The Big Picture
Film school prepared Nick for everything... everything but Hollywood.
Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.
Cast
Kevin Bacon
Nick Chapman
Emily Longstreth
Susan Rawlings
J. T. Walsh
Allen Habel
Teri Hatcher
Gretchen
Michael McKean
Emmet Sumner
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Lydia Johnson
Kim Miyori
Jenny Sumner
Dan Schneider
Jonathan Tristan-Bennet
Jason Gould
Carl Manknik
Tracy Brooks Swope
Lori Pressman
Don Franklin
Todd Marvin
Alice Hirson
Mrs. Chapman
Grant Owens
Mr. Chapman
Fran Drescher
Polo Habel
Eddie Albert
M.C.
June Lockhart
Janet Kingsley
Stephen Collins
Attorney
Roddy McDowall
Judge
Vladimir Skomarovsky
Man in Nick's Movie
Holly Fields
Daughter
More Like This
Reviews
Wuchak
**_Satire on Hollywood and the filmmaking process with Kevin Bacon_**
After a film student from Ohio (Bacon) wins an award for his short movie at the film institute in Los Angeles, he has to carefully traverse the minefield of the system to get his artistic vision made. JT Walsh plays a manipulative producer and Martin Short a dubious agent.
“The Big Picture” (1989) is an amusing look at the moviemaking process in Hollywood. The humor is mostly droll or quirky and viewers not up on the business might not relate to some of it, which could explain why the flick flopped at the box office. I wouldn’t want to blow time & money on seeing it at the theater, but it works well enough for home viewing on a quiet night or whatever.
Winsome Emily Longstreth stands out on the feminine front as the protagonist’s girlfriend, Susan. She was a minor female sensation at the time who worked with the likes of Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Rob Morrow, Molly Ringwald and James Spader, but she left acting entirely by the early 90s, reportedly falling into substance abuse, mental illness, and living in homeless shelters. It’s rumored she died in early 2015, but factual info is hard to find so I can’t verify this.
Teri Hatcher is notable as wannabe starlet Gretchen; it was her movie debut. Meanwhile Jennifer Jason Leigh is on hand as hipster Lydia while Fran Drescher shows up as the producer’s wife, Polo.
The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and was shot in the Los Angeles area.
GRADE: B-
You've reached the end.