Universal gave Sam Raimi 10 million after he threatened to shred the 12th draft of Darkman.
1. Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast reviews Darkman, the 1990 Sam Raimi film about Peyton Westlake and Robert Durant.
2. Justin, Arnie, and Stuart host the discussion, and their movie-history references matter because they track Batman, Dick Tracy, and Evil Dead 2.
3. The episode asks what Darkman was doing in summer 1989 and 1990, when trailer hype sold an original character like a known comic-book hero.
4. The hosts describe seeing the “Who is Darkman?” trailer repeatedly, with Danny Elfman’s score making the film feel Batman-adjacent.
5. They say Raimi originally wanted to make The Shadow, but Universal refused and pushed him back toward Darkman.
6. They note that Raimi had written Darkman years earlier, then got Coen brothers rewrites while living with Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, and Frances McDormand.
7. They say Universal gave feedback for years and finally approved the film only after Raimi threatened to shred the 12th draft.
8. The hosts connect the movie to Raimi’s earlier work, including Evil Dead, Crime Wave, and Evil Dead 2.
9. They explain that Liam Neeson, still years before Schindler’s List, became the studio’s choice over Bruce Campbell.
10. They also discuss Frances McDormand’s casting, saying she was already linked to the Coens and had strong feelings about her role.
11. One memorable point is that McDormand reportedly argued with Raimi because she wanted Julie Hastings to be more capable than the final cut suggests.
12. Another is that Larry Drake’s Durand-like screen image from L.A. Law made his casting as a cold killer a surprise to the hosts.
13. The opening with Durant, a cigar chopper, and a machine-gun-leg goon establishes the film’s violent comic-book tone.
14. The hosts say the movie’s real-estate plot, with Louis Strack and zoning bribery, feels more central than the science at first glance.
15. They describe Peyton Westlake’s home lab, synthetic skin experiments, and hologram-style imaging as the movie’s science-fiction core.
16. They keep returning to the 99-minute limit, the dark-only skin idea, and the fact that the story never fully follows through on that premise.
17. The tone is chatty, specific, and memory-driven, with frequent detours into movie magazines, trailers, and studio history.
18. The format is a three-host retrospective that mixes plot recap, production trivia, and on-the-spot disagreement about what works.
19. Fans of Sam Raimi, 1980s studio history, and superhero-adjacent movies would likely enjoy this episode.
20. Listeners wanting a spoiler-light, streamlined recap of Darkman’s plot mechanics may want to skip it.
