The Usual Suspects - Cast

Cast

• Gabriel Byrne as Dean Keaton: Kevin Spacey met Byrne at a party and asked him to do the film. He read the screenplay and turned it down, thinking that the filmmakers could not pull it off. Byrne met screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie and Singer and was impressed by the latter's vision for the film. However, Byrne was also dealing with some personal problems at the time and backed out for 24 hours until the filmmakers agreed to shoot the film in Los Angeles, where the actor lived, and make it in five weeks.
• Kevin Spacey as Roger "Verbal" Kint: Singer and McQuarrie sent the screenplay for the film to the actor without telling him which role was written for him. Spacey called Singer and told that he was interested in the roles of Keaton and Kujan but was also intrigued by Kint who, as it turned out, was the role McQuarrie wrote with the actor in mind.
• Chazz Palminteri as U.S. Customs Special Agent David Kujan: Singer had always wanted the actor for the film but he was always unavailable. The role was offered to Christopher Walken and Robert De Niro, both of whom turned it down. The filmmakers even had Al Pacino come in and read for the part but he decided not to do it because he was playing a cop in Heat. Palminteri became available, but only for a week. When he signed on, this persuaded the film's financial backers to support the film fully because he was a sufficiently high-profile star, thanks to the recent release of A Bronx Tale and Bullets Over Broadway.
• Stephen Baldwin as Michael McManus: The actor was tired of doing independent films where his expectations were not met; when he met with director Bryan Singer, he went into a 15-minute tirade telling him what it was like to work with him. After Baldwin was finished, Singer told him exactly what he expected and wanted, which impressed the actor.
• Kevin Pollak as Todd Hockney: He met with Singer about doing the film, but when he heard that two other actors were auditioning for the role, he came back, auditioned, and got it.
• Benicio del Toro as Fred Fenster: Spacey suggested del Toro for the role. The character was originally written with a Harry Dean Stanton-type actor in mind. Del Toro met with Singer and the film's casting director and told them that he did not want to audition because he did not feel comfortable doing them.
• Pete Postlethwaite as Mr. Kobayashi, Söze's right-hand man.
• Suzy Amis as Edie Finneran, an influential criminal lawyer and Keaton's girlfriend.
• Giancarlo Esposito as FBI Special Agent Jack Baer, investigating the boat explosion on the pier; his interest in Keyser Söze is likened to Jack McGee's pursuit of the Hulk in the 1970s TV series about the Hulk.
• Dan Hedaya as Sergeant Jeffrey "Jeff" Rabin, assists in Dave Kujan's interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint.
• Peter Greene (uncredited) as Redfoot the Fence: He not only sets up a job for the five criminals in Los Angeles but also puts them in touch with Kobayashi. Since he is shown only in Söze's falsified flashbacks using the alias of Kint, whether he has actually existed is unproven.