The Player (1992)

A studio executive is being blackmailed by a writer whose script he rejected but which one? Loaded with Hollywood insider jokes.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Michael Tolkin (screenplay), Michael Tolkin (novel)

Stars:

Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 30 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tim Robbins	...	Griffin Mill
Greta Scacchi	...	June Gudmundsdottir
Fred Ward	...	Walter Stuckel
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Detective Avery
Peter Gallagher	...	Larry Levy
Brion James	...	Joel Levison
Cynthia Stevenson	...	Bonnie Sherow
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	David Kahane
Dean Stockwell	...	Andy Civella
Richard E. Grant	...	Tom Oakley
Sydney Pollack	...	Dick Mellon
Lyle Lovett	...	Detective DeLongpre
Dina Merrill	...	Celia
Angela Hall	...	Jan
Leah Ayres	...	Sandy

Storyline

A studio script screener gets on the bad side of a writer by not accepting his script. The writer is sending him threatening postcards. The screener tries to identify the writer in order to pay him off so he'll be left alone, and then in a case of mistaken identity gone awry, he accidentally gives the writer solid ammunition for blackmail. This plot is written on a backdrop of sleazy Hollywood deals and several subplots involving the politics of the industry.

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Plot Keywords:

writer | hollywood | blackmail | investigation | murder | 

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Taglines:

Making movies can be murder.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, and for some sensuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las reglas del juego

Filming Locations:

Argyle Hotel - 8358 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$21,706,100 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avenue Pictures Productions, Spelling Entertainment, Addis Wechsler Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening tracking shot (8 minutes) includes people talking about famous long tracking shots in other movies. The scene was rehearsed for a day, shot for half a day. Fifteen takes were done, five were printed, and the third one was used in the film. The entire sequence was unscripted, and all the dialogue is improvised.

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Goofs

In a tracking shot during the confrontation between Mill and the screenwriter, the camera and cameraman are reflected in the black paint of the SUV.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Man 1: [voiceover] Quiet on the set.
Woman: [voiceover] OK, everybody, quiet on the set.
Man 2: [voiceover] Scene 1, take 10. Marker.
Man 1: [voiceover] And - action!

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Crazy Credits

This film recorded digitally in a THX Sound System Theatre

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Connections

Featured in Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (1993)

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Soundtracks

"DRUMS OF KYOTO"
Written & Performed by Kurt Neumann
Copyright Lla-Mann Music

User Reviews

Tinseltown Memoirs

Screen writing is a craft, one of many in Hollywood that builds or supports the towering edifice upon which our glamorous "stars" ... sit. Without a screenplay, actors, directors, and others in Hollywood might otherwise grovel for beans and potatoes at the local soup kitchen.

And so, director Altman gives us "The Player", a film about a screen writing executive (well played by Tim Robbins) who listens to story ideas, and makes decisions about what you and I see, and don't see, at the local multiplex. For every idea that evolves into a film, billions and billions of other ideas wither and die, along with the careers of the writers who conceived those ideas. Inevitably, some of those writers get miffed, and that is the premise of "The Player".

It's actually a weak premise, because in reality the business of screen writing is fairly bland, and the conflict, which exists mostly in people's heads, is fairly tame. To rev up the drama, and to qualify the film as a "thriller", the filmmakers here insert some contrived conflict, in the form of threatening postcards. If you watch this film for the "thriller" element only, you may be disappointed.

This film works, not so much as a thriller, but rather as a classy, semi-inside peak into the back rooms of Hollywood decision making. There's lots of humor, some obvious, some subtle. And the film's plot is filled with satirical irony. In addition to Robbins' fine performance, Whoopi Goldberg is great as a tampon obsessed detective.

The best approach to "The Player" is to absorb the Tinseltown setting, and watch the characters as they maneuver for selfish advantage. I really liked the inclusion of dozens of real-life Hollywood celebrities, just being themselves. You get to see them in their natural habitat. This element adds texture and authenticity, and thus helps to prop up the weak story.

Although the contrived plot falters somewhat in the middle Act, it's the overall Tinseltown setting and real-life ambiance that make "The Player" an entertaining and insightful film.