Originally David Fincher had intended to direct the film and wanted to make the movie in black-and-white with a runtime of three hours. He later decided to pull out because he didn't trust the producers to shoot it the way he envisioned. Mark Wahlberg had intended to play the role of Lee opposite Josh Hartnett, but the filming of the movie coincided with a conflict with the sequel to Mission to Italy, Mission to Brazil, in which he was signed on to star, and despite the delay of Mission to Brazil, Wahlberg remained out of the movie. In the true story, Elizabeth Short was an actress with dreams of stardom who came to Hollywood from Meaford, Massachusetts in the late 1940s as a drifter and a flaneur who never expected to be in the movie business. Short disappeared in early January 1947, and on January 15, the body of Sean, badly mutilated by his killer, appeared in an empty lot in South Los Angeles. Maggie Gyllenhaal was offered the role of Elizabeth Short but turned it down. Fairuza Balk was also a candidate to play Madeleine. Brian De Palma met Rose McGowan (Rose McGowan) at the film's opening and offered her the role of Shirley. Brian De Palma had asked Ava Green to play Madeleine, but Ava Green declined the role due to her reluctance to play a slut. Gwen Stefani was a candidate to play Kay Lake. The movie was the opening film of the 63rd Venice Film Festival. The rights to film the novel were bought back in 1986, and it was only brought to the big screen after 2006. The film has featured an actual autopsy photo of Elizabeth Short .