Director Brian De Palma originally had the opening scene of a guy (the killer) shaving his whole body and then castrating himself! He actually shot those scenes but then abandoned them in favor of the nude shower scene with Angie Dickinson. Why he changed his mind, he said, he can't remember. (Maybe someone talked sense into him. Ya think?) Anyway that gave me quick idea about the mind of De Palma.
Dickinson then talks about that shower scene and a "double" that stood in for her on the close-up shots. She was reluctant to do this film because she had just finished a couple of years of being "a cop heroine TV show "Police Woman" and thought this might be a little too much of a sudden image change, but being the upstanding, moral person she was, she quickly changed her mind and went ahead with it. She admits standing there in the shower on the studio sound stage is a very weird feeling "but that's what acting is all about."
Listening to Dickinson and De Palma talk in this "documentary" was almost a shock. They are whacked and have no sense of morality. Well, I guess I shouldn't be shocked because the film is the same way. I must be, too, because I like this movie but I am sucker for a "stylish" film and DePalma is good at that.
Speaking of the film, De Palma said Keith Gordon's character was modeled after him, because he, too, liked to stay up all night fidgeting with his big computer. And, he said Michael Caine's character was based on the psychiatrist that he (de Palma) was seeing at the time.
I didn't realize that one of the co-stars, Nancy Allen, was married to De Palma. She gives a good interview in here, too, along with Gordon and Dennis Franz. All of the actors here seem very relaxed and were obviously enjoying themselves talking about this film. Gordon laughed a lot recalling things, as did Allen, who looks prettier now than she did in 1980, which says a lot. Dickinson looks very good, too, for her age. How much of it is plastic surgery, who knows, but I didn't see too many wrinkles.
The only person missing from this behind-the-scenes bonus feature on the "Dressed To Kill" DVD was Michael Caine. That's too bad, but we still got a nice portrait of him. Both the leading ladies were thrilled to work with him and said he is a wonderful guy who put them at ease immediately. Still, it would have been interesting to hear from Caine about this controversial role.
Franz, who played tough cops in two big TV shows following this film (Hill Street Blues and NYPD) said he looks back and is still shocked at the language they were able to use in this movie. One forgets, with all the shocking violence and sex, that the language was pretty brutal, too.
Other interesting revelations" There was a double that did almost all of the scenes of Michael Caine pretending to be a woman. So, you had a woman playing a role of a guy pretending to be a female.
Gordon said the rain scene almost drowned him because rain only shows up on film at about 50 percent of how hard it's really coming down. Since the scene called for heavy rain, it was coming down on him, he laughed, "literally in buckets."
The opening almost scene in the art gallery was done in Philadelphia because the filmmakers couldn't get the okay to shoot in any gallery in NYC!
Overall, this was an interesting bonus feature and I recommend it to all fans of this film.
Dickinson then talks about that shower scene and a "double" that stood in for her on the close-up shots. She was reluctant to do this film because she had just finished a couple of years of being "a cop heroine TV show "Police Woman" and thought this might be a little too much of a sudden image change, but being the upstanding, moral person she was, she quickly changed her mind and went ahead with it. She admits standing there in the shower on the studio sound stage is a very weird feeling "but that's what acting is all about."
Listening to Dickinson and De Palma talk in this "documentary" was almost a shock. They are whacked and have no sense of morality. Well, I guess I shouldn't be shocked because the film is the same way. I must be, too, because I like this movie but I am sucker for a "stylish" film and DePalma is good at that.
Speaking of the film, De Palma said Keith Gordon's character was modeled after him, because he, too, liked to stay up all night fidgeting with his big computer. And, he said Michael Caine's character was based on the psychiatrist that he (de Palma) was seeing at the time.
I didn't realize that one of the co-stars, Nancy Allen, was married to De Palma. She gives a good interview in here, too, along with Gordon and Dennis Franz. All of the actors here seem very relaxed and were obviously enjoying themselves talking about this film. Gordon laughed a lot recalling things, as did Allen, who looks prettier now than she did in 1980, which says a lot. Dickinson looks very good, too, for her age. How much of it is plastic surgery, who knows, but I didn't see too many wrinkles.
The only person missing from this behind-the-scenes bonus feature on the "Dressed To Kill" DVD was Michael Caine. That's too bad, but we still got a nice portrait of him. Both the leading ladies were thrilled to work with him and said he is a wonderful guy who put them at ease immediately. Still, it would have been interesting to hear from Caine about this controversial role.
Franz, who played tough cops in two big TV shows following this film (Hill Street Blues and NYPD) said he looks back and is still shocked at the language they were able to use in this movie. One forgets, with all the shocking violence and sex, that the language was pretty brutal, too.
Other interesting revelations" There was a double that did almost all of the scenes of Michael Caine pretending to be a woman. So, you had a woman playing a role of a guy pretending to be a female.
Gordon said the rain scene almost drowned him because rain only shows up on film at about 50 percent of how hard it's really coming down. Since the scene called for heavy rain, it was coming down on him, he laughed, "literally in buckets."
The opening almost scene in the art gallery was done in Philadelphia because the filmmakers couldn't get the okay to shoot in any gallery in NYC!
Overall, this was an interesting bonus feature and I recommend it to all fans of this film.
