The tradition in Hollywood is that dark themes are difficult to be put on the big screen. Black dahlia perfectly weaves the legends of true crime and the city. Different from the traditional murder case, the case affects everyone around. Therefore, this film not only explores who the murderer is, but also describes the impact of the case on LAPD and the women around the detective. Director brian palma knows the essence of film noir very well and is very good at this kind of subject. Palma admits that he not only intends to tell the story of Dahlia, but also wants to explore the world of fictional characters in the book, who are all affected by the murder. Palma always likes twists and turns, so he especially appreciates that "everyone in the novel is lying". Sometimes you feel that someone is expressing his feelings, but it is actually the opposite of what he said before. Every character has a compromise ... and finally can't extricate themselves. "

All the adapted scripts will delete some plots of the original. When exposing the Dahlia crime scene, Palma turned the audience's attention to another scene (gun battle scene) at the same time when the abandoned body was found. This kind of treatment is completely opposite to that in the novel. Palma believes that it is even more ironic that big cases are hidden behind small cases. Although both the director and the screenwriter think it is necessary to put the original text and complicated subplots on the screen, they also know that the image world of the film needs skills that novelists do not have. For example, the original book points out that Elizabeth's killer carved a terrible smile on her face, inspired by the role of Guan Bolan in Hugo's The Smiling Man. Guan Bolan was disfigured because the king committed treason to avenge his father. This character is also the inspiration for the clown in Batman. Brian pointed out that in the original work, the murderer was so impressed by the "smiling face" that he did the same atrocity on Dahlia's face, so he asked the staff, "How to behave? Are there any related movies? The result is of course there. " Palma will let Leland, Dwight and Kay in the film watch German director Paul Leni's Smiling Man on 1928, thus solving the problem. (It happens that this old film was also made by Universal Pictures, and it is one of the earliest audio films of the company. )

Elizabeth Short was finally put on the big screen after nearly 60 years of murder. She dreamed of becoming a touching actress before her death, and now it has really branded in people's hearts, but the process is so terrible. Elizabeth died when she was very young, but her story will live on. How did such a beautiful woman become like this? Who is the murderer and why? "black dahlia" has been circulating for decades, and it will become a mystery that will never be solved.

★ The first part of the Los Angeles trilogy

This film is based on true crime and adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name. The victim, Elizabeth Short, was born on July 29th, 1924. During World War II, many actresses dreamed of making a name for themselves in Hollywood, and Short was no exception. She 19 went to Los Angeles alone. However, Elizabeth's dream did not go well. She often hangs out in celebrity social places, trying to exchange her body for money or performance opportunities. It is said that Elizabeth met her male friends at Biltmore Hotel on Grand Avenue on 19471October 9, which was her last public appearance. Elizabeth likes black hair and often wears beautiful flowers on her head. The Blue Dahlia starring blonde actress Veronica Reich has just been released, so black dahlia became her nickname before and after her death.

1947, a young actress was killed, which shocked Hollywood and America. Los Angeles is a major entertainment city, full of gangsters, dirty film company directors and corrupt policemen. Everyone wants to take advantage of this young woman ... and want to know her tragic death story. For months, newspapers and tabloids have taken Elizabeth's story as the headline, from "Who killed Elizabeth Short? From black bag and black shoes: sexy dahlias lead the way, and Elizabeth became a Hollywood legend after her death. All the people involved in the investigation plunged into it, either trying to ruin Dalia's reputation or trying to save her reputation. After Elizabeth was killed, various messages, accusations and confessions were sent out, but the murderer was never arrested, which became an unsolved case in the Los Angeles Major Crimes Unit. Forty years after Elizabeth's murder, the crime novelist James eloy wrote black dahlia, which became a bestseller as soon as it was published. Later, James successively published three works in the style of Nowhere, Los Angeles Secret and White Jazz, thus completing the creation of the so-called "Los Angeles Tetralogy".

Reflect the spirit of film noir.

