The more you watch The Black Dahlia the less it seems to be about the murder of Elizabeth Short and focuses instead on the effect it has upon those that have to deal with the grisly murder and their increasingly disturbing reactions. In reality the case of the Black Dahlia was never solved but it did cause a massive stir across the US as people couldn’t help but wonder what kind of animal would chop a woman in half and slit her mouth open from ear to ear. It was one of the most gruesome murders on record even today, and has been theorized about and dramatized more than once in popular culture.
Something this gruesome is always bound to get attention.
10. The movie was at least based on the true story of Elizabeth Short and how she was found.
It took some liberties to be sure and kind of went off on another track for a while but it was kind of necessary in order to make a movie rather than a documentary.
9. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart both trained for their boxing scenes.
They trained for four hours a day for seven months. By that time it’s easy to assume that they were quite comfortable with their roles.
8. There is a real autopsy photo of Short in the movie.
It lends a bit of authenticity to the movie that might otherwise be lacking, but it’s something you have to look for.
7. It took 20 years for this film to be made.
It was optioned a long time ago but no one decided to pick it up and run with it right away.
6. Elizabeth Short had no middle name in real life.
She was given one in the movie, Ann, but in real life it was just Elizabeth Short, cut and dried.
5. Mark Wahlberg was supposed to play Lee.
He was one of the first choices but even after the production on the Italian Job got pushed back he still had scheduling issues he couldn’t figure out.
4. There were a few women that were selected to play the various roles in this movie.
Those that actually made it into the movie weren’t the first choices despite the fact that they did a good job. For instance, Gwen Stefani was sought out to play Kate.
3. It takes a while for Elizabeth Short’s murder to become a major plot in the film.
It wasn’t even really looked into until about 25 minutes in and by then people were probably wondering if it would be a part of the movie.
2. Despite having top billing Hillary Swank only has about 15 minutes of screen time.
This might be a testament to the star power that Swank had at the time since as of now she hasn’t really appeared in much.
1. The original cut of the movie was about three hours long.
It had to be cut down a bit and as result the story became a bit choppy. The director wasn’t too happy about it.
As history goes though it wasn’t a bad movie even though it kind of picked at the real story.
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