The Devil's Advocate (1997) on Netflix
R19972h 24mDramaMysteryThriller
Kevin Lomax wins every case he defends in Gainesville, Florida. A Manhattan firm's head, John Milton, recruits him, and Kevin and Mary Ann, his wife, relocate to New York City.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.5/10452,372 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes63%
Trailer
Plot summary
Kevin Lomax practices defense law in Gainesville, Florida, and his record in court is unblemished. While representing the schoolteacher Lloyd Gettys on a child molestation charge, he becomes convinced his client is guilty, and he cross-examines the accuser hard to secure an acquittal. A law firm in New York City then asks him to help pick a jury, and the firm's head, John Milton, offers him a position. Kevin and Mary Ann, his wife, move to Manhattan. Long hours at the office keep him away from her, and she is troubled by visions. Milton puts him on the defense of Alex Cullen, a billionaire charged in the deaths of his wife, stepson and a maid.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Keanu Reeves turned down a promised $11 million to star in Speed 2, choosing The Devil's Advocate instead because he did not want two consecutive action films after Chain Reaction. He also took a pay cut worth millions so producers could meet Al Pacino's salary demands.
- Al Pacino rejected the role of the Devil three times because he found the character clichéd, and suggested Robert Redford and Sean Connery for the part before finally taking it.
- Joel Schumacher was set to direct an earlier adaptation with Brad Pitt as the young lawyer, planning a sequence in which Pitt descends into the New York subway modeled on the circles of hell in Dante's Divine Comedy. The project collapsed because no actor was found to play Satan.
SPOILER
At the end of The Devil's Advocate, John Milton becomes Lucifer as a fallen angel. The effect combined life masks of Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino in 1997, and Pacino in The Godfather. Makeup artist Dick Smith gave Rick Baker, his former protege, the 1970s mask.- The ballerinas moving in water that became Milton's animated sculpture were filmed naked in a tank next to a blue screen; the effect took three months and cost $2 million, 40% of the film's special-effects budget.
- The scene of Keanu Reeves walking on a deserted 57th Street in New York was shot on the real street, which the filmmakers had emptied at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday.
