''Primal Fear'' is a 1996 American

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Gregory Hoblit Gregory Hoblit (born November 27, 1944) is an American film director, television director and television producer. He is known for directing the feature films '' Primal Fear'' (1996), '' Fallen'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), '' Hart's War'' (200 ...

, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by William Diehl, written by

Steve Shagan Stephen H. Shagan (October 25, 1927 – November 30, 2015) was an American novelist, screenwriter, and television and film producer. Early Shagan was born in Brooklyn, New York to Rachel (née Rosenzweig) and Barnard H. "Barney" Shagan.

and

Ann Biderman Ann Biderman (born August 15, 1951) is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the NBC/TNT series '' Southland'' (2009–2013), and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing i ...

. It stars

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film), Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Hea ...

Laura Linney Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards. ...

John Mahoney Charles John Mahoney (June 20, 1940 – February 4, 2018) was an English-American actor. He played retired police officer Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' from 1993 to 2004, receiving nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two P ...

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard ( ; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Scree ...

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

and

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...

in his film debut. The film follows a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based defense attorney who believes that his client, an

altar boy An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helping bring up the gifts, and bringing up ...

, is not guilty of murdering a

Catholic bishop In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy orders in the Catholic Church, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teachin ...

. The film was a box office success and received positive reviews, with Norton's performance earning critical praise. Norton won the

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previ ...

, and was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...

and the

BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognise an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performan ...

Plot

Martin Vail is an arrogant

defense attorney, known for defending undesirable but high-profile clients, including doctor (and alleged mob boss) Joey Piñero. Vail was previously a state prosecuting attorney, but after finding it to be a dead-end career, he became a defense attorney. Fond of the spotlight, Vail is profiled for a magazine cover story, then attempts to rekindle a casual relationship with former colleague, prosecutor Janet Venable. Publicly beloved

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Rushman is found murdered and mutilated in his bedroom. Aaron Stampler, a 19-year-old

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, is caught fleeing the scene covered in blood and subsequently charged with murder. Vail offers to defend him

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

. The meek,

stuttering Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

Aaron claims to be innocent, but is prone to

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

and unable to remember what happened about the murder. He claims a third person was in the room. Vail believes Aaron, while the

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

, John Shaughnessy, assigns Venable to prosecute the case and pursue the death penalty. At Aaron's apartment, Vail's investigator Tommy Goodman is attacked by another altar boy, Alex, who flees.

Neuropsychologist Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

Dr. Molly Arrington interviews Aaron about his difficult childhood, his memory lapses, and his missing girlfriend, Linda. With help from Piñero, Vail discovers that powerful civic leaders, including Shaughnessy, lost millions in real estate investments due to Rushman's decision not to develop church-owned land, which includes a pro bono clinic owned and operated by Piñero. A passage linked to ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who concei ...

'' was carved into Rushman's chest, which the police interpret as the murder motive and denouncing the archbishop as "two-faced". Vail and Goodman find Alex, who claims he was searching for an incriminating

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

cassette in Aaron's apartment. Removing the tape from the archbishop's closet at the crime scene, thus not properly entering it into the

chain of custody Chain of custody (CoC), in legal contexts, is the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of materials, including physical or electronic evidence. Of particul ...

, Vail and his team discover multiple footage filmed by the archbishop in which he coerces Aaron, Linda, and Alex to engage in sexual acts. Vail and his team assume that Rushman threatened the youths with eviction from their group home, providing a motive for Aaron to murder Rushman. Vail angrily confronts Aaron about concealing information, but he denies the accusations, becoming increasingly distressed as he continues to press him. Aaron's demeanor abruptly shifts from deferential to aggressive, and he chastises Vail for "scaring off" Aaron. This violent personality, calling himself Roy, admits to killing the archbishop but threatens Vail not to introduce the tape at trial. Suddenly, he reverts back to Aaron's docile personality, with no recollection of the episode. Dr. Arrington concludes that Aaron has dissociative identity disorder caused by years of abuse by both his father and, later, Rushman. Vail grows conflicted, knowing that he could acquit his client via an

insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative Defense (legal), defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a mental illness, psychiatric disease ...

, but he cannot legally change his strategy mid-trial. Vail delivers the evidence anonymously to Venable, forcing her to use the tape as proof of Aaron's motive, at the risk of tarnishing the archbishop and generating sympathy for Aaron. Shaughnessy demands that she destroy the evidence, but she refuses and introduces it in court. Piñero is discovered murdered, and Vail surprises the court by calling Shaughnessy as a witness. Vail suggests he resented the archbishop for stopping the $60 million land development deal, and accuses him of concealing previous evidence of the archbishop's sexual predation, and being complicit in Piñero's death. The judge intervenes and fines Vail for using the courtroom for his personal vendettas. She also dismisses Dr. Arrington's testimony as it leans too close to an insanity plea. Vail calls Aaron to the stand, intentionally triggering him to become Roy, who screams obscenities and assaults Venable. The judge dismisses the jury in favor of a

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems ( Roman, Islamic) use bench trials ...

to declare Aaron not guilty by reason of insanity. Vail informs Aaron that he will be remanded to a

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

for treatment and likely released. When Aaron expresses remorse for injuring Venable's neck, Vail realizes Aaron was aware of his actions during the attack. Aaron commends the attorney for his insight; he brags he murdered Linda and Rushman without remorse and faked having multiple personalities. He reveals there was never an "Aaron." Vail leaves the courthouse through a back door, stunned and disillusioned.

