Primal Fear (film)
Primal Fear is a 1996 American legal thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit, and written by Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman, based on William Diehl's 1993 novel of the same name. The film stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances McDormand and Edward Norton in his film debut. It revolves around a Chicago defense attorney who believes that his altar boy client is not guilty of murdering an influential Catholic archbishop. The film was a box office success and received positive reviews, with Norton's breakthrough performance earning critical praise. Norton was nominated  for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Plot. Martin Vail is a Chicago defense attorney who loves the spotlight, and does everything that he can to get his high-profile clients acquitted on legal technicalities. One day he sees a news report about the arrest of Aaron Stampler, a 19-year-old altar boy from Kentucky with a severe stutter, who is accused of brutally murdering the beloved Archbishop Rushman. Vail jumps at the chance to  represent the young man, pro bono. During his meetings at the County jail with Aaron, Vail comes to believe that his client is innocent, much to the chagrin of Vail's former lover, prosecutor Janet Venable. As the trial begins, Vail discovers that powerful civic leaders, including the corrupt state's attorney John Shaughnessy, recently lost millions of dollars in real estate investments due to Rushman's decision not to develop on church-owned lands. Rushman secretly received numerous death threats as a result. Following a tip from a former altar boy about a videotape involving Aaron, Vail makes a  search of the Archbishop's apartment and finds a VHS tape shot by Rushman that shows Aaron being sexually abused with another teenage altar boy and a teenage girl named Linda Forbes. Vail is now in a dilemma: introducing this evidence would make Aaron more sympathetic to the jury, but it would also give him a motive for the murder—which Venable has been unable to establish. When Vail confronts his client and accuses him of having lied, Aaron breaks down crying and suddenly transforms into a new persona: a violent sociopath who calls himself "Roy." "Roy" confesses to the  murder of the Archbishop, and threatens Vail. When this incident is over, Aaron once again becomes passive and shy, and appears to have no recollection of the personality switch - what he calls having "lost time." Molly Arrington, the neuropsychologist examining Aaron, is convinced that he has dissociative identity disorder, caused by years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his father and Rushman. Vail does not want to hear this, because he knows that he cannot enter an insanity plea during an ongoing trial. Vail slowly sets up a confrontation in court by dropping hints about Rushman 's pedophilia, as well as Aaron's multiple personalities. He also has the abuse tape delivered to Venable, knowing that she will realize who sent it—since she is under intense pressure from both Shaughnessy and her boss Bud Yancy to deliver a guilty verdict at any cost—and will use it as proof of motive. At the climax, Vail puts Aaron on the witness stand and gently questions him about the sexual abuse he suffered at Rushman's hands. He also introduces evidence that Shaughnessy and Yancy had covered up evidence of Rushman molesting another young man. After Venable  questions him harshly during cross-examination, Aaron turns into "Roy" in open court and attacks her, threatening to snap her neck if anyone comes near him. He is subdued by courthouse marshals and rushed back to his holding cell. The judge dismisses the jury in favor of a bench trial and then finds Aaron not guilty by reason of insanity, remanding him to a psychiatric hospital. Venable is fired for losing the case, and for allowing Rushman’s crimes to be publicly exposed. Vail visits Aaron in his cell to tell him of the dismissal. Aaron claims to have no  recollection of what happened in the courtroom, having again "lost time." However, as Vail is leaving, Aaron asks him to "tell Miss Venable I hope her neck is okay", which he could not have been able to remember if he had "lost time." When Vail confronts him, Aaron reveals that he had faked the personality disorder. No longer stuttering, he brags about having murdered Rushman, as well as Linda, his girlfriend. When Vail asks if there ever was a "Roy", Aaron replies that "there never was an 'Aaron,' counselor." Stunned and disillusioned, Vail walks away and leaves the courthouse as  Aaron taunts him from his cell. Cast. In addition, a number of actual newspeople appear in cameos as themselves, "reporting" in newscasts for the Chicago television stations they then worked at, including: WLS's Diann Burns and Linda Yu, WBBM-TV's Mary Ann Childers, Lester Holt and Jon Duncanson; and WGN-TV's Bob Jordan and Randy Salerno. Soundtrack. The soundtrack included Portuguese fado song "Canção do Mar" sung by Dulce Pontes. Reception. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 77% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus  reads, ""Primal Fear" is a straightforward, yet entertaining thriller elevated by a crackerjack performance from Edward Norton." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave it a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" said the film has a "good deal of surface charm", but "the story relies on an overload of tangential subplots to keep it looking busy." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote , "the plot is as good as crime procedurals get, but the movie is really better than its plot because of the three-dimensional characters." Ebert awarded "Primal Fear" three-and-a-half stars out of a possible four, described Gere's performance as one of the best in his career, praised Linney for rising above what might have been a stock character, and applauded Norton for offering a "completely convincing" portrayal. The film spent three weekends at the top of the U.S. box office. Accolades. Norton's depiction of Aaron Stampler earned him multiple awards and nominations. The film is  recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: