Synopsis

An Irish Republican Army fighter arrives in New York under an assumed identity to obtain weapons for his cause. He is taken in by an unsuspecting police officer and his family, but the arrangement becomes dangerous when the officer discovers his guest's true identity and the violent mission behind his quiet facade.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film's screenplay went through extensive revisions during production. The original script was discarded, and several subsequent rewrites were commissioned.

• The troubled production became a major part of the film's pre-release publicity. Reports described delays, reshoots, disagreements over the screenplay, and a budget that grew to approximately $90-95 million.

• Brad Pitt publicly criticized the early state of the project in a 1997 Newsweek interview, calling it an irresponsible production. He later clarified that he was referring to the script and filmmaking process at that stage, rather than simply condemning the finished movie.

• Although much of the story is set in New York, the opening material was filmed in Ireland. Most of the remaining production took place in New York City and New Jersey, with studio work completed at Chelsea Piers.

• The film was released on March 26, 1997, while the Northern Ireland peace process was still developing. The Good Friday Agreement followed in April 1998, giving the movie an unusually close connection to contemporary political events.

• The Devil's Own was one of the first films to pair Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt as co-stars. Its marketing emphasized the meeting of two major stars, even though the screenplay continually shifts sympathy and narrative attention between their characters.

• The movie received mixed reviews and is now often discussed as an example of a high-profile production whose behind-the-scenes difficulties became more famous than its finished result.