Taglines: What if angels walked amoung us, and one of them fell in love with us?
City of Angels movie storyline. Seth is an angel who accompanies the spirits of the recently dead to the ever after. Seth has never been human and so has has never experienced touch or taste. When in the hospital however he comes across Dr. Maggie Rice, a brilliant young heart surgeon who is devoted to her profession and her patients.
Seth has the power to let himself be seen but Maggie finds him far too mysterious. Seth also meets a patient, Nathaniel Messinger, who has news for him – he too was once an angel like Seth but chose to fall to Earth and become human. Seth makes a decision on his future, which does not turn out as he had expected.
City of Angels is a 1998 U.S. romantic fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling and starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is a loose remake of Wim Wenders’ 1987 German film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), which was set in Berlin.
As with the original, City of Angels tells the story of an angel who falls in love with a human, and wishes to become human in order to be with her. Themes were borrowed from Wenders’ work, though the ending was altered. It was filmed around California and dedicated to producer Dawn Steel, who died before the premiere.
The remake was released to financial success, but mixed reviews, with a few critics judging it to be a mawkish adaptation. It was also noted for its soundtrack, and nominated for several awards, particularly for its performances and soundtrack.
The film opened first in the box office, making $16.1 million in its opening weekend. It displaced Lost in Space, which was first in the box office for one week, after overtaking Titanic, first for 15 weeks. Titanic ranked third behind City of Angels and Lost in Space. City of Angels finished its run after grossing $78,685,114 in North America and $120 million in other territories, for a total of nearly $200 million. Writer Craig Detweiler concluded the remake drew more viewers than the original.
In test screenings, Silberling said it had favorable reactions, though with come confused viewers. City of Angels had its debut at Los Angeles’ Mann Theatres on April 8, 1998. The screening was held to benefit the Dawn Steel Putting Girls in the Picture Fund, in honor of Steel, who died in December 1997. Silberling, Roven and their stars were in attendance. The film’s wider release in the United States took place during the weekend.
Director Brad Silberling praised Wim Wenders’ 1987 German film Wings of Desire, calling it “truly the most incredible cinematic experience of observation of human detail”. Silberling, while acknowledging Wenders’ film was meant as a tribute to West Berlin, remarked that it became “a larger human discussion”. In 1989, at the initiative of producer Dawn Steel, a U.S. company reached out to Wenders to purchase the rights. Silberling secured the position of director after his success with the 1995 film adaptation of Casper. It was the last film produced by Steel, with her husband Charles Roven, before her death, and it is dedicated to her.
While City of Angels is a remake, star Nicolas Cage said that moving the setting from Berlin in the time of the Wall to Los Angeles demanded story changes, with heavier focus on romance. Although Silberling did not use the black and white the angels see in the original Wings of Desire and Faraway, So Close!, the remake does borrow the idea of angels inhabiting libraries. The ending of the story was also altered, so Maggie is killed, a less happy conclusion than the original. Silberling equated this to a scene in Wings of Desire where the angel protagonist goes to the side of a motorcyclist near death.
Cage said that with this role, he had to switch from his regular methods of constant movements to trying to be “effective” while often still. He remarked on having to adopt the mindset of a child, and act impressed by commonplace experiences such as feeling rain or sunlight. Some of the film was shot at Lake Tahoe’s surrounding areas and Kern County. Ryan’s death scene was filmed on Old Mill Road in Crestline, California. The library scenes were shot at San Francisco Public Library.
The City of Angels soundtrack debuted at number twenty-three on the Billboard 200 chart on the issue dated 18 April 1998. Its two singles, the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” and Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited”, were released to U.S. radio in March and were still receiving substantial radio airplay by the following August.
City of Angels (1998)
Directed by: Brad Silberling
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, Andre Braugher, Dennis Franz, Joanna Merlin, Colm Feore, Robin Bartlett, Sarah Dampf, Rhonda Dotson, Lauri Johnson, Wanda Christine, Aymara Limma, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Brenneman
Screenplay by: Dana Stevens
Production Design by: Lilly Kilvert
Cinematography by: John Seale
Film Editing by: Lynzee Klingman
Costume Design by: Shay Cunliffe
Set Decoration by: Gretchen Rau
Art Direction by: John Warnke
Music by: Gabriel Yared
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: April 10, 1998 (United States), July 23, 1998 (Germany)
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