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Road to Perdition

FILM · 2002 · USA

Road to Perdition

24 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

  • Road to Perdition — production image

24 Interesting Facts About Road to Perdition

Interesting Facts (18)

  1. #001

    Because of typecasting issues, Stanley Tucci generally avoided roles in gangster films. However, the chance to work with Sir Sam Mendes was enough for him to reconsider his stance.

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  2. #002

    In the iconic shot showing the Sullivans' car heading toward Chicago, 120 period cars were on Chicago's main street on a quiet Sunday morning.

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  3. #003

    Sam Mendes admitted that Paul Newman walked on his hands between takes to entertain the crew on set.

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  4. #004

    To create a villain who could physically challenge the imposing Tom Hanks, director Sir Sam Mendes wanted Jude Law to look rodent-like.

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  5. #005

    Jude Law worked with a magician to learn how to pass a coin through his fingers, a trick he performs in the film.

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  6. #006

    Maguire's crime-scene photography work is based on Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, a famous crime-scene photographer in the 1920s and 1930s. Fellig bribed police to tip him off about crimes and traffic accidents so that he would be first on the scene and take photographs. Apparently his ability to arrive before the authorities earned him the nickname Weegee, a corruption of "Ouija." He sold his photographs to tabloid newspapers. The photographs in Maguire's apartment are real crime-scene photographs from the 1930s, some of them taken by "Weegee."

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  7. #007

    The restaurant where Michael (Tom Hanks) and Maguire (Jude Law) meet was bought online for $20,000 by production designer Dennis Gassner.

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  8. #008

    Sam Mendes claimed that Tom Hanks performed the scene in which Sullivan draws his gun in the tavern without any stunt double, and that he was very impressed by his skill.

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  9. #009

    Jude Law hated his appearance in the film and insisted on wearing a hat whenever he was not in front of the camera. Sir Sam Mendes insisted that Law remain paler than all of his co-stars.

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  10. #010

    The film is set in 1931, and costume designer Albert Wolsky had real difficulty finding different clothes from that period. Because it was the height of the Depression, fashions lacked the flamboyance of the 1920s and the style of the late 1930s, when gangsterism was "fashionable." Unable to find usable real clothing from 1931, Wolsky came across a weaver in upstate New York who could make all the necessary garments using the same weight of fabrics used at the time. After weaving, the costumes had to be distressed and dyed.

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  11. #011

    The biggest difference between the graphic novel and the film is that in the book Michael Sullivan Jr. is able to kill and does kill alongside his father during the entertainment. As atonement for his crimes, he grows up and becomes a priest.

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  12. #012

    Maguire (Jude Law) does not appear in the original graphic novel. He is the creation of screenwriter David Self.

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  13. #013

    Irish author Frank McCourt, who wrote Angela's Ashes, helped Paul Newman with his accent and gave him a tape of his speech. McCourt has lived in the US for many years but still retains some traces of the native Irish accent that Newman wanted to imitate.

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  14. #014

    Makeup artist Daniel C. Striepeke's first instruction to the actors was to stay out of the sun as much as possible, since the film is set in the middle of winter.

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  15. #015

    The scene in which Rooney demands that his son Connor apologize for killing Finn McGovern, repeatedly saying "Try again" and then angrily striking the table, was Paul Newman's idea, which director Sir Sam Mendes liked and decided to keep in the film. The tension seen in the surrounding actors in the room was real.

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  16. #016

    The lake house in Michigan was rebuilt on existing foundations and was demolished after filming to preserve the area's history.

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  17. #017

    One of the historic filming locations, St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Beecher, Illinois (the white wooden church visited by Michael and Michael Jr.), was tragically destroyed in a fire on September 19, 2021. Fortunately, no one was injured.

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  18. #018

    Sir Sam Mendes and Conrad L. Hall tried to give the film the look of the works of the artist Edward Hopper. The shot of Sullivan and his son side by side at 1:43:44 offers a perfect example of the Hopper influence in its composition, color palette, drama and painterly feel.

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Behind the Scenes (2)

  1. #019

    For the bank robbery scene, Tyler Hoechlin (Michael Sullivan, Jr.) had to learn to drive, something he was more than happy to do. Hoechlin handled everything easily, but as a precaution a stunt driver sat in the back with his own driving controls.

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  2. #020

    As Maguire approaches the Geneva Hotel with a shotgun under his coat, a small grocery store is visible behind him. In reality, this store was a closed and refurbished Starbucks that was closed to the public for four days during filming. It was used as a craft service area, and the employees continued to serve coffee to the crew (and to Tom Hanks).

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Characters & Cast (1)

  1. #021

    Anthony LaPaglia shot a scene as Al Capone, but it was decided to keep Capone off-screen, so the scene was cut. As a result, LaPaglia received first billing in the credits' "Special Thanks" section. LaPaglia played Frank Nitti in the 1988 film Frank Nitti: The Enforcer.

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Deeper Meaning (1)

  1. #022

    Until the murder in the warehouse, Michael Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) has very little access to his father. As a result, Sir Sam Mendes ensured that the father figure was always shot from a distance or through doorways and mirrors to emphasize this distance. When father and son find themselves on the run, this changes, and close-ups are used with increasing frequency.

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Career & Awards (1)

  1. #023

    After the success of his directorial debut American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes became Hollywood's darling and was offered all the best scripts. Some of these were A Beautiful Mind (2001), K-PAX (2001) and The Shipping News (2001). Road to Perdition (2002) appealed to him because it was a film made of few words, a change after the lengthy script of American Beauty (1999).

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Life & Family (1)

  1. #024

    Tom Hanks's son Chet Hanks said this was his father's favorite performance and film. "I can see him in every movie of his; he acts like himself. But this role is the furthest from his normal personality of all the films he's made," he said.

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Related pages

  • Joaquin Phoenix — Road to Perdition comes up in the facts on that page
  • Conrad Hall — Road to Perdition comes up in the facts on that page
  • Casino Royale — Road to Perdition comes up in the facts on that page

Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

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