Angel Heart

Angel Heart (1987)

Timing: 1:53 (113 min)

7.125/10
1708

7.386/10
95035

7.2/10
103000

All about film

Video 10

Photo 88

Actors and characters

Release date

1987-03-06

Country

Canada, United Kingdom, United States

Production

TriStar Pictures, Carolco Pictures, Winkast Film Productions, Union

Genre

Horror, Mystery

Budget

$17 000 000

Revenue

$17 185 954

Website

http://alanparker.com/film/angel-heart/

Director

Alan Parker

Actors

Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling, Stocker Fontelieu, Brownie McGhee, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Whitcraft, Eliott Keener, Charles Gordone
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Alan Marshall, Elliott Kastner, Mario Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna

Operator

Michael Seresin

Composer

Trevor Jones

Artist

Maher Ahmad, Jeremy Conway

Audition

Risa Bramon Garcia, Billy Hopkins

Editing

Gerry Hambling, Simon Bosanquet
All team (80)

• Robert De Niro initially declined the role of Louis Cypher. He later changed his mind.
• Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino all turned down the role of Louis Cypher.
• In the film, Harry Angel travels to Louisiana during the investigation, while in the original novel the entire story takes place in New York.
• For several years, the rights to adapt 'Fallen Angel' changed hands, eventually with Elliott Kastner suggesting Alan Parker take on the project.
• Part of the film was shot in New York, and director Brian Morris had to work hard not only to recreate a Harlem of the 40s and early 50s that matched old photographs, but also, according to his vision, to give the sets the desired color tone. The crew was partly lucky in Louisiana; many scenes with Lisa Bonet were filmed in the town of Thibodaux, which had changed little since those times. But in New Orleans, they had to rebuild a 1950s city street from scratch.
• When working on the script, a significant change was shifting the timeline: instead of 1959, as in the novel, the film is set in 1955. The reason for this was the director’s belief that 1959 overlapped with the 60s, while 1955 still belonged to the 40s.
• The scene of Harry and Cypher's conversation in the church was filmed in St. Alphonsus Church, but the real priest refused to help organize the mass, so they had to use the services of a former clergyman who had been defrocked.
• According to director and screenwriter Alan Parker (1944-2020), Robert De Niro played his role so convincingly that during filming, Parker felt uncomfortable near him and tried to stay away from the actor.
• Shirley Stoler (1929-1999) was originally cast as the wife of the character played by George Buck, but she left the project after nearly drowning while filming one of the scenes on Coney Island. She was replaced by Judith Drake, who gave Parker even more trouble than Stoler. Stoler’s voice is still heard at the end of the scene, singing “I Cried For You”.
• During close-up shots, it can be noticed that the train Mickey Rourke's character travels on to Louisiana is a prop, meaning it is non-operational, and that a real locomotive is pushing the train from behind.
• Harry Angel pours Epiphany half a glass of whiskey, but in the next shot, she has a full glass.
• When the main character, Harry Angel, finds Margaret Kreuzmark murdered, played by Charlotte Rampling, a close-up of the victim’s face and neck is shown around 1:11:12, and if you look closely, you can see a pulsing heartbeat. The necklace around her neck clearly emphasizes the characteristic pulse beats. Afterwards, it becomes completely obvious that the actress is dead and a heartbeat could not be present, as the shot later shows her ripped-out heart.
• For several years, the film rights to "Fallen Angel" changed hands, eventually with Elliott Kastner suggesting Alan Parker take on the project.
• Shirley Stoler (1929-1999) was originally cast as the wife of the character played by George Buck, but she left the project after nearly drowning during the filming of a scene at Coney Island. She was replaced by Judith Drake, who impressed Parker even more than Stoler. Stoler's voice can still be heard at the end of the scene, singing "I Cried For You."