FILM · 2002 · USA
Blood Work
34 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (34)
- #001
Thanks to Eastwood's simplicity, fast shooting style and editing skills, the film was in theaters only four months after filming was completed.
- #002
The idea of Jeff Daniels's character turning out to be the villain at the end of the film came about because it was actually a rejected idea proposed for an earlier film Daniels appeared in, the box-office hit Speed (1994). In that film Daniels was Keanu Reeves's police officer partner. Originally the script was designed for Reeves's partner Harry, Daniels's character, to start out as the chief of police, but it was later revealed that Daniels's character was in fact a corrupt police officer and actually a mad bomber who bombed various public transport systems for ransom, revealing him as the film's main villain. However, because Speed (1994) was in its final writing stage, the producers and directors did not think audiences would accept that plot development in the character. So Daniels's character Harry was rewritten in every respect as a heroic police officer who helps Reeves distribute the explosives, while the mad bomber was ultimately written as a separate character played by the late Dennis Hopper. Daniels told director and star Clint Eastwood this story about the changes that occurred during the making of Speed (1994) during pre-production. Eastwood was not aware of this fact about the film and thought he could rework this formula in his new film, so Daniels's character was written as a hero who helps Eastwood until the end of the film, until it is revealed that he is actually the main villain.
- #003
While McCaleb is checking the ATM scene, there is a bearded man behind him who is also using the ATM. McCaleb later realizes that the man is the serial killer he is looking for. Although McCaleb and all the other police personnel show that they know ATMs have video cameras, no one thinks to check the video of the killer's face at the ATM until long after the last two murders, the kidnapping and the final shooting have taken place.
- #004
The project was interesting in that it gave a new direction to the police character persona Clint Eastwood had developed in films since the 1970s. Because the character has advanced in age, he has heart problems. This was an acting challenge for Eastwood, as he himself said, because compared with his thirties or forties it created more obstacles to what he could do as a screen detective.
- #005
Known for playing Dirty Harry and other police officers, he plays an F.B.I. profiler in this film, Clint Eastwood's last law enforcement film (as of July 2024).
- #006
Because of a studio contract, Clint Eastwood had to direct this film in order to get his next project, Mystic River, approved. Although his fast-paced style is legendary, this time the numerous takes and early wrapping stemmed from his hatred of the script and from being forced to direct the film. As a result, the film finished 17 days earlier than planned and Eastwood got his next film approved.
- #007
The rare blood type was AB and CMV negative. CMV stands for cytomegalovirus, a usually harmless virus. Most people contract CMV at some point in their lives. AB blood that is CMV negative is used in transfusions for people with weakened immune systems, such as infants, burn victims and organ transplant recipients. A blood donor who is CMV negative is someone who has never been exposed to cytomegalovirus, and such people are therefore highly valuable for these patients.
- #008
It is the only law enforcement film Clint Eastwood made as an actor in the 2000s.
- #009
Clint Eastwood's ex-wife Dina (also known as Dina Ruiz) plays a small role as one of the television reporters asking questions at the scene. Before marrying Clint, she was a television reporter in Salinas, California.
- #010
Clint Eastwood won the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival with this film.
- #011
A behind-the-scenes promotional documentary about this film was made for television. Titled Making 'Blood Work' (2002), it is available on DVD. However, the short documentary reveals who the serial killer in the film is by using clips from the scenes.
- #012
This is Eastwood's first collaboration on a film in which Anjelica Huston is the director and lead actress. In White Hunter Black Heart (1990) he had played a fictionalized version of her father, John Huston.
- #013
When Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) goes to Jasper "Buddy" Noone's (Jeff Daniels) boat to confront him, there is a red heart-shaped fishing net beside the cabin door.
- #014
The production shoot for this film lasted thirty-eight days.
- #015
As Graciella Rivers (Wanda De Jesus) and Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) walk and talk on the pier, the ship behind them, when she and Raymond (Mason Lucero) come for dinner, is the luxury passenger liner The Queen Mary.
