Sigourney Weaver’s Serial Killer Thriller ‘Copycat’: The Chilling True Tale Hiding in Plain Sight That’ll Mess with Your Zodiac Signs and Your Mind!
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Ever wonder what happens when Hollywood tries to cook up a psychological thriller that’s part brain teaser, part nerve-jangler, and ends up almost as misunderstood as Mercury in retrograde? Well, buckle up! The 1995 thriller Copycat starring Sigourney Weaver is exactly that kind of wild ride: a movie that slipped under the radar despite almost tripling its budget at the box office and featuring what Weaver herself calls her best career performance. But behind the scenes — oh, the cosmic chaos! There were gender swaps in lead roles, last-minute rewrites by none other than Frank Darabont (yes, that Frank Darabont), nail-biting test screenings, and even some on-set injuries that no amount of star power could predict. Like a Scorpio moon messing with your plans, Copycat’s tale is one of transformation, suspense, and a sprinkle of Hollywood magic that just might make you rethink all those overlooked ’90s gems. Ready to dive deep into the mysteries of this underrated thriller and find out exactly what happened when art, astrology, and filmmaking collided?
Jake
It’s no exaggeration to say that some of the all-time best psychological crime thrillers were made in the 1990s. Jacob’s Ladder, Misery, The Silence of the Lambs, The Usual Suspects, The Game — you name it. Yet, despite its derivative title that suggests a lame imitation of much better products, the 1995 Sigourney Weaver movie Copycat is among the most easily overlooked original psycho-thrillers of the decade. Not only has Weaver cited the film as her best career performance, playing the agoraphobic criminal profiler traumatized by a near-fatal on-air execution, Helen Hudson, but the film also rebounded from significant rewrites and reshoots to nearly triple its budget at the box office.
Did you know that Frank Darabont was hired to rewrite scenes for Copycat shortly after The Shawshank Redemptioncame out? Did you realize that Holly Hunter’s character, Homicide Detective M.J. Monahan, was originally written as a man? Were you aware that the movie’s original editor was given the heave-ho after a miserable test screening forced the producers’ hand to create a new ending? Well, as the film just celebrated its 30th anniversary last October, it’s only fitting that we double-check the files and find out what the f*ck happened to Copycat back in the day.
Produced by Regency Enterprises and distributed by Warner Bros., Copycat began development with the screenplay written by Ann Biderman and David Madsen. Biderman, who would go on to create the TV series Southland and Ray Donovan, was fresh off writing three episodes of NYPD Blue. Meanwhile, Madsen had only written one episode of the TV show Nightwatch in 1989. The lack of feature film script experience is noteworthy, as English director Jon Amiel immediately began reworking the Copycat screenplay once joining the project. Amiel, who was known for romantic dramedies like Sommersby and Tune in Tomorrow, deserves credit for retooling the Copycat story.
For instance, in early iterations of the script, homicide detective M.J. Monahan, played beautifully by then-recent Oscar winner Holly Hunter, was originally meant to be a man. More clichéd yet, the script featured a romantic subplot between the male Detective Monahan and Helen Hudson, the agoraphobic criminal profiler and psychologist who is brutally accosted while giving a classroom lecture in the opening scene. Once the decision was made to change the character’s gender, Jacqueline “Jay” Presson Allen was hired to do uncredited script revisions. As Amiel notes:
“I just stumbled onto the notion of making the cop a woman. We already had a great female character in the psychologist. So I thought, ‘Why not have two females in the lead, and just get rid of the love story altogether?’ With two women, we could put an entirely different perspective on the violence and make it a movie about women dealing with violence against women rather than a movie exploiting violence against women. And then I stumbled onto a second realization — that I’d never seen a full-on suspense drama before with two women in the lead.”
Once Sigourney Weaver was cast as Dr. Helen Hudson, she began preparing for the role by working closely with famed forensic expert Park Elliot Dietz. Rising to prominence in 1982 for his testimony in the John Brinkley Jr. trial, Dietz later worked on such high-profile serial killer cases as those of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Kaczynski, Richard Kuklinski, and others.
Similarly, to prep for her role as Inspector Monahan, Holly Hunter spent time shadowing several real-life LAPD detectives in downtown Los Angeles. As for New Orleans jazzman Harry Connick Jr., who plays the terrifying killer Daryll Lee Cullum, he reportedly spent several weeks studying the habits and behaviors of real-life serial killers by watching documentaries on the subject.
