Maps to the Stars (2014)

A tour into the heart of a Hollywood family chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts.

Director:

David Cronenberg

Writer:

Bruce Wagner (screenplay)

Stars:

Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 10 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julianne Moore	...	Havana Segrand
Mia Wasikowska	...	Agatha Weiss
John Cusack	...	Dr. Stafford Weiss
Evan Bird	...	Benjie Weiss
Olivia Williams	...	Christina Weiss
Robert Pattinson	...	Jerome Fontana
Kiara Glasco	...	Cammy
Sarah Gadon	...	Clarice Taggart
Dawn Greenhalgh	...	Genie
Jonathan Watton	...	Sterl Carruth
Jennifer Gibson	...	Starla Gent
Gord Rand	...	Damien Javitz
Justin Kelly	...	Rhett
Niamh Wilson	...	Sam
Clara Pasieka	...	Gretchen Voss

Storyline

The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford is an analyst and coach, who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Cristina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie, 13, a child star. One of Stafford's clients, Havana, is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the 60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night... Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was 9 and his sister, Agatha, has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania and befriended a limo driver Jerome who is also an aspiring actor.

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Plot Keywords:

aspiring actor | dysfunctional family | male frontal nudity | male full frontal nudity | sex | 

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Taglines:

Eventually stars burn out.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong disturbing violence and sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some drug material

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an almost 50-year career, this was the very first time that David Cronenberg ever filmed anything in the United States (his previous movies were mostly shot in Canada or the UK). The film shot for 5 days in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills (location manager Scott Trimble) and 24 days in Cronenberg's native Toronto (location manager Marty Dejczak).

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Goofs

At the courtyard restaurant, the shadows formed by the retaining wall move around between shots. In Christina's shots it's clear the sun is over her left shoulder, with the wall in shadow and the shots completed, perhaps, in the morning. In Harriet's, the shadow of the railing is on the ground, it must be around noon. In Stafford's the wall is lit up, so maybe it's the afternoon. Everyone's going to know the truth now.

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Quotes

Agatha Weiss: [as they ingest lethal doses of pills] We should start.
Benjie Weiss: I had 13 summers, not so bad.

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Connections

References Play It As It Lays (1972)

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Soundtracks

Hell Blazer
Written by Supafly and Omar G

User Reviews

A Disturbing Dive Into The Macabre

You would think that the soap operatic sentiments (incest, famous mothers, mysterious personal assistants, haughty child stars, and more) of Maps to the Stars would give it an enjoyably melodramatic edge, but instead of being an absurdly funny Hollywood satire, it mopes along with writhing cynicism until characters begin to set themselves on fire and get bludgeoned to death. The characters are nasty, the story lines are nasty, and so are the expensive furnishings; you probably haven't seen a Tinsel Town film this contemptuous, but you certainly have had better times at the movies before. The cynicism of Maps to the Stars is notable, but it becomes so increasingly dark that it goes from bracingly edgy to staunchly depressing. You wouldn't expect anything different from the macabre adoring David Cronenberg, but there might be a part of you that wishes we were lurking in the shadow of the soul sister of The Player instead of Debbie Downer's.

David Lynch got his kicks destroying the lives of the characters Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring played in Mulholland Dr., and Cronenberg has no trouble poisoning the wells the people in Maps to the Stars drink from. The Weiss family, who mirror the shameful dysfunction of the Spears' or the Lohan's, have slithered their way into Hollywood, but the scraggly hole they snuck in through is rapidly closing. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) makes a living as a famed television psychiatrist with a starry clientèle, while his 13-year son (Evan Bird) is a successful child actor who headlines a shitty franchise when he's not residing in rehab. Christina, mother to Benjie and wife to Stafford, acts as her son's agent, clinging to his fame as she tries to find meaning in her empty, sad life.

Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), one of Stafford's many patients, is an aging, irrelevant actress whose entire career has been overshadowed by her legendary mother (Sarah Gadon), who prematurely died in a house fire in the 1970s. Making her way into town is the enigmatic Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman with troubling burns on the side of her body; she finds a job as Havana's personal assistant, but her dangerous connection with the Weiss family leaves her slightly cursed.

If I've explained the plot well (and I probably haven't), then Maps to the Stars might sound enticing, carrying the same self-awareness of Twin Peaks while retaining the screeching satire of Sunset Boulevard. Wrong and wrong. I desperately wanted to like Maps to the Stars, (Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska are certainly two of Hollywood's most talented actresses and Cronenberg is a consistently interesting director), but it's much too unlikable to be anything other than dreary. The humor is sharp, but when humor is also underlined in a pen based in gloominess, it's hard to do anything other than remained sickened. The blame can't be placed on Cronenberg — his claustrophobic, fearlessly ghoulish filmmaking style is as fresh as ever — but on Wagner, whose screenplay wants to be sardonic but eventually runs out of ideas. The ending, which is essentially a series of disturbing character offings, seems like an act of haste instead of a necessity.

But if Maps to the Stars isn't as delicious as I wish it was, it never stops being watchable, in part to the cast (a round-table of fantastic performances) and in part to Cronenberg's unwaveringly creepy handling of it all. It isn't necessarily a horror film, but there's always a part of us that twitches in fear that something bad will happen. Bad stuff unavoidably does happen; I just wish the negativity was more creative. But if the woods are lovely, dark, and deep and you've got promises to maintain your derisive mood, Maps to the Stars might contain just enough pessimism to toot your raincloud drenched horn.

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Canada Germany France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bailey's Quest

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$143,422, 1 March 2015

Gross USA:

$350,741

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,510,934

Company Credits

Production Co:

Prospero Pictures, Sentient Entertainment, SBS Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1