Taglines: When it comes to murder, seduction and betrayal he wrote the book. Now he’s living it!
The Singing Detective movie storyline. Suffering from the skin disease psoriasis and crippling psoriatic arthritis, detective novelist Dan Dark is in such pain in a hospital that he begins to delve into fantasy, resulting in several storylines told simultaneously:
— A film noir based on Dark’s novel, The Singing Detective, in which a nightclub singer/private eye, hired by Mark Binney, takes on a strange case involving prostitutes and two mysterious men. Nothing is ever solved from this, only a vague plot. Notably, all of the people in the film noir are played by people who are real people in Dark’s life; for example, Dark’s nurse plays a singer.
— The present reality, in which Dark is tormented by incredible pain. Dark interacts with the various people around him, as the doctors and nurses attempt to help, but are dismissed by Dark’s anger and bitterness towards everyone. His sense of reality then collapses into hallucinations as the people randomly sing choreographed musical numbers, such as “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?” In the end, his reality is blended with the film noir and he is abducted by the two mysterious men, only to be shot by the titular “singing detective”.
— Dark’s traumatic childhood in the past, which explains Dark’s repulsion toward sexuality (Dark had watched his mother have sex with other men, including his father’s business partner), and his own fiery temper.
Potter’s screenplay had been circulating in Hollywood for many years as Potter was enthusiastic about a film version. Robert Altman was at one time attached to direct with Dustin Hoffman in the lead, but financing proved difficult and the production was shelved. It was eventually discovered by an executive at Mel Gibson’s production company Icon Productions, who loved it and got Gibson on board to produce. The screenplay had also been imagined as a horror film directed by genre veteran David Cronenberg and starring Al Pacino as the title character.
The Singing Detective is a 2003 American musical crime comedy film directed by Keith Gordon and loosely based on the BBC serial of the same name, a work by British writer Dennis Potter. It stars Robert Downey, Jr. and features a supporting cast that includes Katie Holmes, Adrien Brody, Robin Wright Penn, and Mel Gibson, as well as a number of songs from the 1950s.
The Singing Detective (2003)
Directed by: Keith Gordon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Robin Wright, Mel Gibson, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Adrien Brody, Carla Gugino, Saul Rubinek, Amy Aquino, David Dorfman
Screenplay by: Dennis Potter
Production Design by: Patricia Norris
Cinematography by: Tom Richmond
Film Editing by: Jeff Wishengrad
Costume Design by: Patricia Norris
Set Decoration by: Jan K. Bergstrom
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, language and some violence.
Distributed by: Paramount Classics
Release Date: October 24, 2003
Views: 94
