FILM · 1990 · USA
The Grifters
30 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
Martin Scorsese provides the brief opening narration.
- #002
John Cusack was a huge fan of the book and tried to acquire the rights to it while he was still in high school.
- #003
Anjelica Huston and John Cusack accepted far less than their usual fees just to appear in this film.
- #004
In an interview conducted in late 2013, Anjelica Huston described this role as the most difficult task of her career.
- #005
Annette Bening said she agreed to appear topless in this film because she felt the scenes were comic rather than dramatic. "I thought I could do them because of the context. It made sense to me. It suited my role, it wasn't exploitative. I was also in Europe and they had a much more superior attitude about nudity, they were much more relaxed about it. So at the time I felt very free," she said.
- #006
Annette Bening's performance was directly inspired by iconic film noir actress Gloria Grahame, particularly her role in The Big Heat (1953). Bening later portrayed Grahame in the biographical Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017).
- #007
The actors playing the sailors are from John Cusack's New Crimes theater group in Chicago.
- #008
Much of the dialogue in the film is taken word for word from the book.
- #009
The stock swindle Myra describes to Roy while in La Jolla, California, is a variation of the "Wire" con used in The Sting (1973).
- #010
Michelle Pfeiffer was considered for the role that ultimately went to Annette Bening.
- #011
Myra is seen running a con at the offices of Coe, Stark, Fellowes & Associates. Tucker Coe and Richard Stark are two pen names used by screenwriter and author Donald E. Westlake.
- #012
This is Henry Jones's last feature film appearance.
- #013
The Arizona motel scene, from Lilly's approach to her dialogue with the clerk, mirrors the scene in Psycho (1960).
- #014
Jeremy Piven appears in a small role as one of the four sailors John Cusack's character meets on the train. Cusack trained as a young actor in Illinois with Piven's parents.
- #015
Cher and Geena Davis turned down the role of Lilly Dillon.
- #016
The character names "Lilly Dillon" and "Myra Langtry" allude to the 1800s actress Lily Langtry.
- #017
The film includes a quotation from The Lady Vanishes (1938).
- #018
Lily Tomlin was considered for the role of Lilly Dillon.
- #019
Sissy Spacek met with Stephen Frears to discuss the role of Lilly.
- #020
Melanie Griffith was considered for the role of Myra.
- #021
Cineplex Odeon Films was set to distribute the film in the US and Canada itself after Cineplex Odeon acquired the rights in May 1988. Cineplex Odeon later abandoned its US distribution plans for the film due to changes in its business regime, selling the US rights to Miramax Films while retaining the non-US distribution rights, including Canadian distribution.
- #022
In the film's final scene, an unidentified man runs across the street near where Lily has fled after accidentally killing her son Roy (and deliberately stealing his money). Fans of the film have suggested that the running man is actually Roy, who faked bleeding to death so that he could go mad with guilt over what he believed his mother had done. Director Stephen Frears said both that the script does not imply this and that he thinks it is a very good theory.
- #023
Part of the film's score ("The City") was used in a McDonald's commercial broadcast in the UK in 2010.
- #024
Stephen Frears had previously directed Dangerous Liaisons. The following year, Annette Bening appeared in Valmont, an adaptation of the same novel.
- #025
The film's cast includes two Oscar winners, Anjelica Huston and Martin Scorsese, and one Oscar nominee, Annette Bening.
- #026
Timothy Carey was considered for a role in this film.
- #027
Stephen Tobolowsky and Gailard Sartain had previously appeared in Mississippi Burning (1988).
- #028
Annette Bening and Gailard Sartain later appeared in Guilty by Suspicion (1991).
- #029
Stephen Tobolowsky and Eddie Jones later appeared in the film Shoes (1992).
- #030
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #1246.
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