The Usual Suspect (1995) | Presenting Hitchcock Podcast

Gooooood evening. In this month’s episode of Presenting Hitchcock, Cory and Aaron are lining up to prove their innocence as they discuss The Usual Suspects.

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Suzy Amis, Giancarlo Esposito, and Dan Hedaya

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Hitchcock comparisons:

• Dial M For Murder
• The Wrong Man
• The Man Who Knew Too Much

Christopher McQuarrie cameo: The writer can be seen as the police officer at the very end of the film, on the left hand side of the frame as Dave Kujan looks for Verbal Kint. He is visibly laughing at the camera, in a nod and wink gesture to the audience who got bamboozled.

Bryan Singer described the film as Double Indemnity (1944) meets Rashomon (1950), and said that it was made “so you can go back and see all sorts of things you didn’t realize were there the first time. You can get it a second time in a way you never could have the first time around.” He also compared the film’s structure to Citizen Kane (1941) (which also contained an interrogator and a subject who is telling a story) and the criminal caper The Anderson Tapes (1971).

All of the characters’ names stem from the staff members of the law firm and the detective agency that Christopher McQuarrie worked at when he was young. Originally, Keyser Soze was supposed to have the name Keyser Sume, named after Christopher McQuarrie’s old boss. He allowed his old boss to read the script who did not want to be associated with an inherently evil villain, so requested a change be made. Other accounts say that he chose the name Keyser Soze from an English-to-Turkish dictionary.

Gabriel Byrne originally turned down the film, not believing that the filmmakers could pull it off. He was convinced after a sit-down meeting with Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer, impressed by their enthusiasm and vision. As the start date approached, Byrne backed out. He was undergoing personal issues at the time and unable to leave Los Angeles. Consequently, Singer reshuffled the schedule so that the entire film could be made in the L.A. area over a period of five weeks to accommodate his lead actor.

When Kevin Spacey was first sent the script, it wasn’t made clear to him which part Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer had in mind for him. Spacey was interested in playing Keaton or Kujan and was quite surprised when they told him that they wanted him to play Verbal Kint.

Verbal Kint says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.” This quote from the French poet Charles Baudelaire also appears in End of Days (1999), also featuring Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak.

When Redfoot flicks his cigarette into the face of McManus, it was originally intended to hit his chest, so McManus’ reaction is actually Stephen Baldwin’s real unscripted reaction, which Bryan Singer decided to keep in the movie.

The line-up scene was scripted as a serious scene, but after a full day of filming takes where the actors couldn’t keep a straight face, director Bryan Singer decided to use the funniest takes. A making-of documentary shows Singer becoming furious at the actors for the constant cracking-up.

In an interview on The Colbert Report (2005), Kevin Spacey revealed that Bryan Singer managed to convince every one of the major actors that they were Keyser Soze. When first screened for the company of actors, Gabriel Byrne was so stunned when he found that he wasn’t Keyser Soze that he stormed off into the parking lot and argued with Singer for a half hour.

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Next up, we’ll be discussing I Am Alfred Hitchcock

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