According to the book "Robert Downey, Jr. - The fall and rise of the comeback kid", Mike Figgis and Robert Downey Jr. met at Kate Mantilini's, a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, to discuss this movie. Downey arrived two hours late, barefoot, high, and carrying a purse with a gun sticking out of it. Figgis was shocked at first, but started a conversation anyway. Downey, who had lost a lot of weight because of his addiction, still expected to be offered the lead role of Max. Figgis offered him the part of Charlie, a man dying of A.I.D.S. instead. This in turn, gave Downey a shock, but after taking a good look in the mirror (and doing a line of coke) he decided to accept the part.
In his autobiography "Hollywood Animal", Joe Eszterhas states that his completed script was ninety percent dialogue, and that Michael De Luca, New Line's head of production, told him that the company's employees liked the script so much, that they were going around the office reciting lines of dialogue.
Joe Eszterhas wrote the original script, which was a series of loosely-connected sex scenes. When Mike Figgis took over the project, and re-wrote most of the script, Ezsterhas decided to take his name off the film.
Adrian Lyne was the first choice to direct the film, but turned it down in order to helm the remake of Lolita (1997).
Includes several actors who would later appear in Marvel-based productions. Notably, Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. starred as Blade and Iron Man in their respective film series, while Thomas Haden Church portrayed the super-villain Sandman in the Spider-Man cinematic universe. Additionally, Ming-Na Wen played Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013), which also featured Kyle MacLachlan (as Calvin Zabo) and Saffron Burrows (as Victoria Hand) in recurring roles during its first two seasons.
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