Pesci took this role right after his Oscar-winning performance in Goodfellas. It was an attempt to capitalize on his popularity at the time and help elevate Pesci from respected character actor to star status. Director and writer Howard Franklin was unable to secure the rights to Arthur "Weegee" Fellig's story. Franklin, then, wrote the story of a Weegee-like photographer who smokes cigars and he named him Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein. In the film, like Weegee, cops wonder if Bernzy uses a ouija board to snap his photographs and find the stories. According to journalist Doug Trapp, Franklin was inspired to write the screenplay after seeing a show of Fellig's photos in the 1980s at the International Center of Photography in New York City. And Weegee did, in real life, have a "soul-mate" named Wilma Wilcox, who was the woman in charge of his estate. But, Franklin has always denied that the film was about their relationship. As the film is loosely modelled on Weegee, but the story is not, several photographers' pictures, along with some by Weegee, stand in for his work, including those of Lisette Model, Mickey Pallas, Wilbert H. Blanche, Irving Haberman, Ray Platnick, Roger Smith and Charles Steinheimer. Director Franklin says he was looking for "edgy, modern, high-contrast 40's" lighting and compositions with the “stark, rather lurid effects of flash, which pick out the central subject while everything around falls off rapidly into darkness” Filming The Public Eye began filming on July 24, 1991 and completed October 28, 1991. Even though the film takes place in Manhattan, it was shot in Chicago, Illinois, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Los Angeles, California. Release The producers used the following tagline when marketing the film: Murder. Scandal. Crime. No matter what he was shooting, "The Great Bernzini" never took sides he only took pictures ... Except once. The film premiered at the Toronto Festival of Festivals in September 1992. The film also was shown at the Venice Film Festival and the Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain. It opened on October 14, 1992 in New York City and Los Angeles and expanded to 635 theatres two days later. The film's box office performance was a disappointment. The film grossed $1,139,825 for the weekend and the total receipts after 12 days were $3,067,917. Home media The film was released in video format on April 14, 1993 and in LaserDisc on April 21, 1993. In