The actors in black dahlia must be able to embody the spirit of modern film noir. They can not only perform thrillers in the forties and fifties, but also become clowns who imitate the characters of that year. Director brian palma believes that "excellent actors can create a completely amazing atmosphere." After solving the funding problem, the biggest challenge for directors and producers is to select a new generation of Hollywood actors with superb acting skills, otherwise they will not be able to successfully interpret the essence of James eloy's original works, let alone express the true soul of the film black. Finally, five carefully selected young stars will be in place in turn. Among them, after josh hartnett's detective Dwight was caught in a murder case, his world was completely out of his control. "Although the world is so corrupt, Dwight is quite decent, just like Henry Bogart's film noir. Harneit is not only faced with a dialogue that conforms to the style of the year, but also practiced boxing for four hours every day for seven consecutive months to match the identity of a lightweight boxer before the hero; Another protagonist of the complicated love triangle is Allen Eckhardt, who became popular because of The Diary of a Bad Man. Palma thinks he is a "young Kirk Douglas", which is just the opposite of the well-behaved Dwight. Allen can show Leland's madness and play a hot-blooded detective.

After choosing the leading actor, Palma has to look for three actresses. These three characters are full of amorous feelings, but they are definitely not ignorant girls waiting for rescue. It's all mysterious and can never be seen through. Kay Rico is an injured woman taken in by Leland, and also the object of Dwight's secret love. Palma thinks it is necessary to find an actress with sophisticated eyes. She must look like a person who has come out of the past, which reminds people of the old days. He knows Scarlett Johansson. Many years ago, she was just playing The Horse Whisperer. Scarlett's performance left a deep impression on him, and he decided to cooperate with her in the future. Canadian actress mia kirshner (Jenny in the lesbian TV series "La Zi Supreme") auditioned for the role of Madeleine in advance. Palma appreciated her superb acting skills, so she added Dahlia with the screenwriter and invited Mia to play the little actor. As for the misleading and seductive role of Madeleine, the director thinks that this person should not only have the charm of a femme fatale, but also look like mia kirshner. It is clearly pointed out in the original work that Dahlia was killed only because she looks like another person. Two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank signed up to play this immoral woman after her performance of Million Dollar Baby. She believes that this role is very complicated, and the actor must be able to interpret the image of "a poor and rich woman who is always ready to bring men into the house". Palma believes that "Hillary is a typical spider woman. She can play a very fragile woman and show her evil side immediately."

Rebuilding old Los Angeles.

James eloy described the dark side of Los Angeles as "evil, sexual desire and super morbid". In order to create Los Angeles in 1947, the film crew went to Sofia. "The audience can also see Beverly Hills, but it is far from Sofia." In June, 2005, the film crew returned to Los Angeles to shoot unique local pictures, and finally went to the town hall of Spring Street to take photos. In order to conform to the fashion style of that year, the fashion designer specially transported the clothes from London to Bulgaria, especially the "radiant" clothes of the three heroines. Hilary Swank used to be Calvin Klein's underwear model. She admired the costume modeling in the film and felt that she was "as dazzling as Judy Garland or rita hayworth" as soon as she put on the costume. Even Palma said that all three actresses were beautifully dressed and as sexy as possible. "They are beautifully dressed (taking pictures), and it's hard to stand them." The tailor also prepared silk flower, black satin dresses and worn socks for Dahlia. Scarlett Johansson found that Kay Rico also had many beautiful clothes. Regarding her short-sleeved sweater, pearls and antique hair clips, Scarlett smiled and said, "How can you feel sexy in this dress?" The actor's costume is a wide tie, a double-breasted suit and a fedora. Although both leading men are low-income detectives, Allen Eckhardt and josh hartnett are wearing the most popular clothes of the year.

In addition, the director attached great importance to the atmosphere of the soundtrack, so he invited composer and jazz trumpeter Mark Isa, and his sad voice greatly echoed the blues style of the film. In addition, of course, there are long-legged Caballe girls in nightclubs in the 1940s. Mia Frye, a dancer that Parma worked with in "A femme fatale", specially invited French, Bulgarian and British dancers to recreate the style of nightclubs in those days. (Tom movie)