Black Rain (1989)
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Yûsaku Matsuda's last film role. Matsuda knew he had bladder cancer and that his condition would be aggravated by acting in the movie. He elected to do so anyway, unbeknownst to director Ridley Scott, reportedly saying, "This way, I will live forever." On November 6, 1989, less than seven weeks after the film's American premiere, Matsudo died of his bladder cancer at the age of 40. The film is dedicated to his memory.
The winery where the final battle takes place is not in Japan, but in Napa County, California. The filmmaker's visa had run out, so final filming was shifted to the United States.
When the crew ran even a few minutes over their allotted filming time at any given location in Japan, not only were they told to leave, a man physically walked in front of the camera and forbade them from continuing filming.
In Japanese cinema, Ken Takakura was well known for regularly playing Yakuza gangsters, whilst Yûsaku Matsuda was well known for regularly playing detectives. In Black Rain (1989) though, Takakura plays a cop and Matsuda plays a Yakuza.
Ken Takakura could not in fact speak a word of English in real life, at all. Throughout the entirety of the movie, his lines were said through practiced tones that he would sometimes spend days perfecting. As such, an acting coach would correspondingly teach him the correct emotions/actions to display in the scene.
In one of his last scenes, Sugai (Tomisaburô Wakayama) relates a story about "black rain." This refers to the combination of soot and radioactive fallout that was in the air after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When interacting with clouds, this would cause rain to fall that was black in color and highly lethal.
The first collaboration between composer Hans Zimmer and director Ridley Scott. Zimmer would go on to score a number of Scott's movies such as Hannibal (2001), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Matchstick Men (2003).
The Japanese character seen at the end of the film reads "kan," which unsurprisingly translates as "the end," or more roughly, "completed."
Jan de Bont replaced Howard Atherton as director of photography. Atherton shot most of the film, but he got so frustrated in Japan that he resigned. de Bont was then brought in to finish the rest of the film and received official credit; Atherton is credited for "Additional Photography."
According to the audio commentary on the DVD for Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Ridley Scott vowed never to shoot in Japan again due to high cost and excessive bureaucratic wrangling that was incurred during location filming there.
Ridley Scott's first cut of the film was 2 hours and 40 minutes long.
Widely considered a return to form for Ridley Scott, who had come off a string of financial and critical failures stemming back to Blade Runner (1982). His comeback would be cemented when his follow-up, Thelma & Louise (1991), garnered universal acclaim and multiple Academy Award nominations, including Scott's first of three nominations for Best Director.
Paul Verhoeven was originally attached to direct the film as his follow-up to RoboCop (1987). He dropped out to make Total Recall (1990) instead. Verhoeven and Michael Douglas would later work together on Basic Instinct (1992).
Jackie Chan turned down the role of Sato, as he felt audiences didn't want to see him play a "bad" character.
At the time the film was made, Ken Takakura was reportedly Japan's biggest box-office star.
The exterior of Sugai's house was the Ennis-Brown House, which is situated at 2655 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz in Los Angeles, California. Director Ridley Scott had previously used the dwelling for Deckard's apartment complex in Blade Runner (1982).
Ken Takakura was so popular at the time of filming that the sets would be mobbed by fans trying to get his autograph. This caused trouble as the film was on a very strict time frame.
Rutger Hauer and Harrison Ford were considered to play Nick Conklin since they both worked with each other and Ridley Scott on Blade Runner seven years before this film.
Often considered the Ridley Scott film most comparable to one of his late brother Tony Scott's pictures. Tony has been called one of the key pioneers of the contemporary Hollywood stylistic action epic.
This 1989 picture features veteran Japanese actor Tomisaburô Wakayama who portrayed Sugai. This movie was one of his final films, and on April 2, 1992, Wakayama passed away of heart failure, at the age of 62.
The area in which the "club" scenes take place is in fact the area of Dotonbori bridge, in Osaka. This can be confirmed by the presence of the world famous "Glico Man" sign in several shots. The location where the club existed in the movie is now a drug store.
The "Osaka police office" is in fact the "Office of prevention of natural disasters", next door to the Osaka police headquarters.
