FILM · 1994
The Paper
39 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
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Many people in the press say this film is the greatest representation of what really goes on in newspaper offices around the world, and that it still is. Director Ron Howard and co-writer David Koepp are amazed at the impact the film still has, even though during shooting the print press really began to shrink, mostly for financial reasons, and some newspapers closed at that time.
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The office that was to serve as the New York Sun was an empty office space near Wall Street with a huge corner area, which was perfect for the production because they could film parts of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges from a distance and make it look as if the newspaper really operated from there.
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In the original screenplay by David Koepp and Stephen Koepp, the role of Alicia Clark was actually planned to be a man named Alan. Ron Howard then asked Glenn Close to read the part, even though it was still a man at that point, and she enjoyed it, after which he suggested to David Koepp that he change the character's gender. Five minutes later Koepp agreed with Howard's idea, revised several parts of the dialogue and changed the name to Alicia.
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There are about a dozen daily newspapers published in New York City, but the circulations and page counts of all newspapers have declined significantly since the beginning of the digital age. In 2020 the largest newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, had an average daily circulation of 994,600. It was followed by USA Today with an average daily circulation of 486,579 in 2020. The New York Times came third with 410,562, placing it in the top three among those published in New York. After that the numbers dropped significantly across the country as well as in New York: the only other newspaper above 200,000 was the Washington Post with 206,824, while the Los Angeles Times was fifth with 193,015. The last New York newspapers in the top ten were the New York Post with 162,478 and Newsday with 123,905.
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The film is based on the journalistic experiences of the brothers David Koepp and Stephen Koepp, who actually had to walk around the offices of both the New York Daily News and the New York Post while researching the screenplay, and many things that happened or were said during their research made it into the final cut of the film.
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This is the third and, so far, most recent film Michael Keaton and Ron Howard have worked on together. They made Night Shift (1982) (Keaton's first theatrical role), Gung Ho (1986) and this film together. Keaton also appeared in Clean and Sober (1988), on which Howard was one of the producers.
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Ron Howard's first choice for the role of Bernie White was Paul Newman. Newman read the screenplay and turned it down once. Howard then called him to try to persuade him to reconsider the screenplay, because he liked it, but Newman felt the film "glorified" the press, since he had had problems with the press in the past over the course of his career, and he politely turned it down. Howard then cast his second choice, Robert Duvall.
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The five actors with the most votes were all nominated for one or more Oscars: Michael Keaton (one nomination), Robert Duvall (one win, seven nominations), Glenn Close (six nominations), Marisa Tomei (one win, two nominations) and Randy Quaid (one nomination). Jason Robards also won two Oscars and was nominated once more; the writer Richard Price, who appears as himself in the film, received one Oscar nomination.
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This was the second and final collaboration between director Ron Howard and Oscar-winning composer Randy Newman after Parenthood, because over the following twenty years Howard would alternate between Oscar-winning composers James Horner and Hans Zimmer. Nearly 20 years after his first collaboration with Randy Newman's cousin Michael Keaton on the 1986 comedy Gung Ho, Howard reunited with Oscar nominee Thomas Newman in 2005 on Cinderella Man.
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The New York Daily News was the first tabloid newspaper in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and for decades was the highest-circulation newspaper in the US. Its peak circulation was 2.4 million in 1947. In 2020, with an average circulation of slightly over 100,000, it was the 11th largest newspaper in the US.
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Ron Howard's first choice to play Henry Hackett was Tom Hanks, who had wanted to work together again since they made Splash! ten years earlier (1983). However, when the film was greenlit the cast depended on the actors' availability, and Hanks was already shooting Forrest Gump, while Michael Keaton was completely available and was given the role because Howard felt he was the perfect choice for it.
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This film shares elements with Andrew Klavan's novel True Crime: a crusading reporter; innocent men accused of murder; a midnight deadline; families in trouble; tough but fair chief editors; a rival reporter or bureaucrat. Also, the newspapers depicted are not major papers like the New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicle.
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The scene in which Henry and Bernie discuss Henry joining the rival newspaper The Sentinel was meant to be a crossroads scene for Henry, about whether he wanted to sit at a desk and earn more money instead of chasing stories like the later one that clears two innocent boys. Henry made his decision when, while looking for the book he wanted Henry to lend him, he took information about the murdered businessmen from Bladden's desk. By then Henry knew he wanted to return to The Sun, and he later delivered his tirade to Bladden while they were on the phone.
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