Released: January 16, 1998

Directed By: Gregory Hoblit

Screenplay By:  Nicholas Kazan

Stars:  Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz, James Gandolfini, Elias Koteas and a bunch of other actors.

Plot: Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution, the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese’s style.

Taglines:  Don’t trust a soul.

How did this movie do?
Budget: $46 Million
Box Office: $25 Million

• Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of John Hobbes.

• During pre-production, Elias Koteas traveled to Ohio to meet a man who could speak Syrian-Aramaic to help him with his dialogue. The man was happy to help, but wouldn’t utter the curse words in the speech for religious reasons. Therefore, the producers had to find another Syrian-Aramaic speaker who was willing to speak the profane lines for Koteas.
  
  
• Denzel Washington did ride-alongs with local detectives to prepare for his role. He soon learned that some of the cops carried a second pair of shoes in the trunk of their cars while on duty since the shoes they were wearing would occasionally get blood on them at murder scenes.
  
  
• The name John Hobbes is based on two philosophers from the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Hobbes generally thought that men were evil, and needed the constraints of society to make them better. Locke thought that men are thinking, rational creatures capable of peaceful co-existence. These two themes are explored in the film.
  
  
• Nicholas Kazan specifically wrote the role of Jonesy for John Goodman.
  
  
• In the original screenplay, the role of Gretta Milano (Embeth Davidtz) was originally two characters – Gretta and an elderly sage named Maude who knew much more about Azazel than Gretta. In this version of the story, the cabin in the woods scene was Maude’s home.
  
  
• The name Azazel means “scapegoat” in Hebrew. Azazel, in Jewish legends, a demon or evil spirit to whom, in the ancient rite of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), a scapegoat was sent bearing the sins of the Jewish people. Two male goats were chosen for the ritual, one designated by lots “for the Lord,” the other “for Azazel” (Leviticus 16:8).
  
  
• The first day of shooting was scheduled to be the scene where Hobbes (Denzel Washington) arrives at the cabin for the first time. A torrential rainstorm was passing through the area at the time however, so producer Charles Roven decided to send the equipment truck out to the location much earlier than scheduled, so early that it was still dark. However, due to it being dark and rain falling heavily, visibility was poor. On the way to the cabin via the access road, the truck hit a tree completely blocking off the road. By the time the truck was cleared, it was nearly night time again, and no shooting could be done in the dark. So, one day into production, the film was one day behind schedule. Charles Roven has said that this first day was the worst day of his entire career.
  
  
• Hob and old hob are nicknames for the devil.
  
  
• The precinct house and the squad room used are those in the long-running television series NYPD Blue (1993).
  
  
• At the police station, a cabbie shows up looking for releasee Richard Suckle. Richard Suckle is the name of the film’s Associate Producer.
  
  
• James Gandolfini (Lou) and Aida Turturro (Tiffany) would reunite beginning in Season 2 on the hit HBO series, The Sopranos (1999), playing brother and sister Tony and Janice Soprano. Aida’s cousin, Nick Turturro, worked on the set of the police squad room regularly as a member of the cast of the ABC series, NYPD Blue (1993).
  
  
• The plot of this movie is similar to The First Power released in 1990 about a detective that captures a Pentagram Killer that when is executed in the gas chamber returns to claim victims by possession.
  
  
• In the original screenplay, Stanton’s name was Maguire.
  
  
• The scene where the rafter collapses while Hobbes (Denzel Washington) is in the basement of the cabin, was in neither the script nor the original cut of the film. During test screenings, the scene played out with Hobbes simply looking around, finding the book, and leaving. However, at one particular screening, during that scene, a member of the audience got up to go to the bathroom, and as he left the theater, the door made a loud bang, causing everyone in the theater to jump. This prompted the Warner Bros. executives to suggest that perhaps a sudden scare should be shot and inserted into the scene, to enhance the tension even further.
  
  
• All of the scenes involving Edgar Reese (Elias Koteas) were shot near the start of principal photography, and Gregory Hoblit was so impressed with the physicality of Koteas’ performance that he insisted everyone who subsequently becomes possessed by Azazel must move in a similar manner. Indeed, actors Robert Joy (who plays Charles Olom), James Gandolfini (Lou), Bob Rumnock (who plays the school teacher), and Tara Carnes (who plays the young girl) all studied Koteas’ performance before shooting their own possessed scenes.