shooting Joe, before finding Jenny. Norton confesses to arranging Farley's murder and pinning it on Joe, believing he could fulfill two vendettas at once. Jenny tells him that she can take him to Sklar. Jenny kills Norton and reunites with Joe outside the building. Cast Burt Reynolds as Joe Paris Theresa Russell as Jenny Hudson Ned Beatty as James Nicks Kay Lenz as Deborah Quinn Ted McGinley as Kyle Tom O'Brien as Matt Farley Kenneth Welsh as Harry Norton Production The film was originally conceived as a sequel to Jagged Edge and was meant to have Glenn Close and Robert Loggia reprise their roles. The story was about a private investigator framed for murder and the female lawyer who defends him. The project was developed at Columbia Pictures but then head of production Guy McElwaine was replaced by David Puttnam, who, according to producer Martin Ransohoff, said that he did not want to make sequels (Puttnam denied this, saying his problem was the script "wasn't good and for no other reason... when there's a terrific script for Jagged Edge II Columbia will be anxious to make it".). Ransohoff decided to turn the script into an original story. "It's a good mystery on its own terms", he said. "I think the story is really more effective as an original. Because there wasn't an agreement with Loggia and Close, we had always designed the project to go either as a sequel or on its own terms." The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures between in the United States and Canada, with Rank Film Distributors handling foreign distribution. The film was produced by Martin Ransohoff who formed with Columbia, Rank Film Distributors and Vestron Video in 1986. The male lead went to Burt Reynolds, after starring in Switching Channels. "Joe is a ballsy character", said Reynolds, "kind of like Dirty Harry gone amok. He's around the edge of having a nervous breakdown but he has a strange sense of humor about it all." It was filmed in Boston, Massachusetts, and around Canada between Toronto and Montreal, and began production in September 1987. It was filmed under the working title Smoke. Russell later recalled her part "was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, being someone who was that in control. Michael Crichton, who is a doctor -- and his ex-wife is a lawyer -- was very helpful in that regard.