When lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is fired by his law firm because of an AIDS diagnosis, he hires homophobic small time lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice & corruption of their powerful adversaries.

Tom Hanks had to lose almost thirty pounds to appear appropriately gaunt for his courtroom scenes. Denzel Washington, on the other hand, was asked to gain a few pounds for his role. Washington, to the chagrin of Hanks, who practically starved himself for the role, would often eat chocolate bars in front of him.

Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal. And Bruce Springsteen won for Best Original Song, “The Streets of Philadelphia “

Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Keaton, William Baldwin, Tim Robbins, and Andy Garcia were all considered for the role of Andrew Beckett.

Director Jonathan Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS to see his film. He felt Bruce Springsteen would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song ”The Streets of Philadelphia” did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease.

According to a 1994 Entertainment Weekly profile of Ron Vawter by Stephen Schaefer, Jonathan Demme had to convince TriStar Pictures to hire Vawter to play Bob Seidman. TriStar wanted Demme to hire someone else because Vawter was HIV-positive and the insurance company covering the film refused to extend coverage to him. Demme managed to convince TriStar to allow the hiring of Vawter anyway, both because Vawter was the actor that Demme wanted, and because refusing to hire an actor because of his HIV-positive status would have been particularly ironic in the context of a movie that is premised on the injustice of a lawyer being fired because he is HIV-positive.

The moment when Mary Steenburgen’s character says that she hates the case was improvised in the moment, when the actress expressed her hate towards her role after shooting the mirror scene and Jonathan Demme encouraged her to incorporate it into the role, so the woman would seem more human.

Several scenes depicting a more intimate relationship between Andrew (Hanks) and Miguel (Banderas) were chopped out by the studio. They also attempted to block the casting of the HIV-positive Ron Vawter.

John Leguizamo turned down the part of Miguel in favor of Super Mario Bros. (1993).

1993

PG-13

8013123433206

Robert

Movie

1.85:1

120

Italy

1.85:1

2

~$5.54

2024-09-19

2018-02-07 17:59:02