The Man from Elysian Fields (2001)

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

Director:

George Hickenlooper

Writer:

Phillip Jayson Lasker

Stars:

Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Garcia	...	Byron
Mick Jagger	...	Luther
Julianna Margulies	...	Dena
Olivia Williams	...	Andrea
James Coburn	...	Alcott
Michael Des Barres	...	Nigel
Richard Bradford	...	Edward Rodgers
Anjelica Huston	...	Jennifer Adler
Xander Berkeley	...	Virgil Koster
Sherman Howard	...	Paul Pearson
Joe Santos	...	Domenico
Susan Barnes	...	Attractive Woman
Tracey Walter	...	Bartender
Asha Siewkumar	...	Receptionist
Kerry Li	...	Restaurant Patron

Storyline

Byron Tiller, happily married with a young child, is a writer whose last novel has ended up in the remainder bins. Down on his luck and struggling to make ends meet, he keeps bashing away, refusing to admit that perhaps he is not that good. One day, at wit's end and feeling sorry for himself, he meets someone who has actually read his book: a rather elegant looking Englishman who introduces himself as Luther Fox. Luther runs an escort agency Elysian Fields, which provides extremely wealthy women with attractive, intelligent dates. Desperate for any job- and Luther guarantees good pay and convinces him that it can be only temporary -Byron reluctantly agrees, keeping the whole thing hidden from his wife. He soon finds himself face-to-face with an extremely attractive woman, whose aging husband is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist grappling with a novel that may be his last. Before long, Byron finds himself immersed in a world that he finds almost impossible to believe and even harder to...

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Plot Keywords:

writer | novel | novelist | escort | book | 

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Taglines:

Pleasure is his business...Call him old-fashioned.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 2002 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Confissões de um Sedutor

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$27,294 (Hong Kong) (29 November 2002)

Gross:

$1,431,625 (USA) (17 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CineSon Entertainment, Fireworks Pictures, Gold Circle Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 97 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The credit card that Luther Fox uses to pay for taking Jennifer Adler out was George Hickenlooper's own debit card. You can read his name on screen (he has since cancelled the card).

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Goofs

At the book signing near the end of the film, Byron signs the name "Georgette" in the book for the woman named Yasmine. The next woman in line reveals her name to be Georgette.

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Quotes

Luther Fox: I don't know why they call them outstanding checks... as if not being paid is somehow a good thing.

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Crazy Credits

The end of the credits caries a dedication to Suzie: "For my darling Suzie".

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Connections

Referenced in Making 'Blood Work' (2002)

User Reviews

A lot better than one could expect

The Man From Elysian Fields is a film with not one bad performance, a number of really good ones, and a story that keeps it and eye-gluer, in a sense. Andy Garcia is the writer, Byron, struggling to sell a second novel after a first that is selling almost nothing after seven years. Enter Fox (Mick Jagger) who runs an escort service for women, and offers Byron to be the "fulfiller" of married women. Byron wants to quit, until one night he meets the wife of Tobias Alcott (James Colburn), a famous, aging writer. Every character is convincing, even Jagger, who has strayed away from acting roles in general since the flop Freejack, and here takes a tailor made role and gives off a fascinating presence, and Colburn makes his hard bitten writer as an occasional comic relief. The surroundings of Pasadena adds to the allure, and it's delightful in it's sweep, under the guise of honest fiction. An independent sleeper. Grade: A