Background
The film was adapted by Wesley Strick from the original screenplay by James R. Webb, which was an adaptation from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald.
It was originally developed by Steven Spielberg, who eventually decided it was too violent and traded it to Scorsese to get back Schindler's List, which Scorsese had decided not to make. Spielberg stayed on as a producer, through his Amblin Entertainment, but chose not to be credited personally on the finished film.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro, lost to Anthony Hopkins for The Silence of the Lambs) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Juliette Lewis, lost to Mercedes Ruehl for The Fisher King).
The film was a box-office success, making $182,291,969 worldwide on a $35 million budget. The film also received critical acclaim, and has a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Nick Nolte is taller than Robert De Niro, but for the movie Nolte lost weight and De Niro developed muscles until De Niro appeared to be the stronger man. De Niro reportedly took his body fat down to four percent. De Niro also paid a doctor $20,000 to grind down his teeth for the role to give the character a more menacing look.
Although a remake of the original Cape Fear, Scorsese's update is also greatly influenced by another Mitchum film, The Night of the Hunter, and the work of Alfred Hitchcock (signaled by the opening credits by regular Hitchcock collaborator Saul Bass and its score by another, Bernard Herrmann).
This is also the first film Scorsese shot in the wider 2.39:1 aspect ratio, as opposed to the smaller 1.85:1 ratio in which he had filmed all his previous works (excluding New York, New York, which was shot in 1.66:1).
Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam and Robert Mitchum appear in supporting roles, Peck as Cady's lawyer, Balsam as the judge and Mitchum as the police detective who suggests to Bowden the possibility of using "alternative" means to stop Cady.
Read more about this topic: Cape Fear (1991 film)
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