Mistress (1992)

A comedy about a screenwriter (Wuhl) whose old movie script is read by a producer (Landau) and the search for financial backers begins. But it seems that each money source (Aiello, DeNiro, ... See full summary »

Director:

Barry Primus

Writers:

Barry Primus (story), Barry Primus (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Wuhl, Martin Landau, Vasek Simek

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Wuhl	...	Marvin Landisman
Martin Landau	...	Jack Roth
Vasek Simek	...	Hans (as Vasek C. Simek)
Thomas R. Voth	...	Stagehand
Jace Alexander	...	Stuart Stratland Jr.
Mary Mercier	...	Shelby's Waitress
Tuesday Knight	...	Peggy
Eli Wallach	...	George Lieberhof
Danny Aiello	...	Carmine Rasso
Jean Smart	...	Patricia Riley
Robert De Niro	...	Evan M. Wright
William Rotko	...	Valet (as Bill Rotko)
Dimitri Dimitrov	...	Maitre d'
Sheryl Lee Ralph	...	Beverly
Chuck Low	...	Benrie

Storyline

A comedy about a screenwriter (Wuhl) whose old movie script is read by a producer (Landau) and the search for financial backers begins. But it seems that each money source (Aiello, DeNiro, Wallach) has his own mistress that he wants put into the film. Gradually, the screenwriter is forced to make changes to his script to accommodate these backers until he finally sees no semblance of his original ideas in the writing.

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Plot Keywords:

screenwriter | mistress | money | writing | suicide | 

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Taglines:

The Director Had A Vision. The Producers All Had Girlfriends.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hollywood Mistress

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$1,102,469 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Meir Teper, Mistress Productions, Tribeca Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Barry Primus had been shopping his script around for several years before his good friend Robert de Niro agreed to back the film and take a co-starring role.

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Quotes

Jack: So when do we all get to meet your fabulous friend Beverly?
Evan: I'll give you her number, I'm not seen with her in public my wife wouldn't like it.

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Connections

Features La Grande Illusion (1937)

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Soundtracks

"The kiss"
Written by Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado

User Reviews

over looked gem

This movie is another over looked gem made awares recently to my consumerized multiplex movie taste. Robert DeNiro acted in this movie for free (according to IFC Channel's little factoid footnotes). It has a low budget feel to it. I dislike Robert "Arliss" Wuhl as an actor. Nontheless I found myself intrigued and enjoying Mistress.

The discussions about art, and how they are a reflection of real life: the question posed in My Dinner With Andre: Is the art a reflection of it's artist, or is the artist a reflection of his art ? The discussion and breaking down of some of the tedious aspects of screenwriting and what it means and how one goes about it in the movie industry. The compromises required in movie-making, and art in general, is an intriguing aspect to this movie, making it more than just a run of the mill "dish on Hollywood/Los Angeles" movie. Also, the comprises woman in the movies have to make, and blacks. I think this is a great movie for an aspiring (screen)writer/actor to watch by providing some of the clues to how one has to think or approach writing and also the realistic constraints that get applied by the way the industry is structured.

(BTW, I feel as if I am the only one to notice that this seems alot like Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway ((which was released 2 years after this movie)); Woody Allen is the greatest, but the uncredited theft of this movie may be a travesty ((especially provided the knowledge, also courteasy of IFC's footnotes, that the Writer/Director Ron Powlus[sp] spent 7 years running around trying to get this movie made. Which is a sad fact because this is an excellent movie and the amount of work he must have put into it is reflected.))

Now looking at this as well, this is sort of a movie about the making of a movie about the real life making of a movie; which in itself is stating something very profound about movie making.