For Your Consideration (2006)

Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.

Director:

Christopher Guest

Writers:

Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

Stars:

Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Parker Posey

3 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Catherine O'Hara	...	Marilyn Hack
Stephen Rannazzisi	...	Studio Gate Guard
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Sandy Lane
Eugene Levy	...	Morley Orfkin
Harry Shearer	...	Victor Allan Miller
Christopher Moynihan	...	Brian Chubb
Christopher Guest	...	Jay Berman
John Michael Higgins	...	Corey Taft
Carrie Aizley	...	Pam Campanella
Stephanie Courtney	...	Boom Operator
Suzy Nakamura	...	First AC
Jim Piddock	...	Simon Whitset
Jane Morris	...	Script Supervisor
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Whitney Taylor Brown
Jordan Black	...	Whitney's Assistant

Storyline

Hollywood send-up. No-name actors are making a low-budget period drama called "Home for Purim," when an anonymous post on the Internet suggests that one performance is Oscar-worthy. Then, two more cast members get Oscar-related press: buzz in "Variety" and appearances on TV prompt the studio executives to insist on changes in the script in anticipation of a blockbuster. Jump ahead a few months to the days before Oscar nominees are announced: just the possibility of a nomination has changed the actors' lives. Agents, publicists, make-up artists, local celebrity reporters, and other bit players round out the backstage ensemble. Hooray for Hollywood!

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Plot Keywords:

actor | purim | publicist | internet | make up | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual references and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Cinema Blend - Poster Warner Indepentent Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

22 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Es lebe Hollywood

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$372,012, 19 November 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$5,542,025, 21 January 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shangri-La Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "prison movie with Sharon Stone" that the studio guard thought Marilyn appeared in was Last Dance (1996).

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Goofs

Though most likely a part of the absurdity of the film, Oscar nominations are neither announced, nor chosen, prior to a film's release, much less its completion.

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Quotes

Corey Taft: Don't make assumptions about the talent. Don't assume the talent can hear well.

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Connections

Featured in Tales from the Script (2009)

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Soundtracks

Julie
from Jezebel (1938)
Written by Max Steiner

User Reviews

Really isn't funny enough

After scoring a number of successes with his mockumentary style, Christopher Guest strays slightly from his trusted formula to relate a tale of a bunch of disillusioned mediocrities dreaming of better things as they ply their trade. The problem with this one though is that it's probably a little too close to home for comfort. While the film pokes fun at these people, it also pokes fun at their aspirations, as if it is laughing down at them and wants us to join in which leaves a bitter aftertaste that isn't particularly pleasant.

Guest's big stumbling block is that, for his Oscar buzz strand to work, the actors in the film within a film have to be reasonably good so, in order to provide himself with a comedy backdrop, he has no choice but to make the film itself a joke that would never get green-lighted in the real world. The plight of the screenwriter, forced to compromise his vision in order to see his work reach the screen is touched upon, but the Comic Strip bunch did it better back in the 80s with their Hollywoodisation of the British coal miners' strike. There's also just a little too much familiarity about characters such as the clueless director, the agent who avoids his clients unless they're doing well, and the interfering movie executive.

While the entire cast are terrific it's probably the hard-working Fred Willard who steals the show as a slightly insane presenter of a cheesy TV movie show. The others have to work too hard against this aura of pathetic-ness in which Guest has dipped them to garner many laughs, and as a result it all comes across as a little too subdued.