FILM · 2018 · USA
Death Wish
35 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
- #001
Actor Dean Norris plays Detective Kevin Raines, one of more than forty law enforcement figures in the actor's filmography. The production signed Norris specifically because of his long-established history of playing police officers, federal agents and military characters in film and television.
- #002
The production coordinated the promotion of a fictional web-based series titled "Full Metal Tactics" to facilitate its firearms training sequence. The protagonist learns to use a semi-automatic pistol by watching this streaming show, which features real-life Green Beret Shawn Vance as the tactical host. Director Eli Roth adapted the fictional online series' name as a deliberate homage to filmmaker and actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who had previously appeared in the military drama Full Metal Jacket (1987).
- #003
The production moves the primary narrative setting to Chicago, Illinois, establishing the location through local broadcast media cameos and specific regional backdrops. The story ends in New York with the scene in which Paul Kersey drops his daughter Jordan off at New York University. This final metropolitan setting directly mirrors the primary location of Brian Garfield's original 1972 novel and, conversely, of the 1974 film adaptation Death Wish (1974), in which the protagonist instead moves to Chicago.
- #004
The production integrated actor Bruce Willis's left-handedness directly into the film's screenplay as a primary narrative element. The story's flow reveals this physical trait to be a significant clue during the police investigation, in which detectives track the outlaw suspect after analyzing social media footage of left-handed firearms use. This screenplay detail differs from Brian Garfield's original source novel and from the 1974 film adaptation, neither of which characterizes the protagonist as a left-handed shooter.
- #005
The production team cast actors Bruce Willis and Vincent D'Onofrio as the biological brothers Paul Kersey and Frank Kersey. Both actors are naturally left-handed in real life. This physiological trait determines the physical handling of props and firearms during the action scenes and creates a consistent lateral symmetry between the two characters.
- #006
The production employed a total of nine screenwriters over its development cycle, up to the final shooting draft. The Writers Guild of America ultimately decided to award sole screenplay credit to Joe Carnahan. This credit determination stood even though nearly all of Carnahan's original dialogue was removed from the film's final theatrical cut.
- #007
The production initially planned for artist Sylvester Stallone to write, direct and star in the project during its first development stage in 2006. Stallone withdrew from the remake due to creative differences with the studio entities Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He subsequently left the position to prioritize production logistics for the action film Rambo (2008).
- #008
During the project's multi-year development, the studio considered Liam Neeson, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Will Smith and Brad Pitt for the central role of Paul Kersey. The remake's early iterations involved several filmmakers, including Joe Carnahan, who initially prepared a script draft for a different lead actor before leaving the production over creative differences regarding the casting direction. The studio ultimately secured Bruce Willis to play the character under Eli Roth's direction and shifted the protagonist's profession from an architect to a Chicago trauma surgeon, adjusting the narrative logic of the tactical escalation.
- #009
The production experienced an early development delay when Sony Pictures Entertainment refused to back the film during director Eli Roth's initial pitches. Internal studio communications leaked in the 2014 Sony Pictures hack included an email reference describing an unnamed person as an overpaid and lazy star. Artist Bruce Willis's family announced his diagnosis of aphasia in 2022 and a subsequent diagnosis of progressive frontotemporal dementia in 2023.
- #010
Director Eli Roth cast Camila Morrone as the lead Jordan Kersey despite her having no prior feature film experience. Roth first met Morrone and her mother, Lucila Solá, at the Ischia Global Film Festival in 2011 and later considered her for the production. After principal photography was completed, Morrone was represented by William Morris Endeavor and took on acting roles in her next two film projects.
- #011
The protagonist's profession differs significantly from the original 1972 novel and the subsequent film adaptations. In the original source novel written by Brian Garfield, the main character is named Paul Benjamin and works as a certified public accountant. The screenplay adaptations changed this background, turning the character into the architect Paul Kersey in the 1974 film and then into a trauma surgeon for the 2018 remake.
- #012
Joe Carnahan first conceived the project in 2012 with a plan to cast Liam Neeson and Frank Grillo, the leads of his feature film The Gray (2011). Joe Carnahan later left the production after a studio directive prioritized casting Bruce Willis instead of Neeson for the central role of Paul Kersey. The studio maintained this casting preference in order to steer the remake's tone toward a conventional action vehicle rather than the bold, grim character study set out in the first script draft.
- #013
Production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer used Death Wish (2018) to resume direct, independent theatrical self-distribution for the first time since the release of Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). The studio partnered with Annapurna Pictures to establish a joint domestic distribution venture called Mirror Releasing to manage the film's theatrical release. This strategic corporate restructuring allowed the company to re-enter the domestic distribution market after eight years of relying on third-party studio partnerships.
- #014
The production coordinated the remake's narrative setting in Chicago to create a contemporary backdrop of high urban crime, altering the premise of the original 1974 film, which occupied a high-crime New York City setting. Statistical records document a sharp rise in homicides in Chicago during the 2016-2018 production window, including a 58 percent single-year increase that led to 754 homicides in 2016. During this period, municipal administration statements disputed the systematic framing of the public safety environment.
- #015
The 2018 remake alters the narrative resolution of the original 1974 adaptation by allowing the protagonist to find and eliminate the specific individuals responsible for the home invasion. Joe Carnahan's screenplay changes shift Paul Kersey's motivation from a generalized fight against street crime to the targeted pursuit of the actual perpetrators. The narrative structure culminates in Kersey's direct confrontation with the ringleader, Knox, in the family home.
- #016
- #017
The production moves the narrative's setting from New York City, the location used in the original 1974 feature film, to Chicago. The final sequence resolves this geographical change by having Jordan Kersey (Camila Morrone) leave home to attend New York University. This narrative destination directly references the primary setting of the first five entries in the original film series, in which the first, third and fifth installments take place solely in New York City.
