While the story never strays far from Jung, an unusual circle of characters surround him throughout his mercurial journey. Demme was pleased to have the creative freedom to cast some talented, albeit unknown in the United States, actors in those parts.
For example, portraying Jung’s wife, Mirtha, is Penelope Cruz. Recently seen in All the Pretty Horses, Cruz has made a strong impact into the American film marketplace after a successful career in her native Spain.
The tone of the film is set by the volatile dynamics between George and Mirtha Jung. Their intense emotional roller coaster ride serves as a parallel and centerpiece for the story.
Depp adds, "I think he saw Mirtha as this beautiful wild horse, but he couldn’t quite get her to where he wanted her to be."
Describing Mirtha, Cruz says, "She is something very different from everything I’ve done before. She goes through so many changes and is so extreme."
Demme himself and the screenplay were able to attract an illustrious supporting cast. Ray Liotta and Academy Award nominee Rachel Griffiths portray Fred and Ermine Jung, George’s parents, while Paul Reubens and Ethan Suplee play drug-dealing comrades of George. Cliff Curtis is the Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, while Franka Potente has the role of Barbara, George’s first love. Spanish film star Jordi Molla plays a key character, Diego Delgado, George’s entrée and partner in the cocaine business.
In his first American film, Molla’s Diego is the pivotal person in transforming Jung from small-time marijuana drug dealer to the international cocaine trafficker.
Molla selected BLOW as his first American film because "I like the sense of humor in the movie, even in its tragedy."
For Demme, the process of casting is very important to the success of the film. He explains, "I work very hard on casting a movie and getting the pieces of the puzzle together. I really feel that every tiny part in a movie can be important, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it appears on a page."
Filming of BLOW was done in a variety of locations in Southern California as well as in Mexico. Executive producer Georgia Kacandes says, "It was a difficult film to schedule and shoot because it had so many different time periods. And since it was the story of a man’s life, every scene was fairly brief which meant an incredible number of scenes to be shot."
Innovative production design by Michael Hanan required the locations to represent several different decades and numerous locales such as Massachusetts, Florida, Colombia, California, Mexico, upstate New York and Illinois.
"I knew that this film couldn’t be told straightforwardly. It had to have a real look… a real attitude. And it had to have really fresh ideas," says Demme, lauding his production team.
Covering so many years in the film’s story also forced the wardrobe, makeup and hair departments to pay close attention to numerous minute details. One major challenge was to simply to secure enough costumes to clothe the hundreds of extras used in each of the different decades.
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