With the main cast in place, Amiel hired the legendary Hungarian cinematographer László Kovács to oversee the camera department. Amiel also reunited with his longtime production designer Jim Clay and art director Chris Seagers, all of whom collaborated on the 1990 film Tune in Tomorrow.
Once the cast and crew were set and an estimated $27 million budget was allotted, Copycat commenced principal photography on October 3, 1994. Although the shoot wrapped on December 22, 1994, reshoots were directed by Amiel and completed in June 1995, just four months before the film opened theatrically to more than moderate success.
Although the original setting for the film was Los Angeles, Amiel opted to move the story to San Francisco because he wanted to counterbalance the arresting beauty of a bustling city with the ugly, evil action of its characters. One of the reasons Copycat holds up well 30 years later is the lively practical locations, with many iconic San Francisco landmarks adding to the film’s texture.
Famous San Francisco sites were filmed at Pacific Heights, Potrero Hill, Twin Peaks, and Golden Gate Park. Helen’s loft was constructed outside of the historic Fort Mason army base. Meanwhile, several interior shots of the movie were filmed in an abandoned warehouse on Treasure Island that served as a soundstage. The opening lecture scene was filmed at the College of San Mateo Library in San Mateo, California, roughly 30 minutes south of San Francisco.
While fans may notice that Holly Hunter’s hairstyle changes in nearly every scene Monahan is in, less noticeable is the height difference between Hunter and Weaver. Hunter stands at 5 feet 2 inches, while Weaver towers at six feet even. To compensate for the near foot-long height difference between Hudson and Monahan on screen, Weaver often sat down while filming scenes opposite the standing Hunter. The result makes it appear as though the characters are on equal footing and eye level, which adds thematic weight to the story.
Alright, now it’s time to shift the focus to the character of Peter Foley, played with shivering ferocity by William McNamara. Once Copycat finished filming and the initial cut was presented to a test audience, the response was so negative that Foley’s character had to be significantly rewritten and reshot. In 2021, McNamara told the Happy Horror Time Podcast that audiences believed Foley was “too cerebral” and by far the worst part of the movie.
When original editor Alan Heim failed to deliver a favorable cut of the film after the first round of poor test screenings, he was abruptly fired and replaced by editor Jim Clark. The biggest issue for audiences was Foley’s kidnapping of Detective Monahan at the end of the film, where she was held hostage at the university seen at the start of the film, until Helen suddenly overcomes her agoraphobia and rescues her in far too unbelievable a fashion.
Believe it or not, all-world scribe Frank Darabont, fresh off directing arguably the greatest movie ever made in The Shawshank Redemption, was hired to do rewrites for Copycat’s new ending. Darabont did uncredited script rewrites and reshaped the story to have Foley abduct Dr. Hudson instead of Detective Monahan.
Not only did Darabont reconceive Copycat’s far more compelling conclusion, but McNamara also stated that Hannibal Lecter himself, the great Anthony Hopkins, coached McNamara and guided his performance during the $1 million reshoots in June 1995.
As for the harrowing bathroom showdown at the end of the movie, it took a full eight days to complete. Sigourney Weaver’s stunt double, Louise Head, broke her nose during the punishing skirmish. Meanwhile, at roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes into the film, Helen spits in Foley’s face during the bathroom brawl. According to Weaver, she really spewed saliva on McNamara’s face during the take without telling him beforehand.
Part of changing Foley’s character also resulted in the removal of a flashback depicting his abusive childhood as a means of conjuring sympathy for the killer. A scene featuring Foley interacting with his mother as a child was filmed but deleted from the final cut.
Another easily missable detail comes when Foley uses the alias Peter Kürten, referencing the infamous German serial killer known as the Vampire of Düsseldorf, famously depicted in Fritz Lang’s M.
Once the reshoots were completed, Warner Bros. had only four months to finish editing before releasing the film on October 27, 1995. Copycat went on to gross $79 million worldwide and holds a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Despite never receiving a sequel, Copycat has experienced renewed appreciation thanks to streaming, with audiences finally rediscovering one of Sigourney Weaver’s most personal and proud performances.
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