- #018
Director Eli Roth integrated local Chicago "drill" music into the production's soundscape to ground the narrative in a modern urban setting. The production coordinated with composer Ludwig Göransson to blend the sub-bass loops and rapid hi-hat patterns characteristic of the drill genre with traditional orchestral scoring. This hybrid score creates a rhythmic tempo designed to simulate a racing pulse or physical heartbeat during the outlaw events.
- #019
After the departure of original writer and director Joe Carnahan, the studio appointed filmmaker Gerardo Naranjo to direct the project. Naranjo advocated casting actor Benicio Del Toro in the lead role. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer rejected the casting proposal in favor of Bruce Willis, which hastened Naranjo's eventual exit from the production.
- #020
Director Eli Roth planned to name his second pet dog after the character Hank Schrader from the series Breaking Bad (2008). Eli Roth shared this intention with actor Dean Norris during an industry event before the production of Highlights: Republic of Ireland vs. Belgium/Iceland vs. Hungary/Portugal vs. Austria (2016). Dean Norris later referred to this conversation when he joined the cast of Eli Roth's Highlights: Republic of Ireland vs. Belgium/Iceland vs. Hungary/Portugal vs. Austria (2016).
- #021
The opening sequence establishes that Dr. Paul Kersey, played by Bruce Willis, lives in Chicago's affluent Lakeshore Drive neighborhood. This narrative detail is a direct reference to the final scene of the original 1974 film, in which an unnamed firm transfers the architect character played by Charles Bronson to a Chicago branch and arranges an apartment for him in the same Lakeshore area.
- #022
The production completed the Chicago portion of principal photography on Saturday, October 1, 2016. Principal photography had begun in the city in late September 2016, using locations such as Wacker Drive and Rush University Medical Center. After finishing the Illinois schedule, the crew moved immediately to Montreal, Quebec, to begin the next phase of physical production.
- #023
During principal photography in Montreal, the production team coordinated numerous on-set pranks involving director Eli Roth and actress Camila Morrone. Participants carried out a recurring social media battle in which one person would ask a serious question during rehearsals and then hit the other with a snowball. Morrone targeted Eli Roth in most of these interactions and then posted the documented footage to her digital followers.
- #024
Following the approval of Bruce Willis's casting, the studio announced in March 2016 that directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado would helm the production. The directing duo left the project three months later after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to allow script rewrites intended to add dark humor to Joe Carnahan's original screenplay. Eli Roth then took over directing duties and, before production began, oversaw an uncredited revision of the film's script by screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.
- #025
Production on the remake coincided with the final year of the life of Brian Garfield, the author of the original novel, who died on December 29, 2018. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the film in theaters nine months earlier, on March 2, 2018. The author had previously voiced public dissatisfaction with the themes of caution presented in the cinematic adaptations of his source material.
- #026
The production cast Bruce Willis as Paul Kersey for the 2018 remake, updating the character Charles Bronson created in Death Wish (1974). Bronson had previously signed a special multi-film contract with The Cannon Group, Inc. in the 1980s that strengthened his association with the original series' sequels. Willis secured the lead role after the project went through a twelve-year development cycle involving many previous directors and lead actors.
- #027
The Australian home entertainment release distributed by Roadshow Entertainment alters the theatrical presentation by using a 1.78:1 aspect ratio instead of the original widescreen 2.39:1 composition. This formatting choice crops the edges of the theatrical frame to fill standard 16:9 television screens. In addition, this regional variation lacks the supplementary material found on standard domestic and international home video counterparts, excluding all audio commentaries, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes production features.
- #028
The studio considered a standard shortlist to play Dr. Paul Kersey that included Kurt Russell, Michael Keaton, Christopher Lambert, Dennis Quaid, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Don Johnson, Peter Weller, Ron Perlman, Stephen Lang, Michael Biehn, Tommy Lee Jones, Jeff Bridges and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The casting process began during early development in 2006, when the production first sought a director intending to change the protagonist's profession from architect to police officer. The studio cast Bruce Willis in the lead role in March 2016, which led original screenwriter Joe Carnahan to leave the project over creative disagreements regarding the casting decision.
- #029
- #030
The production company released the first theatrical trailer on August 3, 2017, sparking immediate media discourse about the film's thematic framework. Many media commentators and journalists publicly labeled the promotional footage "alt-right fan fiction" and "racist" because of its narrative premise of a white vigilante targeting criminals in present-day Chicago. Director Eli Roth later pushed back on these comments during promotional interviews, stating that the narrative focused on the protection of family rather than contemporary partisan politics.
- #031
- #032
The production used a 2.39:1 widescreen anamorphic aspect ratio for the remake's theatrical release. The five original installments of the series, beginning with Death Wish (1974), by contrast used a 1.85:1 aspect ratio configuration. Cinematographer Rogier Stoffers used Arri Alexa Mini and XT cameras paired with Panavision C-Series and E-Series anamorphic lenses to create the expanded frame dimensions.
- #033
The online video tutorial watched by Paul Kersey features a presenter declaring the Glock 17 the most iconic handgun of all time. The production team created the scene using a fictional internet vlog to facilitate the character's transition to using firearms, comparing the weapon to historical models such as the Colt Single Action Army, Colt M1911A1, Smith & Wesson Model 10 and Smith & Wesson Model 29.
- #034
- #035
In the background of the scene, a Chicago establishment called Do-Rite Donuts appears after Detectives Kevin Raines and Leonore Jackson finish their interrogation. The visual reference serves as a double allusion, containing both the stereotypical association of law enforcement officers with donut shops and a direct nod to The Dudley Do-Right Show (1969). The animated program's main cartoon character, Dudley Do-Right, served as an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.