This film was inspired by the real life case of a 'Washington Post' journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for a fabricated story and as such was stripped of the award.
читать дальшеThis picture has often been considered as being the thematic opposite or reverse of All the President's Men.
According to Frank DiGiaomo, Paul Newman stated that this picture was a "direct attack on the 'New York Post' .
Actor Paul Newman once said of this film, himself and the media:
"I would say that 90% of what people read about me in the newspapers is untrue.
Ninety percent is garbage. [Reporters] are expected to come up with something sensational every night of the week to keep their readers' noses buried in the pages, and, well, you tell me.
If nothing's happening, what do you do? Well, in their case, they make it up."
Paul Newman and director Sydney Pollack were both gourmet chefs and had a running culinary competition throughout filming with Sally Field as the judge.
Though a good sport at first, Sally grew tired of eating gourmet night after night, and began begging off her judging duties in favor of hamburgers and omelettes at local diners.
The attack by Michael Gallagher on Megan Carter resulted in actress Sally Field receiving minor injuries.
On the DVD documentary "The Story Behind ABSENCE OF MALICE", Field declares that her neck pain was "beyond sore" and likened it to "whiplash".
Field did not let actor Paul Newman know of her hurt and continued working on the movie.
Director Sydney Pollack in the DVD doc "The Story Behind ABSENCE OF MALICE" said that the entire movie was filmed on location outside of the studio except for one shot.
А re-shoot, for a line of dialogue where Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) says to Megan Carter (Sally Field) at the end of the movie that he might see her later.
This was to fulfill a suggestion by Frank Price, the then studio head of Columbia Pictures, that there needs to be, in the tradition of Hollywood romance, at least a suggestion to audiences and particularly women, that the two leads may be unified romantically in the future.
Earlier, test audiences had given negative preview cards to the fact that the lead characters in this picture did not end up together at the film's end.