- #016
Anjelica Huston played Terry McCaleb's (Clint Eastwood) doctor. Anjelica's father was the director John Huston, about whose making of The African Queen (1951) Eastwood once made a film. That film was titled White Hunter Black Heart (1990), and Eastwood actually played John Huston. In the documentary Making 'Blood Work' (2002), Anjelica describes how she witnessed her father's aneurysm surgery. She said it was "strangely convergent" that she plays Eastwood's cardiologist in this film and that Eastwood once played her father.
- #017
This film was released four years after the publication of Michael Connelly's source novel of the same name.
- #018
It is set in the same universe as The Lincoln Lawyer (2011).
- #019
When the end credits begin, the "jazzy" closing music opens with the first few notes of the You Only Live Twice (1967) theme, and those notes can be heard mixed back in at intervals throughout the closing title sequence.
- #020
Blood Work takes place in the same universe as Bosch (2014).
- #021
Michael Connelly's novel "Blood Work" won the Macavity Award and the Anthony Award for Best Novel of 1998. The book also won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.
- #022
As of 2010, this is the last film to be released in theaters with a score composed entirely by Clint Eastwood's longtime collaborator Lennie Niehaus, a relationship that began with Tightrope (1984). Clint's later films were scored by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens (Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Gran Torino (2008), Invictus (2009)) and even by Clint himself (Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Changeling (2008) and Hereafter (2010)). Since this film, Niehaus has conducted and orchestrated all of Clint's films except his last two, Invictus (2009) and Hereafter (2010), which were conducted and orchestrated by Roger Kellaway and Ashley Irwin respectively.
- #023
Dina Eastwood, who plays a reporter in this film, is Dina Eastwood, Clint Eastwood's wife from 1996 to 2014, who had a real-life career as a journalist and was a former news anchor for KSBW in Salinas, California.
- #024
This is the first of two films written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Clint Eastwood. The second was Mystic River (2003).
- #025
This film marks Tom Stern's feature debut as a cinematographer at the age of 56. He had previously worked as a gaffer, including on most of Clint Eastwood's earlier films. Eastwood's regular cinematographer, Jack N. Green, was unavailable. According to Stern, he had never considered shooting a feature film before Eastwood asked him.
- #026
The license plate number (E) 999007 seen on one of the police cars is the exact numerical configuration of the plate used on the squad vehicle in Emergency! (1972), only with a different background color. The plate number can be seen on other emergency service vehicles in various California-based television programs and films.
- #027
Michael Connelly's 1999 novel "Angels Flight" refers to the film years in advance, establishing it as a non-fiction documentary drama within his own universe.
- #028
Detective Ronaldo Arrango's (Paul Rodriguez's) badge number is 14110. Terry McCaleb (Clint Eastwood) uses Arrango's name to call the 911 center to check the clock in the market's surveillance system, and this is the badge number he gives.
- #029
Jasper "Buddy" Noone's (Jeff Daniels's) boat is named "Double Down", while Terry McCaleb's (Clint Eastwood's) boat is named "The Following Sea". Terry describes a "following sea" as something you cannot see but that is right behind you.
- #030
The official movie poster for this film used a pure red tone symbolizing blood over the black print. In the earlier Clint Eastwood film Tightrope (1984), red was also a visual motif on the poster, but there it evoked adult sexual themes and the red-light district instead.
- #031
The surname of Terry McCaleb, the character played by Clint Eastwood, is the same as the maiden name of Michael Connelly's wife, Linda Carol McCaleb.
- #032
The title "Blood Work", used for both this film and the source novel, is a medical term that can simply be defined as a "blood test".
- #033
This is one of the many collaborations between production designer Henry Bumstead and producer-director Clint Eastwood.
- #034
In the scenes featuring the L.A.P.D. and the Sheriff's office disputing jurisdiction over a body, there is a police car with the plate "999007", a possible reference to the British emergency services telephone number (999) and to James Bond's number 007.
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work