The Player
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The Player (1992) is a movie that tells the story of Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), a Hollywood studio executive who believes he is being blackmailed by a screenwriter whose script he once rejected. It was directed by Robert Altman using a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own novel. The movie's best known feature is its more than 60 cameo appearances by major Hollywood actors, producers and directors, all playing themselves.
The movie can be enjoyed merely as an entertaining comedy/drama loaded with movie references and Hollywood insider jokes, but on a deeper level it is also a highly critical attack on the Hollywood movie business, which treats people poorly and sacrifices quality for commercial success. In that respect, it is surprising that so many big Hollywood names agreed to play themselves in the film.
Altman had had his troubles with the Hollywood studio system in the '70s after a number of studio films (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye) lost money or had trouble finding audiences despite the critical praise and cult adulation they received. Altman continued to work outside the studios in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, often doing small-budget projects or filmed plays to keep his hand in. The Player was a comeback to making films in Hollywood, although it was made for Fine Line Features rather than a major studio. It ushered in a new period of filmmaking for Altman, who continued on to an epic adaptation of Raymond Carver's short stories, Short Cuts (1993). Altman won a number of European best-director awards for The Player (the BAFTA, best director at the Cannes Film Festival) and he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe as best director (the film won the Golden Globe for best "comedy or musical").
Cast
- Tim Robbins as Griffin Mill
- Greta Scacchi as June Gudmundsdottir
- Fred Ward as Walter Stuckel
- Whoopi Goldberg as Detective Susan Avery
- Peter Gallagher as Larry Levy
- Brion James as Joel Levinson
- Cynthia Stevenson as Bonnie Sherow
- Vincent D'Onofrio David Kahane
- Dean Stockwell as Andy Civella
- Richard E. Grant as Tom Oakley
- Sydney Pollack as Dick Mellon
- Lyle Lovett as Detective DeLongpre
Cameos
This is a list of the Hollywood people who play themselves in the movie:
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Trivia
- Few of the cameos were planned for in advance. Since the movie was shot in Hollywood and in so many locations that Hollywood figures frequent, most of the cameos were just coincidences and their lines were improvised. Most of the actors with cameos received no compensation.
- The DVD edition of the film includes several deleted scenes, with more cameos from people such as Tim Curry. It also includes a director and writer audio commentary where they talk about the production of a television series, based on the film.
External link
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