Synopsis: Jessica, whose father was a serial killer, is a female police officer. While investigating a murder, she finds herself in the center of her own investigation when her former lovers start dying around her at a furious pace.

Cast:
Ashley Judd .... Jessica Shepard
Samuel L. Jackson .... John Mills
Andy Garcia .... Mike Delmarco
David Strathairn .... Dr. Melvin Frank
Russell Wong .... Lieutenant Tong
Camryn Manheim .... Lisa
Mark Pellegrino .... Jimmy Schmidt
Titus Welliver .... Dale Becker
D.W. Moffett .... Ray Porter

Favorite Quotes:
• "Hello, Perfect-Mental-Health." - Dr. Frank

• Dr. Frank: "I'd like to talk about your parents..."
Jessica: "I barely knew my parents. They died in a car crash."
Dr. Frank: "Oh...so, that's what you tell people."
Jessica: "I thought this was suppose to be related to my job. I don't see what my parents have to do with my job."
Dr. Frank: "Well, thirty years ago your father went on a killing spree which ended with your mother and his own suicide, and you've devoted your life to tracking killers and you don't see how it relates? You sure?"

Notes:
• David and co-star Ashley Judd previously worked together in Simon Birch, and David and Samuel L. Jackson previously co-starred in Losing Isaiah together. David and director Philip Kaufman will also work together again in Challenger.
• David worked exclusively with a real, experienced police psychiatrist, Dr. Forrest Fulton, to prepare for his role as Dr. Melvin Frank.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
(David On His Role:)
• "Dr. Frank is a particular breed of policeman. He's a doctor whose office is really the only place fellow officers can unload their problems. While he's exploring Jessica's behavior, he observes her looking more and more haggard. She's a tough nut to crack, very reticent to let go of what's inside, and I think that will give audiences a certain amount of suspicion about whether or not she's aware of her deteriorating condition--not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically, too." -David Strathairn, 2004

• [on the film] "There are times where she [Jessica, Ashley Judd's character] does have black outs. Maybe she's passed out from drinking too much wine, she may be too tired. Her condition gets worse and worse. She becomes a little more haggard, she seems to have more problems sleeping, she's drinking a little bit more. Black outs come in many different forms, and some of them can come just as you're in denial of what happened. It's an odd mechanism that the brain does sort of to protect the consciousness." -David Strathairn, 2004, DVD interview

(Dr. Forrest Fulton On David:)
• "David Strathairn was my counter-part in the movie. He really wanted to make sure that would you do this that way? If they said this, would you say that? What would be an appropriate way of dealing with this?" -Dr. Forrest Fulton, SFPD technical advisor-behavioral science, DVD interview

(Philip Kaufman On David:)
• "David Strathairn is playing a cop doc. He based it to a large degree on Dr. Forrest Fulton, who is a cop (an active cop) and who sees cops in situations like this. In this case, its been mandated because she's kicked a guy. She had a guy in cuffs and kicks him... Nonetheless, what seems to be sort of passing perfunctory examination with a cop doc is about to, perhaps, open up some further aspects of her character." -Philip Kaufman, director, DVD commentary

• "David Strathairn, you know--it's wonderful because, as detectives, they're unraveling mysteries as to murder but he, as a psychologist, is unraveling the past. And there, he has that same photo that was in her pandora's box, really, and when she sees that, we're about to discover that that is a photo of her father when he was killed; when he committed suicide." -Philip Kaufman, director, DVD commentary

• "...And now David Strathairn's character is beginning to explore her in a more deep way. It's pyschological investigation of her character that we're undergoing now." -Philip Kaufman, director, DVD commentary

• "Now we're really seeing that the shrink is a cop doc. He does carry a gun and, for whatever it's worth, it adds, perhaps, just a bit more suspicion to him as a character. You know, we see that Ashley is sort of on her downward spiral, and is he helping her or is he, infact, part of the plot? I mean, this is a very subsidiary kind of thing but I hope it all adds a seasoning to the mix." -Philip Kaufman, director, DVD commentary

Related Links:
Official U.S. Site (off site)