Primal Fear
Primal Fear film poster
Directed by	Gregory Hoblit
Produced by	Howard W. Koch Jr.
Written by	William Diehl (novel) Steve Shagan Ann Biderman
Starring	Richard Gere Edward Norton Laura Linney John Mahoney Alfre Woodard Frances McDormand
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Editing by	David Rosenbloom
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	April 3, 1996
Running time	129 min.
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

This article is about the 1996 film. For the novel, see Primal Fear (novel).

Primal Fear is a 1996 motion picture which tells a story of a defense attorney (Richard Gere) who defends an altar boy (Edward Norton) charged with the murder of a Catholic archbishop. The movie is an adaptation of William Diehl's novel. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his career-launching role.

The film also stars Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, and Frances McDormand. It was directed by Gregory Hoblit.

Plot

• Tagline: Sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real.

Martin Vail (Gere) is Chicago's most famous defense attorney, known for getting acquittals for the most unpopular defendants — and so jumps at the chance to represent Aaron Stampler (Norton), a young altar boy accused of murdering the city's sainted archbishop. At first only in it for the publicity, Vail actually begins to care about his emotionally damaged client when he uncovers some of the archbishop's (very) dirty secrets, involving sexual abuse and worse. When Stampler reveals his darker side, however, Vail finds himself facing a much more difficult case.

See also

• Twist ending

External links

• Primal Fear at the Internet Movie Database

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