Trailer
Plot summary
Sunny von Bülow is a wealthy heiress and socialite. In December 1980 she falls into a diabetic coma and remains in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband Claus von Bülow is charged with trying to kill her with an insulin overdose. At his trial, testimony covers his affair with the actress Alexandra Isles and the money he would gain from her death. He is convicted on two counts of attempted murder. Out on bail, he asks Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz to handle his appeal. Dershowitz takes the case and assembles a team of law students to prepare it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriter Nicholas Kazan originally considered Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer for the role of Claus von Bülow, but Jeremy Irons was ultimately cast in the part.
- Although the real-life von Bulow estate was Clarendon Court in Newport, Rhode Island, the filmmakers used establishing shots of The Breakers, the nearby Gilded Age mansion built for industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt II, instead of the actual house.
SPOILER
The film dramatizes the real case surrounding the unexplained coma of socialite Sunny von Bülow, the subsequent attempted murder trial of her husband Claus von Bülow, and his eventual acquittal, in which Dershowitz served as part of the defense team.- The courtroom scenes were filmed inside a real, functioning courthouse: the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, in Brooklyn, New York.