First time that Michael Douglas played a cop / detective on the big-screen. During the 1970s, Douglas had been well known for playing Inspector Steve Keller in the TV series The Streets of San Francisco (1972).
The motorcyclists within the movie are modeled after a real gang that frequents the streets of Osaka, known as "Bosozoku". The Bosozoku still exist in Japan to this day, and truly do in fact taunt and disturb the locals of Osaka, acting as vigilantes/anarchists of sorts.
This is the second film that was released in the 1980's featuring actress Kate Capshaw as an American expatriate involved with the asian criminal underworld. First she appeared as the night club singer, Willie Scott, in the opening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), set in Shanghai, China. In Black Rain (1989) she plays, Joyce, the hostess of a night club in Osaka, Japan.
Nick Conklin was told that he was a laughing stock for having signed over his prisoner to the Yakuza on insurance forms. However had the events been real, it would have paled in comparison to the lapse of Japan's police in not securing the plane at the airport before the Mob could board. Conklin could have also sued in International Court and would have been under no obligation to track down the suspect having successfully extradited him.
Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner, Willem Dafoe, Richard Dreyfuss, Mel Gibson, Michael Keaton, Michael Nouri, Ron Perlman, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze, Peter Weller and Bruce Willis, were considered for the role of Nick Conklin. Paramount favored Michael Douglas due to his favorable relationship with producers Sherry Lansing and Stanley R. Jaffe.
Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote and performed the song "Laserman" for the soundtrack.
This was Ridley Scott and Jan De Bont's first experience with filming in the Super 35 format. De Bont was also unsure if the film was going to be presented in 1.85:1 or 2.39:1.
The "Yakuza" are the Japanese mafia. This is one of first American and Hollywood feature films to feature them, others being Armed Response (1986), The Challenge (1982) and The Yakuza (1974). In Japanese cinema, there is an entire genre of "Yakuza Film" which are very popular with audiences.
During the plane flight from New York to Osaka, Nick and Charlie have a brief discussion about a fellow cop named "Ronan" who apparently took money from a drug bust. In Japan, a "Ronin" is traditionally a renegade, master-less samurai, often one who is viewed with derision by samurai of better standing.
Originally touted for an August 1989 theatrical release, Paramount pushed the release date back to early fall, on September 22, to avoid that year's crowded summer season.
The battle inside the steel mill takes place at the former Mitsubishi steel works in Osaka. It is now the location of Universal Studios Japan.
Richard Riehle and Stephen Root later appeared together as respective Grandfathers of the children on Grounded for Life (2001).
The scene when the motorcycles circle Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia is filmed in the Osaka neighborhood of Shin-Sekai, as can be confirmed by several Kanji signs in the foreground, as well as a large "Shin-Sekai" sign, briefly seen when the motorcyclists leave the area.
Yusaku Matsuda's own personal "Blu Sera" Ferrari Testarossa is seen sitting on the right side of the shot at Dotonbori bridge, prior to Nick and Charlie entering the club to bear witness to a murder. In reality, vehicles are not allowed to sit alongside Dotonbori bridge in Osaka; they are only allowed to pass alongside the sideroads parallel to the bridge.
One of two 1989 movies entitled "Black Rain". A film about the aftermath of Hiroshima's atomic bombing by Shôhei Imamura was released the same year with a Japanese title Black Rain (1989) which translates to "Black Rain". The two films are, of course, totally unrelated.
In the scene where Nick and Charlie are being taunted by a motorcyclist who steals Charlie's jacket, the trio of characters are seen walking through the empty halls of the old Hankyu Umeda mall. This mall was torn down in its entirety in the year 2000.
The film's plot was the original plot of Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) which was directed by Ridley Scott's brother Tony.
The sixth feature film directed by Ridley Scott.
Spoilers
The scene where Charlie (Andy Garcia) sings on stage at the night-club with Masahiro (Ken Takakura) was not in the script. Garcia conceived the scene to add extra emotional involvement to his character, before he is brutally murdered in the following scene.
At the end of the movie Nick apprehends Sato, although there is a moment when he is torn between arresting and killing him. Ridley Scott also shot an alternative ending where Nick follows through and impales Sato on the spike.