Bill Duke

Deep Cover

Deep Cover

Film noir hits the mean streets of 1990s Los Angeles in this stylish and subversive underworld odyssey from veteran actor-director Bill Duke. Laurence Fishburne stars as Russell Stevens, a police officer who goes undercover as “John Hull,” the partner of a dangerously ambitious cocaine trafficker (Jeff Goldblum), in order to infiltrate and bring down a powerful Latin American drug ring operating in LA. But the further Stevens descends into this ruthless world of money, violence, and power, the more disillusioned he becomes—and the harder it is to make out the line between right and wrong, crime and justice. Steeped in shadowy, neon-soaked atmosphere and featuring Dr. Dre’s debut solo single, Deep Cover is an unsung gem of the nineties’ Black cinema explosion that delivers a riveting character study and sleek action thrills alongside a furious moral indictment of America and the devastating failures of the war on drugs.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1992
  • 107 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1086

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New interview with director Bill Duke
  • AFI Conservatory seminar from 2018 featuring Duke and actor Laurence Fishburne, moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell
  • New conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie about Deep Cover’s place within both the Black film boom of the early 1990s and the noir genre
  • New conversation between scholar Claudrena N. Harold and professor, DJ, and podcaster Oliver Wang about the film’s title track and its importance to the history of hip-hop
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by Gillespie

New cover illustration by Ngabo “El’Cesart” Desire

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New interview with director Bill Duke
  • AFI Conservatory seminar from 2018 featuring Duke and actor Laurence Fishburne, moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell
  • New conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie about Deep Cover’s place within both the Black film boom of the early 1990s and the noir genre
  • New conversation between scholar Claudrena N. Harold and professor, DJ, and podcaster Oliver Wang about the film’s title track and its importance to the history of hip-hop
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by Gillespie

New cover illustration by Ngabo “El’Cesart” Desire

Deep Cover
Cast
Laurence Fishburne
Russell Stevens Jr./John Hull
Jeff Goldblum
David Jason
Victoria Dillard
Betty
Gregory Sierra
Barbosa
Clarence Williams III
Officer Taft
René Assa
Guzman
Charles Martin Smith
Carver
Alex Colón
Molto
Sydney Lassick
Gopher
Kamala Lopez
Belinda
Roger Guenveur Smith
Eddie
Julio Oscar Mechoso
Hernandez
Glynn Turman
Russell Stevens Sr.
James T. Morris
Ivy
Sandra Gould
Mrs. G
Credits
Director
Bill Duke
Produced by
Pierre David
Henry Bean
Screenplay by
Michael Tolkin
Henry Bean
Story by
Michael Tolkin
Director of photography
Bojan Bazelli
Edited by
John Carter
Production design
Pam Warner
Music supervisors
Sharon Boyle
Jorge Hinojosa
Music by
Michel Colombier

Current

Deep Cover: Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?
Deep Cover: Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?

Set against the backdrop of the war on drugs, Bill Duke’s boldly stylized thriller stages a meeting between the idea of noir and the idea of Black film.

By Michael B. Gillespie