Trivia for
Philadelphia (1993) More at IMDbPro »

• Tom Hanks lost 26 pounds during his role for this film.
  
  
• The film's workings title included "People Like Us", "At Risk" and "Probable Cause".
  
  
• Filmed in sequence.
  
  
• The courtroom scenes were filmed in an actual courtroom that the city let the producers used. It was not a set.
  
  
• The library scene was filmed in the Furness Building at the University of Pennsylvania. This building is actually a Fine Arts library.
  
  
• There was a statistic that there were 53 gay men who appeared in various scenes in this movie and within the next year, 43 of them had died.
  
  
• Demme decided to record the opera scene live so Hanks could get a better performance with the music playing. This proved extremely tricky in the editing suite (music is usually added in post-production).
  
  
• Cameo: [Tak Fujimoto] The cinematographer appears as a doctor in the hospital immediately following the birth scene.
  
  
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia were all offered the role of Andrew Beckett.
  
  
• Director Jonathan Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS issues to see his film. He felt Bruce Springsteen would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song, "The Streets of Philadelphia", did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease.
  
  
• Originally, director Jonathan Demme was going to cast a comedic actor in role of Joe Miller as he felt it would be a good counter balance for Tom Hanks who had already been cast and to give an audience the "it's OK" to watch a film about a gay man dying of AIDS. Demme had considered casting either Bill Murray or Robin Williams but when Denzel Washington showed interest in the part, he gave the role to him instead because Demme had wanted to work with Washington for the past few years.
  
  
• The protestors outside the courthouse holding signs are based on the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, led by "Reverend" Fred Phelps. Phelps calls this movie "one of my favorite comedies".
  
  
• When Andy Beckett leaves Joe Miller's office for the first time, he stands on the street in front of a window with the partially visible words "Macready & Shilts" written on it. This is a reference to journalist Randy Shilts, who wrote the acclaimed AIDS history "And the Band Played On" and who himself died of AIDS the year after the film came out.
  
  
• Jonathan Demme initially wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play the part later taken by Tom Hanks.
  
  
• Denzel Washington's part was originally written for an Italian American.
  
  
• An elderly double was used for the close-up of Beckett's hands after his collapse in court.
  
  
• At Becketts Fancy Dress Celebration/Memorial Party, the elderly chap standing next to 'Mona Lisa' is none other than Quentin Crisp, the British gay celebrity portrayed in BBC film The Naked Civil Servant (1975) (TV) starring John Hurt.
  
  
• The following message appears at the end credits: This motion picture was inspired in part by Geoffrey Bowers' AIDS discrimination lawsuit, the courage and love of the Angius family and the struggles of the many others who, along with their loved ones, have experienced discrimination because of AIDS.
  
  
• Tom Hanks had to lose almost thirty pounds to appear appropriately gaunt for his courtroom scenes. Denzel Washington, on the other hand, was asked to gain a few pounds for his role. Washington, to the chagrin of Hanks, who practically starved himself for the role, would often eat chocolate bars in front of him.
  
  
• In the film, Denzel Washington's character says he prays that Philadelphia Phillies win the pennant. The year this movie was released, the Phillies did just that.
  
  
• According to a 1994 Entertainment Weekly profile of Ron Vawter by Stephen Schaefer, Philadelphia (1993) director Jonathan Demme had to convince TriStar Pictures to hire Vawter to play Bob Seidman. TriStar wanted Demme to hire someone else because Vawter was HIV-positive and the insurance company covering the film refused to extend coverage to him. Demme managed to convince TriStar to allow the hiring of Vawter anyway, both because Vawter was the actor that Demme wanted and because refusing to hire an actor because of his HIV-positive status would have been particularly ironic in the context of a movie that is premised on the injustice of a lawyer being fired because he is HIV-positive.
  
  
• John Leguizamo turned down the part of Miguel.
  
  
• While filming on Market Street, the Mellon Bank Building had been changed to the Wheeler Building and the art department had made temporary signs that were placed over the ones for Mellon. As a result of this, many law students that were scheduled to go on interviews for impending jobs missed their appointment. The reason given was that all they could find was the Wheeler & Wheeler building and had difficulty finding the Mellon Building.
  
  
• In the scene shown on the television in the bar, then Mayor Edward Rendell was interviewed for the news. Jonathan Demme wanted him to follow lines in the script and Rendell had refused. He insisted on simply answering as he would for any other topic when interviewed for the news. As a result, he managed to get the take on the first try. Through the rest of his tenure as mayor, many referred to him as "One Take Eddie" due to this part in the film and his subsequent ability to do this shot in one try.
  
  
• Buzz Kilman, Ron Vawter, Paul Lazar, Lauren Roselli, Tracey Walter, Lawrence T. Wrentz, Harry Northup, Kenneth Utt, Charles Napier, Obba Babatundé, James B. Howard, Roger Corman, Jim Roche, Andre B. Blake, and Gene Borkan all stared in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) directed by Jonathan Demme. Both movies were also scored by Howard Shore and featured music by Q. Lazzarus, who makes an appearance in Philadelphia (1993).
  
  
• In addition to multiple cast members also staring in Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991), a great number of the cast/crew starred in The Manchurian Candidate (2004) also directed by Jonathan Demme.
  
  
• Real-life friends Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen both happened to win their respective Oscars for Best Actor and Best Song.
  
  

• SPOILER: Andrew Beckett dies from acute CMV (Cytomegalovirus), a common cause of death in acute AIDS patients. His lesions were caused by Kaposi's sarcoma, also seen in many persons with advanced AIDS.
  
  

Related Links