FILM · 1989
Black Rain
37 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
Whenever the crew exceeded their allotted shooting time anywhere in Japan by even a few minutes, they were not merely told to leave: a man physically walked in front of the camera and forbade them from continuing to film.
- #002
In Japanese cinema, Ken Takakura was regularly known for playing Yakuza gangsters, while Yûsaku Matsuda was known for regularly playing detectives. In Black Rain (1989), however, Takakura plays a police officer and Matsuda plays a Yakuza.
- #003
The scene in Charlie's nightclub where Masahiro sings on stage was not in the script. Andy Garcia designed the scene to add extra emotional involvement to his character before he is brutally killed in the following scene.
- #004
The plot of Black Rain was initially supposed to be the plot of Beverly Hills Cop II.
- #005
At the end of the film, Nick catches Sato, but for a moment he is torn between arresting and killing him. Ridley Scott also shot an alternative ending in which Nick chases Sato and impales him on a spike.
- #006
Michael Douglas named it one of his favorite films of his career.
- #007
According to the DVD audio commentary for Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Ridley Scott swore he would never shoot in Japan again because of the high costs and excessive bureaucratic wrangling that arose during location shooting there.
- #008
In one of his final scenes, Sugai tells a story about "black rain." This refers to the combination of soot and radioactive fallout in the air after the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When it interacted with the clouds, it caused rain that was black in color and extremely deadly.
- #009
Ken Takakura was so popular during shooting that the sets were flooded with fans trying to get his autograph. Because the film was on a very strict schedule, this created problems.
- #010
This was the first collaboration between composer Hans Zimmer and director Ridley Scott. Zimmer went on to score many of Scott's films, including Hannibal (2001), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Matchstick Men (2003).
- #011
At the time the film was shot, Ken Takakura was said to be Japan's biggest box-office star.
- #012
Filming Charlie's graphic beheading was surprisingly simple. The effects team created an extremely realistic fake head and had Andy Garcia hold it between his teeth and release it as he fell.
- #013
Jackie Chan turned down the role of Sato because he thought audiences would not want to see him playing a "bad" character.
- #014
The exterior of Sugai's house was the Ennis-Brown House at 2655 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, in Los Angeles, California. Director Ridley Scott had previously used the house for Deckard's apartment complex in Blade Runner (1982).
- #015
The fight inside the steel factory takes place in the old Mitsubishi steel factory in Osaka. It is now the site of Universal Studios Japan.
- #016
Ridley Scott's first cut of the film was 2 hours 40 minutes long.
- #017
The ritual gang leader Koji Sato performs in the scene where he meets his former boss Sugai is called otoshimae (finger shortening), also known as yubitsume. In the Japanese underworld it is a way for a member to show remorse or apologize to a leader for an offense. The ritual is thought to originate from the bakuto, the traveling gamblers who were the precursors of the modern Yakuza. If a person could not pay a gambling debt, yubitsume was sometimes seen as an alternative form of repayment. Yubitsume was a kind of credit and reputation score.
- #018
The area where the club scenes take place is actually the Dotonbori bridge area in Osaka. This can be confirmed by the presence of the world-famous "Glico Man" sign in several shots. The location of the club in the film is now a pharmacy.
- #019
Paul Verhoeven was initially attached to direct the film as a sequel to RoboCop (1987). He dropped out to make Total Recall (1990) instead. Verhoeven and Michael Douglas would later work together on Basic Instinct (1992).
- #020
Michael Douglas plays a police detective on the big screen for the first time. In the 1970s, Douglas was known for the role of Inspector Steve Keller in the series The Streets of San Francisco (1972).
- #021
Yusaku Matsuda's personal "Blu Sera" Ferrari Testarossa is visible parked on the right side of the shot at the Dotonbori bridge, before Nick and Charlie enter the club to witness a murder. In reality, vehicles are not allowed to stop beside the Dotonbori bridge in Osaka; they are only permitted to pass along the side roads parallel to the bridge.
- #022
Japanese musician Ryūichi Sakamoto wrote and performed the song "Laserman" for the film's soundtrack.
- #023
The film was selected to be shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 1989.
- #024
This was the first experience for both Ridley Scott and Jan De Bont shooting in the Super 35 format. De Bont was also unsure whether the film would be shown in a 1.85:1 or 2.39:1 format.
- #025
Filming began on October 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989.
- #026
The scene in which motorcycles circle around Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia was shot in the Shin-Sekai district of Osaka, confirmed by several Kanji signs in the foreground as well as a large "Shin-Sekai" sign briefly visible as the motorcyclists leave the area.
- #027
One of the first major Hollywood films to feature the Yakuza, it came out 15 years after the similarly themed The Yakuza (1974), which also featured Ken Takakura in a significant role.
- #028
In the scene where Nick and Charlie are taunted by a motorcyclist who steals Charlie's jacket, the trio of characters is seen walking through the empty corridors of the former Hankyu Umeda shopping center. This shopping center was completely demolished in 2000.
- #029
During the flight from New York to Osaka, Nick and Charlie briefly argue about a fellow police officer named "Ronan" who apparently takes money from a drug bust. In Japan, a "Ronin" is traditionally a renegade samurai without a master, one who is usually greeted with mockery by better-off samurai.
- #030
Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner, Willem Dafoe, Richard Dreyfuss, Mel Gibson, Michael Keaton, Michael Nouri, Ron Perlman, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze, Peter Weller and Bruce Willis were considered for the role of Nick Conklin. Paramount preferred Michael Douglas because of its positive relationship with producers Sherry Lansing and Stanley R. Jaffe.
- #031
Neither Ken Takakura nor Yasaku Matsuda could speak English and did not use cue cards to speak phonetically. By the time Ken Takakuri appeared in the film Mr. Baseball (1992), he had learned English well enough that he no longer needed phonetic cue cards.
- #032
One of two 1989 films titled "Black Rain." That same year, a film about the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, directed by Shōhei Imamura, was released in Japanese as "Kuroi Ame" (meaning Black Rain (1989)). Although the two films are unrelated, both titles refer to the same post-bombing event.
- #033
Paramount, which had initially said the film would be released in August 1989, pushed the premiere date back to September 22 to avoid that year's crowded summer season.
- #034
When Nick and Charlie fly Sato to Japan, they are seen flying on a Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-200. In real life, Northwest Airlines was the largest foreign airline serving Japan and was also known for its significant role in helping the Japanese government establish its own flag carrier, Japan Airlines, in 1951 by leasing its aircraft and crew to the new Japan Airlines. Northwest Airlines also once had a domestic flight within Japan, flying from one city in Japan to another, known as Fugu Ops.
- #035
Richard Riehle and Stephen Root later appeared together as the children's grandfathers in Grounded for Life (2001). They also later appeared together in Office Space.
- #036
Very '80s: in the film's first hour, Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia call each other (and other people) "babe" (or "baby") at least 27 times.
- #037
When the Yakuza bosses arrive at the meeting, the cars they use have their steering wheels on the left side, indicating that they are American cars rather than Japanese ones. This is because the meeting scenes were shot in California.
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