Development Brian Garfield, author of the original
Death Wish novel, was so unhappy with the
film version that he wrote his own sequel,
Death Sentence. "They'd made a hero out of him", said Garfield. "I thought I'd shown that he'd become a very sick man." In 1980, Cannon briefly hired Garfield to write an adaptation of his sequel to
Death Wish,
Death Sentence, in 1980. However, Golam and Globus did not want to use Garfield's book, preferring an original story by David Engelbach, Golan, and Hal Landers. After they purchased the rights to the first film from De Laurentiis, they purchased the rights to the characters of the novels from Garfield, meaning they could make a sequel without adapting the original novels. "We think our story is a better film story", said Golan. David Engelbach was then asked to write the screenplay. After he saw the final product, he was "somewhat appalled" how the film differed from his original script. His script didn't include any rape scenes, but those were included by
Michael Winner to "get his rocks off". Engelbach argued that "serious issues - namely, the deteriorating state of our criminal justice system. The actions of the
Bronson character are dictated by the inability of the police to prevent crime, the preoccupation of the courts with technical rather than real justice, and the cancerous climate of fear in which we find ourselves today. Paul Kersey is no hero. In his pursuit of vengeance he loses the only emotional relationship of his life and by story's end has become as much a victim of crime as the thugs he leaves dead in his wake".
Casting Charles Bronson was offered $1.5 million to reprise the role.
Jill Ireland was cast in the film because Bronson, her husband, insisted on it. Her character Geri Nichols serves as both the love interest to Paul and the voice of
opposition to the death penalty. She had been offered the role of Joanne Kersey in the film's predecessor,
Death Wish (1974), but Charles Bronson refused because he didn't want his wife humiliated and messed around with by the actors who played muggers. After she was hired for this film, Bronson wanted her character not to get raped or killed by the villains of the film. Cannon initially asked Golan to direct, but Bronson insisted on recruiting Michael Winner, the director of the original. Winner had suffered a downturn in his career since the mid-1970s, with no box-office hit since
Death Wish. He agreed to return to the franchise and took the initiative in revising Engelbach's script. Winner recalled that De Laurentiis was having second thoughts about letting someone else produce the sequel and offered to hire him to do the film for his own production company. Winner refused, and De Laurentiis did not renege on his deal with Cannon. The producer, however, started work on a "
clone" of the film. The final result was
Fighting Back (1982). Winner said the sequel was pertinent because "mugging is now a bigger issue in America. It's spread to towns where it was not a problem before. In
Beverly Hills, instead of talking about other people's failed movies – thank God, something has stopped them at last – they talk about their muggings." The film introduced significant changes for the character of Paul. One involved his
modus operandi as a vigilante. In the original film, Paul would shoot and kill every criminal in his vicinity. In the sequel, he is after five specific criminals who are responsible for the death of his daughter Carol Kersey Toby (
Robin Sherwood). His single-minded pursuit extends to ignoring other potential targets. He is seen to ignore most thieves, drug dealers, and one violent pimp. Another change involves Paul's abilities. In the first film, his activities as a vigilante rely on his use of weapons. In the sequel, he is able to beat up men who are considerably younger than himself. While casting the actors for the roles of the villains, Winner gave the actors playing the thugs a lot of creative leeway. They bought their own costumes, designed their own makeup and tested them out on passers-by to see how intimidating they'd look.
Laurence Fishburne bought a pair of magician's gloves and waved his knife like a wand, while
Kevyn Major Howard waxed his eyebrows and shaved the front of his head to make himself look like a snake. He even developed mannerisms like his insane laugh, slapping his head and twirling a baton from seeing a live drummer in a punk band.
Filming Among the final revisions of the script was a change in location. The original script set the action in
San Francisco, but the revision moved the setting to
Los Angeles. Winner said the film was "the same, but different", from the original. "That's what sequels are –
Rocky II,
Rocky III – you don't see
Sylvester Stallone move to the
Congo and become a nurse. Here the look of LA is what's different. Besides – rape doesn't date!" Principal photography began on
May 4, 1981, in
Downtown Los Angeles and concluded on July 1, 1981, in
San Pedro. Filming often lasted twelve hours a day in order to complete it before a
Screen Actors Guild strike. A scene involving the abandoned and crumbling
Hollywood Hotel was shot in an abandoned hotel months before it was demolished. Several film extras were locals hired to play a bit part, or happened to be passing by during a shooting. Among them were drug addicts, a
drag queen,
Hare Krishnas, and bikers. All were included by the director in an attempt to get an authentic feel of the streets of Los Angeles. Winner tried to keep the mood on the set lighthearted. "Just because a film is terrifying, that doesn't mean the people making it have to be grim", he said. ==Music==