FILM · 1983 · UK
Daniel
23 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
According to reports, actor Timothy Hutton wanted the role so badly that his agent repeatedly telephoned director Sidney Lumet to arrange an interview. Hutton later flew to New York at his own expense, met with Lumet, and secured the part within twenty minutes.
- #002
Despite its commercial failure, it was one of Sidney Lumet's favorite films.
- #003
Timothy Hutton was offered the lead in Risky Business (1983), but, paying no heed to the advice of his agent at the time, Sue Mengers, he chose to work with Sidney Lumet on this film instead.
- #004
The main characters Paul and Rochelle Isaacson were based on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
- #005
Daniel Stern (Artie Sternlicht) later described his experience of working with Sidney Lumet: "Lumet is a genius, a complete genius. He's so professional. He knows exactly what he wants. Everything runs like clockwork and you get out of there in record time."
- #006
After The Group (1966), this was Sidney Lumet's second film set in 1930s New York City and featuring a scene in which protesting members of the Communist Party repeatedly chant the slogan "Wages up! Hours down! Make New York a union town!"
- #007
E. L. Doctorow once said the story was not about the Rosenbergs but an imagined account of what might have happened to their children.
- #008
The plain, bluish look of the scenes set in the late 1960s was achieved by deliberately not using the usual lens filters for white balance.
- #009
Star Timothy Hutton said in a Daily News interview published on 1/9/1998: "... I came back to New York, I was doing an ensemble film with Sidney Lumet called Daniel (1983). And I turned down the lead in Risky Business (1983) even though all my managers and agents told me I was crazy. But I looked at him and asked myself: 'What would this experience be like? What would I learn?' And looking back at 23, I see that I was able to work with Sidney Lumet and E. L. Doctorow, and I have absolutely no regrets. I learned things that will stay with me forever."
- #010
According to Peter Kihss's assessment of the film, "the Rosenbergs' real sons wrote a book in 1975 titled 'We Are Your Sons: The Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg,' claiming their parents were innocent and 'framed.'" Kihss also reported that there was a new book, 'The Rosenberg File: A Search for the Truth,' written by Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton and drawing on some of those accounts. A recently released 200,000-page document concerning the trial claims that Julius Rosenberg was 'the coordinator of an extensive espionage operation,' while Ethel Rosenberg 'probably knew of and supported her husband's efforts.'.
- #011
In the story, Paul and Rochelle Isaacson have a son named Daniel (Timothy Hutton) and a daughter named Susan (Amanda Plummer). Their real-life counterparts, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, had two sons, Robert Meeropol and Michael Meeropol.
- #012
Susan is seen reading Howdy Doody #7 (April 1951) when she is a little girl.
- #013
It was actor Will Lee's last theatrical film. He died on December 7, 1982, at the age of 74, about nine months before the film's release.
- #014
It is a very early feature film role for both actress Ellen Barkin and actress Amanda Plummer.
- #015
Although Amanda Plummer plays Timothy Hutton's younger sister, in real life she is more than three years his senior.
- #016
It is one of two 1983 films starring actor Mandy Patinkin. The other was Yentl (1983). Both pictures dealt with Judaism.
- #017
According to the 1980s Australian home video sleeve notes, the film "... is based on a real-life trial that was a major turning point in American justice."
- #018
The film's cast includes an Oscar winner, Timothy Hutton, and an Oscar nominee, Lindsay Crouse.
- #019
Actors Timothy Hutton and Lindsay Crouse both appeared the following year in Iceman (1984).
- #020
Actors Lindsay Crouse and Mandy Patinkin later appeared in the ''Blood Hungry'' episode of the television series Criminal Minds (2005) [See: Blood Hungry (2005)].
- #021
Actor Timothy Hutton and director Sidney Lumet reunited about seven years after this film's release, on Q&A (1990).
- #022
According to an article published in the March 31, 1982 issue of the show business trade paper Daily Variety, Zanuck/Brown Productions was considering making the film. They had recently finished The Verdict (1982), which was also directed by this film's director, Sidney Lumet.
- #023
Two actors were in fact originally named ''Daniel'': Daniel Selby and Daniel Stern.
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