The Big Picture (1989)

Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.

Director:

Christopher Guest

Writers:

Michael Varhol (story), Christopher Guest (story),

Stars:

Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Bacon	...	Nick Chapman
Emily Longstreth	...	Susan Rawlings
J.T. Walsh	...	Allen Habel
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Lydia Johnson
Michael McKean	...	Emmet Sumner
Kim Miyori	...	Jenny Sumner
Teri Hatcher	...	Gretchen
Dan Schneider	...	Jonathan Tristan-Bennet
Jason Gould	...	Carl Manknik
Tracy Brooks Swope	...	Lori Pressman
Don Franklin	...	Todd Marvin
Gary Kroeger	...	Mark
Alice Hirson	...	Mrs. Chapman
Grant Owens	...	Mr. Chapman
Fran Drescher	...	Polo Habel

Storyline

Nick Chapman graduates from film school, and his short film wins a special prize. This gives him a high enough profile that he can get Hollywood to back the film he has long dreamed of making. Studio exec Allen Habel is interested. But Nick soon is seduced by Hollywood and makes one concession after another until his original movie is lost altogether. Worse, Nick is lost, too, turning on girlfriend Susan and old buddy Emmet. Will he come to his sense before everything is lost?

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Plot Keywords:

hollywood | agent | actress | friendship | film student | 

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Taglines:

Film School prepared Nick for everything... everything but Hollywood.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 1990 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Grande Comédia

Filming Locations:

Ballroom, Park Plaza Hotel - 607 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$117,463 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aspen Film Society

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During filming they rented a luxury house for three days to shoot in, not knowing that actor Charles Bronson had just purchased a home across the street. Before the three days were up the crew had managed to kill Bronson's cat by accident. The story is related in the book "I Killed Charles Bronson's Cat", written by the movies location manager Barry Gremillion.

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Goofs

In Lydia's apartment she begins to raise her beer to her mouth in one shot, but in the next shot it's back by her side.

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Quotes

Nick Chapman: I want you to be my friend again.
Emmet Sumner: Nick, I was always your friend.
Nick Chapman: No, I know. I, I mean, I wanna be your friend again.

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Connections

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Midnight at the Oasis"
Written by David Nichtern

User Reviews

Want to make a movie? - This is the one to see!

This film is a wonderful example of how to get a movie made in Hollywood.

Kevin Bacon stars as a hot new director, with a prestigious award to his credit who has one aim, to make his script his way.

What then ensues is a sequence of events that should serve as a warning to people wanting to make their own movie on what to be careful of.

Bacon's script starts as a simple movie of two couples on holiday together, while one half of them is having an affair, thanks to various obstacles it transforms into a trashy affair of beaches, cheerleaders and very little story, called Beachnuts.

While this happens Bacon's personal life is also falling apart thanks to the lures of Teri Hatcher's struggling young actress.

Finally, an extremely low-budget music video puts Bacon back on the map and this time he sticks to his guns.

The message for young movie-makers is, do not lose sight of what you want and be aware of the extreme fickleness of Hollywood, which this demonstrates exceedingly well.