Did You Know?
Director Sam Raimi wanted Bruce Campbell to play the lead role, but the producers were uncertain that Campbell could handle the part.
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Director Sam Raimi originally wanted to base this movie on "The Shadow" and had to create the character of "Darkman" when he couldn't obtain the rights.
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Julia Roberts was almost cast as Julie Hastings before she got the role in Pretty Woman and had to be replaced.
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After the film's release, there was talk of doing a Darkman TV series, but it never came into fruition.
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A display case in Robert Durant's mansion seems to imply that he is a veteran of the U.S. Army's famed 101st Airborne Division.
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In the cemetery scene, on the nearest tombstone, appear the set designer's name, George Denes Suhayda.
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Sam Raimi described his intent for the film to be like an ideal comic book: "as dynamic and smashing as possible."
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Originated from a short story by Sam Raimi that paid homage to the Universal horror films of the 1930s.
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The production suffered from behind-the-scenes troubles. The screenwriting process was grueling, and there were lengthy post-production battles with the studio. Also, Sam Raimi and Frances McDormand clashed because of creative differences. She was allegedly very difficult to direct.
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Among Durant's henchmen, the only one who survives is the one with a machine gun hidden inside a wooden leg. His fate remains unknown.
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For the role of Darkman, Sam Raimi wanted someone who could play a monster with the soul of a man. An actor who could do all that beneath a lot of makeup. He also liked Liam Neeson's Gary Cooper charisma. Neeson was drawn to the operatic nature of the story and the inner turmoil of the character. To research the role, Neeson contacted the Phoenix Society, an organization that helps accident victims with severe disfigurements adjust to re-entering society.
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Larry Drake was cast because of the way he underplayed Durant. Quiet, careful, but intense. Sam Raimi had never watched a single episode of L.A. Law, where Drake played the retarded Benny. But Drake's face reminded him of a modern day Edward G. Robinson. He looked so mean and domineering, yet he had an urban wit about him. Raimi believed these qualities made him the perfect adversary for Darkman.
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The script went through 12 drafts overall. The reason is because Sam Raimi wanted to explore Peyton/Darkman's arc over the course of the film. He said: "I decided to explore a man's soul. In the beginning, a sympathetic, sincere man. In the middle, a vengeful man committing heinous acts against his enemies. And in the end, a man full of self-hatred for what he's become, who must drift off into the night, into a world apart from everyone he knows and all the things he loves."
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Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand worked closely in rehearsals. They even rewrote the three love scenes they had together after he becomes Darkman. They got through the scenes, according to McDormand, by depending on each other's knowledge of theatre, and each other.
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Durant's finger fetish derived from Sam Raimi wanting the character to have a specific trademark - one that hinted at a military background. Which would explain why Durant is proficient with a grenade launcher when he's firing it from a helicopter.
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Liam Neeson worked 18 hour days in ten-piece makeup, but he liked the challenge, and the idea of working behind a mask on camera, as well as exploring the possibilities this entailed. Neeson also had input on the costume he wore as Darkman, especially the cloak. The hardest part was speaking with false teeth, because he didn't want them to move at all.
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The editing process was extremely difficult, and the editor allegedly had a nervous breakdown and left production. The Universal executives were also rather nervous with some of the wild things in the film and insisted they be taken out. Sam Raimi confessed that studio movie-making, as opposed to independent filmmaking, didn't fulfill him in the same way. Raimi attributed Universal's marketing campaign to Darkman's success at the box-office.
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Danny Elfman thoroughly enjoyed working with Sam Raimi on this movie. He commented "Sam has a wonderful visual style that lends itself easily to music. There was no reason to hold back on this one." The two would collaborate on future projects, but they're partnership ended with Spider-Man 2, due to creative differences.
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Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, close friends of Sam Raimi, did some uncredited doctoring on the finished script.
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Kathy Bates was originally cast as the burn doctor but backed out before filming. Jenny Agutter took over the role at the request of John Landis.
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Director Trademark
Sam Raimi:
[Oldsmobile]
The beige 70's-vintage Oldsmobile seen in so many of Sam Raimi's films appears when Darkman is flying over the bridge dodging oncoming traffic. During a close-up shot of the oncoming Olds, you can see Sam Raimi's friends (and fellow filmmakers) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen driving the car.
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Spoilers
In addition to playing Darkman in his final transformation at the end, Bruce Campbell also voiced some of the screams of characters who fall to their deaths.
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Around the time of the film's release, Universal Studios donated $5,000 to Strack Middle School in Klein, Texas, as part of their unique promotional strategy (the school shares the name with Darkman's main villain).
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