Editing L.A. Confidential (film) (section)

==Production==

===Development===
[[Curtis Hanson]] had read half a dozen of [[James Ellroy]]'s books before ''[[L.A. Confidential]]'' and was drawn to its characters, not the plot. He said, "What hooked me on them was that, as I met them, one after the other, I didn't like them—but as I continued reading, I started to care about them."<ref name= "sragow">{{cite news
 | last = Sragow
 | first = Michael
 | title = City of Angles
 | work = [[Dallas Observer]]
 | date = September 11, 1997
 | url = http://www.dallasobserver.com/film/city-of-angles-6402511
 | access-date = July 21, 2015}}</ref> Ellroy's novel also made Hanson think about Los Angeles and provided him with an opportunity to "set a movie at a point in time when the whole dream of Los Angeles, from that apparently golden era of the '20s and '30s, was being bulldozed."<ref name= "sragow"/>

Screenwriter [[Brian Helgeland]] was originally signed to [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]] to write a Viking film with director [[Uli Edel]] and then worked on an unproduced modern-day [[King Arthur]] story. Helgeland was a longtime fan of Ellroy's novels. When he heard that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to ''L.A. Confidential'' in 1990, he lobbied to script the film,<ref name="sragow" /> but the studio was then talking only to well-known screenwriters. When he finally got a meeting, it was canceled two days before it was to occur.<ref name="sragow" />

Helgeland found that Hanson had been hired to direct and met with him while the filmmaker was making ''[[The River Wild]]''. They found that they not only shared a love for Ellroy's fiction but also agreed on how to adapt ''Confidential'' into a film. According to Helgeland, they had to "remove every scene from the book that didn't have the three main cops in it, and then to work from those scenes out."<ref name="sragow" /> According to Hanson, he "wanted the audience to be challenged but at the same time I didn't want them to get lost."<ref name="dawson">{{cite news
 | last = Dawson
 | first = Jeff
 | title = Mean Streets
 | work = [[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]
 | date = December 1997
 }}</ref> They worked on the script together for two years, with Hanson turning down jobs and Helgeland writing seven drafts for free.<ref name="sragow" />

The two men also got Ellroy's approval. He had seen Hanson's films ''[[The Bedroom Window (1987 film)|The Bedroom Window]]'' and ''[[Bad Influence (1990 film)|Bad Influence]]'', and found him "a competent and interesting storyteller", but was not convinced that his book would be made into a film until he talked to the eventual director.<ref name="sragow" /> He later said, "They preserved the basic integrity of the book and its main theme. Brian and Curtis took a work of fiction that had eight plotlines, reduced those to three, and retained the dramatic force of three men working out their destiny."<ref name="sragow" />

Warner Bros. executive [[Bill Gerber]] showed the script to Michael Nathanson, CEO of [[New Regency Productions]], which had a deal with the studio. Nathanson loved it, but they had to get the approval of New Regency's owner, [[Arnon Milchan]]. Hanson prepared a presentation that consisted of 15 vintage postcards and pictures of Los Angeles mounted on posterboards, and made his pitch to Milchan. The pictures consisted of orange groves, beaches, tract homes in the [[San Fernando Valley]], and the opening of the [[Hollywood Freeway]] to symbolize the image of prosperity sold to the public.<ref name= "sragow"/>
[[File:5618-30 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Building used for movie premiere scene in L.A. Confidential]]
In the pitch, Hanson showed the darker side of Ellroy's novel by presenting the cover of scandal rag ''[[Confidential (magazine)|Confidential]]'' and the famous shot of [[Robert Mitchum]] coming out of jail after his [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]] bust. He also had photographs of jazz musicians [[Zoot Sims]], [[Gerry Mulligan]], and [[Chet Baker]] to represent the popular music of the time.<ref name= "sragow"/> Hanson emphasized that the period detail would be in the background and the characters in the foreground.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edark.org/ellroy/english/menu3_en/toronto.html|title=Press Conference at Toronto International Film Festival|publisher=TIFF|year=1997|access-date=2015-11-15|archive-date=2008-12-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230175907/http://www.edark.org/ellroy/english/menu3_en/toronto.html}}</ref> Milchan was impressed with his presentation and agreed to finance it.

