FILM · 1993 · CANADA
Malice
20 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (20)
- #001
As of 2023, Malice is the only film written by Aaron Sorkin that has not received a single Oscar or Golden Globe nomination in any category.
- #002
The sex scene between Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman was not included in the original draft of the screenplay because it was a method Aaron Sorkin vehemently rejected. The scene was nevertheless written and added behind his back.
- #003
The film was initially planned to be shot at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. After reviewing the script, however, the college's president at the time rejected the offer (at the last minute) because of the "serial rapist" element. The production then quickly moved to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, which agreed only on the condition that the college's name be changed.
- #004
A sign for the fictional college was placed at the Smith College campus location a day before filming there, but it was stolen that night and never recovered.
- #005
In the third season, eleventh episode of 30 Rock ("St. Valentine's Day"), Alec Baldwin's Jack is in a confessional and tells the priest that he once claimed to be God during a deposition. The line in the series references this film, in which Jed says the same thing in his deposition monologue.
- #006
In the opening title sequence, the house the college student returns to is the former residence of President Calvin Coolidge.
- #007
Malice is one of a number of thrillers from the early 1990s centered on a married couple. These films include Malice (1993), Deceived (1991), Shattered (1991), Dead Again (1991), Consenting Adults (1992), Unlawful Entry (1992), Presumed Innocent (1990), Guilty as Sin (1993), Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) and A Kiss Before Dying (1991).
- #008
The original title was "Damages."
- #009
The film's cast includes four Oscar winners — Nicole Kidman, Anne Bancroft, George C. Scott and Gwyneth Paltrow — and one Oscar nominee, Alec Baldwin.
- #010
Malice is one of several projects written by Aaron Sorkin in which Joshua Malina appeared as an actor. They also collaborated on A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995), Sports Night (1998) and The West Wing (1999). Sorkin and Malina are very good friends.
- #011
Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher would later play brothers in the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping (1995).
- #012
The lawyer Lester Adams (Josef Sommer) says: "They buy an old house and they dream of filling it with children. Now that's a Norman Rockwell painting, and you tore it apart." Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have broad popular appeal in the United States for reflecting the country's culture. Many of his works appear to lean toward idealistic or sentimentalized depictions of American life.
- #013
Malice is one of two Harold Becker films scored by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith. The second was City Hall (1996), three years later, starring Al Pacino, who had starred in Becker's Sea of Love (1989).
- #014
Tobin Bell appeared in Malice, which was released in the same year as The Firm (1993), in which he worked with Tom Cruise and Cruise's wife, Nicole Kidman.
- #015
This film starring Nicole Kidman was written by Aaron Sorkin. The previous year, he wrote A Few Good Men (1992), which starred her husband, Tom Cruise. (Sorkin and Kidman would later collaborate again on Being the Ricardos (2021).) Bill Pullman and Anne Bancroft also appear together. Pullman's first leading role was in Spaceballs (1987), directed by her husband, Mel Brooks.
- #016
George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft had previously starred together in The Hindenburg (1975).
- #017
Bill Pullman and Alec Baldwin played Geena Davis's husband in A League of Their Own (1992) and Beetlejuice (1988), respectively.
- #018
Director Harold Becker and actor George C. Scott had previously worked together on Taps (1981).
- #019
Malice is one of three Alec Baldwin films scored by Jerry Goldsmith; the other two are The Shadow (1994) and The Edge (1997).
- #020
Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Paula Bell, shares the same surname as Tobin Bell, the actor who plays her character's killer.
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