The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans (the film shares the same name as Evans's famous 1994 autobiography).

Directors:

Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen

Writers:

Robert Evans (book), Brett Morgen (screen adaptation)

Stars:

Robert Evans, Eddie Albert, Peter Bart

4 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Evans	...	Narrator
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eddie Albert	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Bart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charlie Bluhdorn	...	Himself (archive footage)
William Castle	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Bill Castle)
Francis Ford Coppola	...	Himself (archive footage)
Catherine Deneuve	...	Herself (archive footage)
Charles Evans	...	Himself (archive footage)
Josh Evans	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Joshua Evans)
Mia Farrow	...	Herself (archive footage)
Errol Flynn	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ava Gardner	...	Herself (archive footage)
Karen Greenberger	...	Herself (archive footage)
Ernest Hemingway	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arthur Hiller	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

This documentary captures the life story of legendary Hollywood producer and studio chief Robert Evans. The first actor to ever to run a film studio, Robert Evans' film career started in 1956, poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. His good looks, charm and overwhelming confidence captured the eye of screen legend Norma Shearer, who offered him a film role. After a glamorous--but short-lived--career as a movie star, Evans tried out producing. At the age of 34, with no producing credits to his name, he landed a job as chief of production at Paramount Pictures. Evans ran the studio from 1966-1974. During his tenure, he was responsible for such revolutionary films as The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Odd Couple, Harold and Maude and Chinatown. By the early '80s, the Golden Boy of Hollywood was losing his luster. After a failed marriage to Ali MacGraw, a cocaine bust and rumored involvement with the Cotton Club murder, he disappeared into near-obscurity. Only through ...

---

Plot Keywords:

reference to an awards show | reference to the golden globes | the white house | murder | cocaine | 

---

Taglines:

Success. Scandal. Sex. Tragedy. Infamy. And that's just the first reel...

---

Genres:

Documentary | Biography

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some brief violent and sexual images

Details

Official Sites:

USA Films - synopsis, trailer, etc. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 August 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

A kölyök képben marad

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows - 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$89,087, 28 July 2002

Gross USA:

$1,439,232

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,521,593

Company Credits

Production Co:

Highway Films, Ministry of Propaganda Films, Robert Evans Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The soundtrack narration, in which Robert Evans portrays all the other characters as well as himself, is taken directly from the recording of the audio-book version of his autobiography.

---

Goofs

The closing credits say that Evans has been at Paramount for over 35 years, "more than any other producer on the lot." However, A.C. Lyles has been with Paramount for 75 years (as of 2003), though he is no longer actively producing.

---

Quotes

Robert Evans: Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

---

Crazy Credits

The closing credits include 1976 footage of Dustin Hoffman doing an impersonation of a future Robert Evans of 1996.

---

Connections

Edited from Finian's Rainbow (1968)

---

Soundtracks

Battle Hymn of the Republic
Written by Julia Ward Howe (as Julia Howe) and William Steffe (as William Steffee)
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

User Reviews

a must-see for movie lovers

`The Kid Stays in the Picture,' a documentary about famed movie producer and studio head Robert Evans, begins like `The Great Gatsby,' a film Evans produced in 1974. To the wistful strains of `What'll I Do?' playing in the background, the camera glides lovingly over the furnishings, pictures and memorabilia that adorn Evans' Bel Air mansion and estate. The comparison is an apt one, for, like Gatsby, Evans was a wunderkind, a handsome young go-getter who knew early on the kind of life he wanted to lead and who willed himself to attain it. With a combination of good looks, charm, ambition and just a bit of plain old-fashioned good luck, he managed to go from being a mediocre movie actor to becoming the head of Paramount Studios in the course of a mere decade. And what a decade it was! Evans had a major hand in not only lifting Paramount from ninth to first place among Hollywood's major studios, but in bringing such films as `Rosemary's Baby,' `True Grit,' `Love Story,' `Chinatown' and, of course, `The Godfather' to movie screens everywhere.

`The Kid Stays in the Picture' is a dream-come-true for hardcore cinephiles, providing a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into one of the true Golden Ages of Hollywood filmmaking. Evans' story is, in fact, the story of that time, for truly he hobnobbed with virtually every one of the key players responsible for that era. Evans' tale follows a fairly conventional arc for men of his type: the ambitious kid with dreams of larger-than-life glory achieves meteoric success in the entertainment business only to have his ambitions dashed on the shores of rampant egotism, overconfidence and drug addiction. In fact, Evans' life would make perfect fodder for a film of its own, as this documentary and the positive response to it demonstrates. Evans himself narrates the film, and although he tends to be a bit easier on himself than an outsider might have been, he is still willing to chastise himself when he feels it's called for and to render some rather startlingly unflattering assessments of certain major players on the Hollywood scene. He is, also, however, utterly devoted to those he feels have stuck by him through good times and bad, and he is not averse to lavishing praise on others when it is due. One objection to Evans' narration is that he doesn't always speak with the utmost clarity, sometimes making what he says come out garbled and incomprehensible.

As a piece of filmmaking, `The Kid Stays in the Picture' offers a kaleidoscopic array of stills, film clips and reenactments that reflect the temper and mood of the time. Directors Brett Morgan and Nanette Burstein obviously pored through a wealth of material on the subject, culling from it a comprehensive, streamlined and fast-moving narrative that grips the audience with its humor, its sadness and its tribute to the indomitableness of the human spirit. For if Evans' story is about anything, it is about how important it is for each individual to achieve his dreams and how equally vital it is for that same person, once he has fallen down, to pick himself up off the floor so that he can continue pursuing that dream.

`The Kid Stays in the Picture' is a wonderful time capsule for those who love movies. No true film fan should miss it.