===Casting===
Hanson had seen [[Russell Crowe]] in ''[[Romper Stomper]]'' and found him "repulsive and scary, but captivating".<ref name= "sragow"/> The actor had read Ellroy's ''[[The Black Dahlia (novel)|The Black Dahlia]]'' but not ''L.A. Confidential''. When he read the script, Crowe was drawn to Bud White's "self-righteous moral crusade".<ref name= "Smith, Adam">{{cite news
 | last = Smith
 | first = Adam
 | title = The Nearly Man...
 | work = [[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]
 | date = December 1997
 }}</ref> Crowe fit the visual preconception of Bud. Hanson put the actor on tape doing a few scenes from the script and showed it to the film's producers, who agreed to cast him as Bud.<ref name= "amy">{{cite news
 | last = Taubin
 | first = Amy
 | title = L.A. Lurid
 | work = [[Sight & Sound]]
 | date = November 1997
 }}</ref>

[[Guy Pearce]] auditioned, and Hanson felt that he "was very much what I had in mind for Ed Exley."<ref name="sragow" /> The director purposely did not watch the actor in ''[[The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert]]'', afraid that it might influence his decision.<ref name="amy" /> As he did with Crowe, Hanson taped Pearce and showed it to the producers, who agreed he should be cast as Ed. Pearce did not like Ed when he first read the screenplay and remarked, "I was pretty quick to judge him and dislike him for being so self-righteous ... But I liked how honest he became about himself. I knew I could grow to respect and understand him."<ref name="kempley">{{cite news
 | last = Kempley
 | first = Rita
 | title = Guy Pearce Cuts Through the Chase
 | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]
 | date = September 21, 1997
 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1997/09/21/guy-pearce-cuts-through-the-chase/897472df-3e35-4512-be1d-9702ca04e02b/
 | access-date = July 21, 2015}}</ref>

Milchan was against casting "two Australians" in the American period piece (Pearce wryly noted in a later interview that while he and Crowe grew up in Australia, he was born in England to a New Zealand father, while the [[Māori people|Māori]] Crowe is a New Zealander too). Crowe and Pearce were also relative unknowns in North America, and Milchan was equally worried about the lack of film stars in the lead roles.<ref name= "sragow"/> But he supported Hanson's casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach [[Kim Basinger]], [[Danny DeVito]] and [[Kevin Spacey]]. Hanson cast Crowe and Pearce because he wanted to "replicate my experience of the book. You don't like any of these characters at first, but the deeper you get into their story, the more you begin to sympathize with them. I didn't want actors audiences knew and already liked."<ref name= "veniere">{{cite news
 | last = Veniere
 | first = James
 | title = Director of ''L.A. Confidential'' Hits Stride
 | work = [[Boston Herald]]
 | date = September 14, 1997
 }}</ref>

A third Australian actor unknown to American audiences at the time, [[Simon Baker]], later to star in the television series ''[[The Mentalist]]'', was cast in the smaller but noteworthy role of Matt Reynolds, a doomed young bisexual actor. He was billed as Simon Baker Denny in the film's credits.

Hanson felt that the character of Jack Vincennes was "a movie star among cops", and thought of Spacey, with his "movie-star charisma," casting him specifically against type.<ref name= "amy"/> The director was confident that the actor "could play the man behind that veneer, the man who also lost his soul," and when he gave him the script, he told him to think of [[Dean Martin]] while in the role.<ref name= "amy"/> Hanson cast Basinger because he felt that she "was the character to me. What beauty today could project the glamor of Hollywood's golden age?"<ref name= "veniere"/>

===Pre-production===
To give his cast and crew points and counterpoints to capture Los Angeles in the 1950s, Hanson held a "mini-film festival", showing one film a week: ''[[The Bad and the Beautiful]]'', because it epitomized the glamorous Hollywood look; ''[[In a Lonely Place]]'', because it revealed the ugly underbelly of Hollywood glamor; [[Don Siegel]]'s ''[[The Lineup (film)|The Lineup]]'' and ''[[Private Hell 36]]'', "for their lean and efficient style";<ref name= "amy"/> and ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'', because it was "so rooted in the futuristic '50s: the atomic age."<ref name= "sragow"/><ref name= "amy"/> Hanson and the film's cinematographer [[Dante Spinotti]] studied [[Robert Frank]]'s 1958 photographic book ''[[The Americans (photography)|The Americans]]'' and felt that the influence of his work was in every aspect of the film's visuals. Spinotti wanted to compose the shots of the film as if he was using a still camera and suggested Hanson shoot the film in the [[Super 35]] widescreen format with spherical lenses, which in Spinotti's opinion conveyed the feel of a still photo.<ref>{{cite web|first=David E.|last=Williams|url=https://ascmag.com/articles/wrap-shot-l-a-confidential|title=Wrap Shot: L.A. Confidential | publisher=American Society of Cinematographers|date=May 3, 2018|access-date=September 27, 2018 }}</ref>

