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Mistress

  • 19921992
  • RR
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
Mistress (1992)
Struggling filmmaker Marvin gets a surprise phone call from an ex-Hollywood executive who wants to turn one of Marvin's screenplays into a movie. Marvin thinks his life's ambition is about to become a reality, until he meets the film's financial backers. Each investor has a young girlfriend whom they force Marvin to offer a role to, and then they also re-write the script until it's unrecognizable.
Play trailer1:39
3 Videos
57 Photos
ComedyDrama
This self-effacing comedy about film industry blues stars Robert Wuhl and Martin Landau as a writer/producer duo who must deal with the increasingly fickle demands of their film's financiers... Read allThis self-effacing comedy about film industry blues stars Robert Wuhl and Martin Landau as a writer/producer duo who must deal with the increasingly fickle demands of their film's financiers (Danny Aiello, Robert De Niro and Eli Wallach).This self-effacing comedy about film industry blues stars Robert Wuhl and Martin Landau as a writer/producer duo who must deal with the increasingly fickle demands of their film's financiers (Danny Aiello, Robert De Niro and Eli Wallach).
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Barry Primus
  • Writers
    • Barry Primus(story)
    • J.F. Lawton(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Robert Wuhl
    • Martin Landau
    • Vasek Simek
  • Director
    • Barry Primus
  • Writers
    • Barry Primus(story)
    • J.F. Lawton(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Robert Wuhl
    • Martin Landau
    • Vasek Simek
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 16User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
    • 63Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos3

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:39
    Watch Trailer
    Mistress
    Clip 0:31
    Watch Mistress
    Mistress
    Clip 0:31
    Watch Mistress

    Photos57

    Mistress (1992)
    Mistress (1992)
    Mistress (1992)
    Mistress (1992)
    Mistress (1992)
    Robert Wuhl in Mistress (1992)
    Martin Landau in Mistress (1992)
    Robert Wuhl in Mistress (1992)
    Mistress (1992)
    Martin Landau, Jace Alexander, and Robert Wuhl in Mistress (1992)
    Laurie Metcalf and Robert Wuhl in Mistress (1992)
    Tuesday Knight in Mistress (1992)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Robert Wuhl
    Robert Wuhl
    • Marvin Landisman
    Martin Landau
    Martin Landau
    • Jack Roth
    Vasek Simek
    • Hans
    • (as Vasek C. Simek)
    Thomas R. Voth
    • Stagehand
    Jace Alexander
    Jace Alexander
    • Stuart Stratland, Jr.
    Mary Mercier
    • Shelby's Waitress
    Tuesday Knight
    Tuesday Knight
    • Peggy Pauline
    Eli Wallach
    Eli Wallach
    • George Lieberhoff
    Danny Aiello
    Danny Aiello
    • Carmine Rasso
    Jean Smart
    Jean Smart
    • Patricia Riley
    Robert De Niro
    Robert De Niro
    • Evan M. Wright
    William L. Rotko
    William L. Rotko
    • Valet
    • (as Bill Rotko)
    Dimitri Dimitrov
    • Maitre d'
    Sheryl Lee Ralph
    Sheryl Lee Ralph
    • Beverly Dumont
    Chuck Low
    Chuck Low
    • Bernie
    • (as Chuck Lowe)
    Ernest Borgnine
    Ernest Borgnine
    • Ernest Borgnine
    Laurie Metcalf
    Laurie Metcalf
    • Rachel Landisman
    Fríða Aradóttir
    • Mrs. Evan M. Wright
    • (as Frida S. Aradóttir)
    • Director
      • Barry Primus
    • Writers
      • Barry Primus(story) (screenplay)
      • J.F. Lawton(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Barry Primus had been shopping his script around at different studios for several years before his good friend Robert De Niro agreed to back the film, and take a co-starring role.
    • Goofs
      The boom mike drops below the frame during the meeting with George and Peggy while Stuart mentions possible changes to the script.
    • Quotes

      Marvin Landisman: That's it. I'm going back to the original script! I'm not making any changes. Any changes!

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: Marvin, what are you talking about? They won't make the film! Don't be self-destructive.

      Marvin Landisman: Help me, Stuart. I mean, you're a smart guy. There's a great story here. Just help me use these women to tell it. It's my fault. I never told you what this all came out of.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: It's about that actor comitting suicide on your film.

      Marvin Landisman: No. It's about how I killed him.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: What?

      Marvin Landisman: Believe it or not Stuart once I was pretty hot. From an old novel I wrote a script about a ruthless gambler who destroys someone he loves. Life changes for him and then isolated and desperate, he realizes who he is and he kills himself. Pretty grim stuff but I got Warren Zell. Warren was a very special actor. He was an original but he had been through a lot and he wasn't acting anymore. See, I had been his student. He trusted in my plan and I convinced him that I could give what he had been through meaning. Warren was amazing. The film suddenly had an incredible mystery to it. Actually it was too good. The producers loved the rushes and thought it might be a Christmas release. Oh, they had one small change. Take out the suicide. Instead have the character recite some speech like, "There's always another day." It was at four o'clock in the afternoon. I had a terrible headache. I can still hear the thud.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: God, that's sick. He was crazy!

      Marvin Landisman: Of course he was or he wouldn't have jumped. But he was too weak to fight us any other way. He had to remain honest to himself and the suffering he represented. I was betraying him. Turning this into an insane farce. Don't you see, Stuart? This is what the film *needs* to be about. The fact that not everything is for sale. That some things just have to be left as they are. Help me, Stuart. I want his death to mean something.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: Marvin, they're only making this to put their girlfriends in it.

      Marvin Landisman: Then take out the painter.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: He's a photographer and we can't take him out. The whole thing revolves around him!

      Marvin Landisman: Okay, leave him in. But take out the suicide.

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: What are you, crazy? After all the trouble we went through to sell it? That's the only element everyone agrees on!

      Marvin Landisman: I can't bear him dying amidst all this crap! Let him get hit by a car. Let him leave town! Some shit!

      Stuart Stratland Jr.: It's a little late for that, Marvin. The suicide stays!

      Marvin Landisman: You take it out! I'm not gonna have him turned into a comic book. I'm not gonna murder him again!

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Unforgiven/Mistress/Death Becomes Her/Enchanted April/London Kills Me (1992)
    • Soundtracks
      Sex Goddess
      Written by Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado

      Performed by Tuesday Knight (uncredited)

      [Peggy sings the song as her audition for Marvin]

    User reviews16

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    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.
    helpful•17
    2
    • coffeengreens
    • Apr 5, 2002

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 24, 1992 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Czech
    • Also known as
      • Hollywood Mistress
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Meir Teper
      • Mistress Productions
      • Tribeca Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,102,469
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $34,146
      • Aug 9, 1992
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,102,469
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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