The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) is a 1997 American supernatural horror film directed by Taylor Hackford, written by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, and starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, and Charlize Theron. Based on Andrew Neiderman's 1990 novel of the same name, it is about a gifted young Florida lawyer invited to work for a major New York City law firm. As his wife becomes haunted by frightening visions, the lawyer slowly realizes the firm's owner, John Milton, is in fact, the Devil. The name John Milton is one of several allusions to Paradise Lost, as well as Dante Alighieri's Inferno, and the legend of Faust. An adaptation of Neiderman's novel went into a development hell during the 1990s, with Hackford gaining control of the production. Filming took place around New York City and Florida. The Devil's Advocate received mixed reviews, with critics crediting it for entertainment value and Pacino's performance. It grossed $153 million at the box office and won the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. It also became the subject of the copyright lawsuit Hart v. Warner Bros., Inc. for its visual art.
- His face that night, I knew it was him. - Say it. You were so proud you'd just come to New York and done this all on your own. - Say it! - I didn't have the heart to tell you. - You wondered yourself. The money... - Say it! That apartment, the attention, everything out of nowhere. Say it! Milton, he's your... father.
The Devil's Advocate
But I'm no puppeteer, Kevin. I don't make things happen. Doesn't work like that. What'd you do to Mary Ann? Free will. It's like butterfly wings. Once touched, they never get off the ground. No. I only set the stage. You pull your own strings. What did you do to Mary Ann? A gun? In here? Goddamn it, what did you do to my wife? Well... on a scale of one to 10... 10 being the most depraved act of sexual theater known to man... one being your average Friday night run-through at the Lomaxs'... I'd say, not to be immodest... Mary Ann and I got it on at about seven. Fuck you! Oh. Oh. Oh. Got me! Got me! Yes! Oh, yeah! Yeah! Step it up, son! Come on! That's good! You got to hold on to that fury. That's the last thing to go. That's the final hiding place. It's the final fig leaf.
The Devil's Advocate