Before filming took place, Hanson brought Crowe and Pearce to Los Angeles for two months to immerse them in the city and the time period.<ref name= "veniere"/> He also got them dialect coaches, showed them vintage police training films, and introduced them to real-life cops.<ref name= "veniere"/> Pearce found the contemporary police force had changed too much to be useful for research and disliked the police officer he rode along with because Pearce felt he was racist.<ref name= "hemblade">{{cite news
 | last = Hemblade
 | first = Christopher
 | title = Breaking the Mould...
 | work = [[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]
 | date = December 1997
 }}</ref> He found the police films more valuable because "there was a real sort of stiffness, a woodenness about these people" that he felt Exley had as well.<ref name= "veniere"/> For six weeks, Crowe, Pearce, Hanson and Helgeland conducted rehearsals, which consisted of their discussing each scene in the script.<ref name= "arnold">{{cite news
 | last = Arnold
 | first = Gary
 | title = Casting for ''L.A. Confidential'' went in unexpected direction
 | work = [[The Washington Times]]
 | pages = D3
 | date = September 21, 1997
 }}</ref> As other actors were cast they would join in the rehearsals.<ref name= "amy"/>

===Principal photography===
[[File:501 N Wilcox, Los Angeles 2.jpg|thumb|Lynn Bracken's house. 501 N. Wilcox Ave., Los Angeles]]
Hanson did not want the film to be an exercise in nostalgia, and so had Spinotti shoot it like a contemporary film, and used more naturalistic lighting than in a classic film noir.<ref name= "taubin">{{cite news
 | last = Taubin
 | first = Amy
 | title = Confidentially Speaking: Curtis Hanson Makes a Studio-Indie Hybrid
 | work = [[The Village Voice]]
 | date = September 23, 1997
 }}</ref> He told Spinotti and the film's production designer [[Jeannine Oppewall]] to pay great attention to period detail, but to then "put it all in the background".<ref name= "amy"/> ''L.A. Confidential'' was shot at the [[Linda Vista Community Hospital]] in the Los Angeles area.<ref name="npr">{{cite web|title=For Location Scouts, It's All About Making The Scene|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134032333/for-location-scouts-its-all-about-making-the-scene|work=[[NPR]]|date=February 25, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/l/laconf.html|title=Film locations for L.A. Confidential|publisher=Movie Locations|date=2015-10-30|access-date=2015-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130005432/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/l/laconf.html|archive-date=2012-01-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> Several famous Hollywood landmarks appropriate to the 1950s were used, including the [[Formosa Cafe]] in [[West Hollywood]], the Frolic Room on [[Hollywood Boulevard]], and the [[Crossroads of the World]], an outdoor shopping mall dressed as a movie theatre where the premiere of ''[[When Worlds Collide (1951 film)|When Worlds Collide]]'' takes place at the beginning of the film.<ref name="Chris Eggertson">{{cite web| url=https://la.curbed.com/maps/la-confidential-movie-kim-basinger|title='L.A. Confidential': The ultimate filming locations map| author=Chris Eggertson| publisher=la.curbed.com| date=2017-09-29| access-date=2018-03-07}}</ref>

Patchett's home is the [[Lovell House]], a famous [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] mansion designed by [[Richard Neutra]]. Bracken's house is at 501 Wilcox Avenue in the affluent [[Hancock Park]] neighborhood, overlooking the Wilshire Country Club.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/scene-lynn-brackens-house-l-confidential/| title=Scene It Before: Lynn Bracken's House From L.A. Confidential| author=Lindsay Blake| publisher=Los Angeles Magazine| date=2014-11-13| access-date=2018-03-07}}</ref> The house required a $75,000 renovation to transform it into the Spanish-style home described in the script.<ref name="Chris Eggertson"/> Historic [[Central Los Angeles]] neighborhoods were used for the scenes in which the police hunt down the Nite Owl suspects, including [[Angelino Heights]], [[Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles|Lincoln Heights]], and [[Koreatown, Los Angeles|Koreatown]].<ref name="Chris Eggertson"/> The Victory Motel was one of the only purpose-built sets, constructed on a flat stretch of the [[Inglewood Oil Field]] in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]].<ref name="Chris Eggertson"/>

===Music===
{{Main|L.A. Confidential: Original Motion Picture Score}}

[[Jerry Goldsmith]]'s score for the film was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score]], but lost to [[James Horner]]'s score for ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/oscarlegacy/1990-1999/70nominees.html |title=Nominees & Winners for the 70th Academy Awards |website=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218113916/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/oscarlegacy/1990-1999/70nominees.html |archive-date=February 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 21, 2015}}</ref>