Promising young lawyer Kevin Lomax
(Keanu Reeves) has never lost a case--even when his client
is guilty. When Kevin is seduced away from his sleepy
hometown in Florida to work for a flashy, charming lawyer
(Al Pacino, in a role he seems born to play), his mother
(Judith Ivey) has reservations. But as he works his way up
the corporate ladder, Kevin manages to put them aside, along
with his wife's (Charlize Theron) needs and the stirrings of
his conscience over knowingly defending the guilty. However,
his vanity won't let him start losing now. As Kevin's career
skyrockets, his neglected wife Mary Ann begins to see evil,
violent visions. Hoping a visit from his mother will help,
instead Kevin finds himself confronted with a secret his
mother has never told him. As Mary Ann seemingly descends
into madness, Kevin begins to suspect his boss may be much
more than he seems, and he finds himself faced with a choice
between saving his own life and saving his soul.
Thought-provoking, inventive, and entertaining, director
Taylor Hackford's film is reminiscent of psychological
horror films like ROSEMARY'S BABY. Andrzej Bartkowiak's
lush, innovative cinematography complements the smart script
and dead-on acting.
"...Executed with unconventional panache and
anchored by dazzling performances from Al Pacino and
Charlize Theron..."
"...The film is brightly lit and bizarrely
jaunty....Pacino lets loose with his full range of
mannerisms..."
A hotshot Florida defense attorney (Keanu Reeves) takes a
too-good-to-be-true position with a Manhattan legal
partnership headed by the unctuous, powerful, and
inappropriately named John Milton (the gleefully evil Al
Pacino), who proffers a fabulous Fifth Avenue flat, untold
riches, and scuzzy, amoral clients who are guiltier than sin
of murder and child molestation. But is the ladder to
success literally the road to hell, with Satan himself in
the executive washroom? DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is more morality
play than supernatural shocker, with a rich supporting cast
and tasty cameos from the evil likes of Don King and former
senator Alphonse D'Amato.
Theatrical release: October 17, 1997. Filmed on location
in Florida and New York. Keanu Reeves, already involved in
the project, volunteered to slash his salary to enable the
producers to hire Al Pacino, whom Reeves thought perfect for
the part. Delroy Lindo has an uncredited appearance as a
Santeria practitioner whom Lomax must defend against charges
of animal sacrifice. Donald Trump's own Fifth Avenue
penthouse was used as the home of Craig T. Nelson's
character, Alexander Cullen, a real estate developer.
Charlize Theron tested four times for the role of Mary Ann
Lomax. Although director Taylor Hackford liked her for the
role all along, he was afraid that she was so beautiful,
audiences would find her unsympathetic. For the scene in
which Milton morphs into his younger self, special-effects
artists merged a model of Reeves's head with models of
Pacino's own face from his younger days in THE GODFATHER.
"I have so many names."--John Milton (Al Pacino)
to Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves)
Evil has its winning ways.
"...Seductive....A lavish-looking, cleverly
entertaining morality play with shades of ROSEMARY'S
BABY..."
"...THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE is probably Pacino's finest
bad performance since SCARFACE....He emotes with lewd
abandon..."
