other on-set mishap occurred when Colin Friels fell from a three-story metal beam and busted his femur on affect. In some way, Friels went to the hospital, had the bone set in place, ingested a bunch of painkillers, and returned to complete the scene on the identical day. Respect!
Extra problematic was the contentious artistic rapport between Raimi and McDormand throughout filming. The 2 didn’t see eye-to-eye concerning Julie Hastings, as McDormand’s theater background made it troublesome to know the filmmaking course of. Minor dustups over whether or not Julie ought to put on socks throughout intercourse scenes led to counterproductive, time-wasting arguments that saddled pictures. Nonetheless, Raimi claims the disagreements had been wholesome and born out of constructing the most effective film attainable, and by all experiences, the 2 stay pals at the moment.
As soon as Darkman wrapped pictures in August 1990, the enhancing and post-production take a look at screening course of (as revealed on this nice oral historical past) grew to become one of many film’s largest complications. The primary lower of Darkman, edited by David Stiven, examined horribly in preview screenings held by Common and was deemed one of many worst motion pictures examined in studio historical past. The viewers laughed in locations they weren’t alleged to and detested the craziest and wildest stuff Raimi placed on movie. Additionally they hated the downbeat ending that didn’t present a cheerful conclusion.
Through the enhancing, David Stiven suffered a nervous breakdown and up and give up the film, decrying “I can’t do this.” Blaming Raimi for hiring Stiven, Common employed editor Bud S. Smith to recut the movie and locked Raimi out of the enhancing room. Smith whittled Stiven’s 2-hour lower to an 85-minute run time, dropping many ultra-cool and essential scenes that fully altered the tone, tenor, temperament, and comedian e book tableau. In keeping with Tapert:
“When Universal brought in their own editor, they really did not want Sam in the process. Before that, we started on the preview process, scoring maybe 65 [score from the audience] and we were down to maybe a 26.”
With the shorter 85-minute lower scoring worse preview numbers than the preliminary edit, Common was demoralized however authorised it anyway. Unhappy, Tapert pulled off one of the crucial badass, punk rock coup de graces on document. He employed editor Bob Murawsk, now Raimi’s long-time editor, to re-cut your entire film from scratch, which included reinserting roughly 9 minutes of footage from the unique model. Tapert and Murawski did this behind Common’s again and with out Raimi’s information, taking issues into their very own palms on the zero hour to ship essentially the most entertaining film attainable. Once they delivered the brand new 96-minute lower because the completed product, Common believed the ultimate edit was Smith’s 85-minute model that the studio had beforehand signed off.
By the point Common execs realized 9 minutes of wildly outlandish footage was reinstalled, the damaging had been lower, the sound combined accomplished, and the image was locked. With 48 hours till the film was slated to display for critics, Common had no alternative however to roll with the maverick 96-minute model we’ve all come to know and love.
As Elfman famous:
“Universal’s attitude at that point was cut all the weird shit, and I would tell Sam, ‘This crazy stuff is what makes the film.’ Rob and Sam did their best to piece it back together.”
In keeping with former Common President Sean Daniel:
“Tom Pollock, (Universal chairman), was seriously f*cking furious. I remember thinking, ‘That is one ballsy guerrilla move.’ Is it as big a breach of every conceivable protocol of delivering a movie in postproduction? Yes. Totally. It was an Ocean’s Eleven maneuver.”
Because of the good advertising marketing campaign flooding metropolis streets, subways, and bus stops with posters asking “Who is Darkman?”, the movie opened primary on the home field workplace on August 24, 1990. Raimi was enamored with the promotion, stating, “The marketing made the film a money-maker.” The movie grossed $48.8 million, netting over $24 million for Common, equal to $60 million in 2025.
With a number of exceptions, Darkman acquired optimistic crucial opinions. A recent visible dynamo, Raimi drew reward for his means to copy the graphic high quality, cartoonish motion, and rat-a-tat-tat pitter-patter comedian books recognized for however hardly ever replicated on display.
Regardless of the reasonable business and significant success, Common didn’t approve a theatrical sequel. As a substitute, Darkman continued with two foolish direct-to-video motion pictures, a Marvel comedian, novelization, an 8-bit Nintendo online game, and an unaired TV pilot.
The 1992 TV pilot detailing Darkman’s origin story was scheduled to air on Fox however the community didn’t decide it up. Drake reprised his position as Durant, with Christopher Bowen changing Neeson as Westlake. The story would have adopted Westlake following Julie’s dying, with Darkman looking for vengeance on her killers.
Though Darkman’s success didn’t enable Raimi to adapt a big-screen model of The Shadow, everyone knows he went on to helm three Spider-Man motion pictures within the early 2000s. In 2006, Raimi tried to make The Shadow once more with longtime Batman producer Michael E. Uslan, however the venture fizzled. In fact, Raimi returned to the Marvel superhero realm with Physician Unusual Within the Multiverse of Insanity in 2022, the right materials for the director to marry his comedian e book and horror film sensibilities. Whereas selling Physician Unusual in Could 2022, Raimi confessed that Common was contemplating a brand new Darkman sequel and that Raimi would function a producer if it received made. Round that very same time, Liam Neeson acknowledged he would no less than comply with learn a Darkman 2 script.
In the meantime, Raimi has been tapped to direct the third Physician Unusual film, and is making ready his new desert-island horror flick Ship Assist. With horror and comics once more at work, it’s excessive time Common to cease messing round and let Raimi make The Shadow film he’s been meaning to create for the final 35 years. In any case, because the big-budget comedian e book motion pictures change into extra like factory-line cookie-cutter objects, let Raimi’s good friend Fran McDormand inform it finest:
“What is gratifying is that it continues to intrigue an audience. Even with all the Marvel and DC Universe that we have now. Darkman is an art film.”
Hollywood might not be excited about making cinematic artwork in 2025, but with the persistent sequelitis and formulaic comedian e book motion pictures ruling the multiplex, no less than Sam Raimi has an authentic imaginative and prescient and a confirmed observe document to let him step into The Shadow and lead Hollywood out of the darkness.
