Taglines: Everything you’ve heard is true!
The Player movie storyline. Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is a Hollywood studio executive dating story editor Bonnie Sherow (Cynthia Stevenson). He hears story pitches from screenwriters and decides which have the potential to be made into films, green-lighting only 12 out of 50,000 submissions every year. His job is threatened when up-and-coming story executive Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) begins working at the studio. Mill has also been receiving death threat postcards, assumed to be from a screenwriter whose pitch he rejected.
Mill surmises that the disgruntled writer is David Kahane (Vincent D’Onofrio). Mill is told by Kahane’s girlfriend, June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi) that Kahane is at a theater in Pasadena. Mill pretends to recognize Kahane in the lobby, and offers him a scriptwriting deal, hoping this will stop the threats. The two go to a nearby bar where Kahane gets intoxicated and rebuffs Mill’s offer; he calls Mill a liar and continues goading him about his job security at the studio. In the bar’s parking lot, the two men fight. Mill goes too far and accidentally drowns Kahane in a shallow pool of water, then stages the crime to make it look like a botched robbery.
The next day, after Mill is late for and distracted at a meeting, Studio chief of security Walter Stuckel (Fred Ward) confronts Mill about the murder and says that the police know Mill was the last one to see Kahane alive. At the end of their conversation Mill receives a fax from his stalker. Thus, Mill has killed the wrong man, and the stalker apparently knows this. Mill attends Kahane’s funeral and gets into conversation with June.
Detectives Avery (Whoopi Goldberg) and DeLongpre (Lyle Lovett) suspect Mill is guilty of murder. Mill receives a postcard from the writer suggesting they meet at a hotel bar. While Mill is waiting, he is cornered by two screenwriters, Tom Oakley (Richard E. Grant) and Andy Sivella (Dean Stockwell), who pitch Habeas Corpus, a legal drama featuring no major stars and with a depressing ending. Because Mill is not alone, his stalker does not appear. After leaving the club, Mill receives a fax in his car, advising him to look under his raincoat. He discovers a live rattlesnake in a box, which a terrified Mill bludgeons with his umbrella.
Mill tells June that his near-death experience made him realize he has feelings for her. Apprehensive that Larry Levy continues encroaching on his job, Mill invites the two writers to pitch Habeas Corpus to him, convincing Levy that the movie will be an Oscar contender. Mill’s plan is to let Levy shepherd the film through production and have it flop. Mill will step in at the last moment, suggesting some changes to salvage the film’s box office, letting him reclaim his position at the studio. Having persuaded Bonnie to leave for New York on studio business, Mill takes June to a Hollywood awards banquet and their relationship blossoms.
The Player is a 1992 American satirical black comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Michael Tolkin, based on his own 1988 novel of the same name.[2] The film stars Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson and is the story of a Hollywood film studio executive who murders an aspiring screenwriter he believes is sending him death threats.
The Player has many film references and Hollywood insider jokes, with 65 celebrities making cameo appearances in the film. Altman stated that the film “is a very mild satire,” offending no one.[3] The film received three nominations at the 66th Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing. The film also won two Golden Globes, Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Actor – Comedy or Musical for Robbins.
The Player (1992)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dean Stockwell, Richard E. Grant
Screenplay by: Michael Tolkin
Production Design by: Stephen Altman
Cinematography by: Jean Lépine
Film Editing by: Maysie Hoy, Geraldine Peroni
Costume Design by: Alexander Julian
Set Decoration by: Susan Emshwiller
Art Direction by: Jerry Fleming
Music by: Thomas Newman
MPAA Rating: R for language, and for some sensuality.
Distributed by: Fine Line Features
Release Date: April 10, 1992
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