- Actor-Inspired Element: Frank uses eye drops to hide the redness in his eyes caused by alcoholism. According the DVD Commentary by Sidney Lumet, this was Paul Newman's own idea.
- Awesome, Dear Boy: James Mason was anxious to work with Sidney Lumet again.
- California Doubling: Although the film was set in Boston, Massachusetts, most of it was shot on sound stages in New York City.
- Cast the Runner-Up: James Mason was originally offered the role of Mickey Morrissey. At the prompting of his wife, Mason called the director and, fortuitously, Burt Lancaster, who was set to play Concannon, dropped out, and that opened up the role for Mason.
- Production Posse: Edward Binns, James Mason, and Jack Warden had each worked with Sidney Lumet on three previous films (Binns and Warden were both in 12 Angry Men), and Warden went on to appear in a fifth film with Lumet (Guilty As Sin).
- Referenced by...: In one episode of Radio Enfer, Vincent teaches Carl how to behave for his upcoming trial. At one point, the former tells the latter to take some inspiration from Paul Newman in The Verdict regarding his hesitation.
- What Could Have Been:
- A number of actors, including Cary Grant, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, Roy Scheider, Frank Sinatra and Jon Voight expressed interest in the project because of the strength of the lead role. Robert Redford was originally involved with this film. After David Mamet delivered his draft, Redford was uncomfortable with the main character and hired another writer to do another draft, and so on until Redford decided he didn't want to do the film. He was uncomfortable because he did not want to play an alcoholic. Sidney Lumet was offered the project. He read all the drafts and identified the original Mamet version as the one to make. At that point, Paul Newman agreed to star.
- Julie Christie turned down the role of Laura Fischer.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/TheVerdict
FollowingTrivia / The Verdict
Go To
