River Phoenix was originally attached to the project, but the part of Rimabud went to Leonardo DiCaprio after Phoenix's death. John Malkovich was initially attached to play Verlaine, but pulled out. David Thewlis shaved part of his head especially for the film so as to look like the real Verlaine. Ouzo was used as a replacement for absinthe for the drinking scenes filmed on the first day. Because the scene turned out so well, method drinking was adopted for the rest of filming. As a r ...[Read Story ]