Cast

Several Chicago television news personalities made cameos as themselves as they deliver reports about the case, including WLS's

Diann Burns Diann Burns (born September 29, 1958, in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former television news anchor and a nine-time Emmy Award-winner. She is best known for her years as a prime-time weekday anchor for two Chicago television stations. Burns appeared i ...

and Linda Yu,

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

Mary Ann Childers Mary Ann Childers is an American media consultant and former newscaster. From 1980 to 1994, she worked as an anchor at WLS-TV in Chicago,Robert Feder. "Anchor With Jay? 'Not in the Cards". ''Chicago Sun-Times''. August 8, 1994. Section 2 Features, ...

Lester Holt Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist who was the news anchor for the weekday edition of ''NBC Nightly News,'' NBC Nightly News Kids Edition, and is currently news anchor for '' Dateline NBC''. On June 18, 2015, Ho ...

and Jon Duncanson, and

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

's Bob Jordan and Randy Salerno.

Production

Paramount wanted

Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...

as Aaron Stampler; he was offered the role but declined as he found the script "problematic". Casting calls were set in California and England where 2,100 actors were seen for the role of Aaron, including

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

James Van Der Beek James David Van Der Beek (; born March 8, 1977) is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery on The WB's ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), he also played a fictionalized version of himself on the cult ABC sitcom '' Don't Trus ...

, and

Pedro Pascal José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal (; born April 2, 1975) is a Chilean and American actor. After nearly two decades of taking small roles on stage and television, Pascal had his breakthrough role, breakout role as Oberyn Martell in the Game of Thr ...

Connie Britton Connie Britton (born Constance Elaine Womack; March 6, 1967) is an American actress. Her accolades include nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. She gained prominence for her roles in the television series ''S ...

declined the role of Naomi, which went to

Maura Tierney Maura Lynn Tierney (born February 3, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on the sitcom ''NewsRadio'' (1995–1999), Abby Lockhart on the medical drama '' ER'' (1999–2009) and Helen Solloway on the myst ...

. "Primal Fear" was filmed in several locations, including Chicago, Illinois, Keystone, West Virginia, and Los Angeles, California. The movie also utilized Paramount Studios in Hollywood for some scenes. Filming took place between April 28, 1995, and July 12, 1995.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes the Portuguese

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado ...

song " Canção do Mar" sung by

Dulce Pontes Dulce José Silva Pontes (; born 8 April 1969) is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk, and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 1990s ...

Release

Box office

The film was released on April 5, 1996 and opened in the #1 spot, remaining there for three consecutive weeks. It grossed $56.1 million domestically and $46.5 million internationally for a total worldwide gross of $102.6 million.

Home media

The film was released to

and

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

on October 15, 1996. On October 21, 1998, it was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. Paramount released ''Primal Fear'' on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on March 10, 2009. The Blu-ray includes an audio commentary track by director Gregory Hoblit, writer Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch, and casting director Deborah Aquila, as well as the featurettes "Primal Fear: The Final Verdict", "Primal Fear: Star Witness-Casting Edward Norton", and "The Psychology of Guilt".

Reception

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports an approval rating of 77% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "''Primal Fear'' is a straightforward, yet entertaining thriller elevated by a crackerjack performance from Edward Norton".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, lists the film with a weighted average score of 47/100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

awarded the film an average grade of B+ on an A+-to-F scale.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film has a "good deal of surface charm" but "the story relies on an overload of tangential subplots to keep it looking busy".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' awarded ''Primal Fear'' three and a half stars, writing that "the plot is as good as crime procedurals get, but the movie is really better than its plot because of the three-dimensional characters". Ebert described Gere's performance as one of the best in his career, praised Linney for rising above what might have been a

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...

and applauded Norton for offering a "completely convincing" portrayal. The film spent three weekends at the top of the U.S. box office.

Accolades

The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: ** Aaron Stampler – Nominated Villain * 2008:

AFI's 10 Top 10 AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various actors ...

: ** Nominated Courtroom Drama Film

References

External links

* * * * * * {{SACC 1996 films 1996 crime thriller films 1996 directorial debut films 1990s legal drama films 1990s legal thriller films 1996 psychological thriller films American crime thriller films American legal drama films American legal thriller films American psychological thriller films American courtroom films Films about dissociative identity disorder Films scored by James Newton Howard Films about lawyers Films about religion Films based on American novels Films based on crime novels Films directed by Gregory Hoblit Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Films shot in West Virginia Films produced by Gary Lucchesi American neo-noir films Paramount Pictures films Rysher Entertainment films Works about judgement 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language crime thriller films