Mistress (1992 film)
5.6 /10 1 Votes
Genre Comedy, Drama Duration Country United States | 5.4/10 IMDb Director Barry Primus Story by Barry Primus Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Barry Primus , J.F. Lawton Release date 24 July 1992 Screenplay Barry Primus, J. F. Lawton Cast Robert Wuhl (Marvin Landisman), Martin Landau (Jack Roth), Jace Alexander (Stuart Stratland Jr.), Robert De Niro (Evan M. Wright), Laurie Metcalf (Rachel Landisman), Eli Wallach (George Lieberhof)Similar movies Now You See Me , Youth , Jamon Jamon , Southland Tales , Fargo , Playing It Cool Tagline The Director Had A Vision. The Producers All Had Girlfriends. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Struggling filmmaker Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) gets a surprise phone call from Jack Roth (Martin Landau), an ex-Hollywood executive who wants to turn one of Marvins screenplays into a movie. Marvin thinks his lifes ambition is about to become a reality, until he meets the films financial backers (Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach). Each investor has a young girlfriend whom they force Marvin to offer a role to, and then they also re-write the script until its unrecognizable.
Contents
Mistress is a 1992 comedy-drama film starring Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach, Robert Wuhl and Martin Landau. It was written by Barry Primus and J.F. Lawton and directed by Primus.
A comedy about a screenwriter (Wuhl) whose old movie script is read by a producer (Landau) and the search for financial backers begins. But it seems that each money source (Aiello, DeNiro, Wallach) has his own mistress that he wants put into the film. Gradually, the screenwriter is forced to make changes to his script to accommodate these backers until he finally sees no semblance of his original ideas in the writing.
Plot
A down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter and director named Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) is working on cheaply made instructional videos when his years-old script is read by Jack Roth (Martin Landau), a desperate has-been producer who offers to help Marvin find investors for his movie.
Men willing to put up the money are found, including the ruthless businessman Evan (Robert De Niro), the disturbed war veteran Carmine (Danny Aiello) and the eccentric millionaire George (Eli Wallach). But each has a mistress he insists be cast in the film in exchange for his financial backing. The women are the highly talented Beverly (Sheryl Lee Ralph), the alcoholic flight attendant Patricia (Jean Smart) and the perky blonde Peggy (Tuesday Knight).
Marvin repeatedly is asked to compromise his standards and change his script to accommodate these backers until the script becomes almost unrecognizable from its original form. The project also puts a strain on the marriage of Marvin and his long-patient wife Rachel (Laurie Metcalf).
Marvins screenplay is a bleak one about a painter who commits suicide, and was inspired by the case of an actor named Warren (Christopher Walken) who abruptly committed suicide by jumping off a building in the midst of the making of a film Marvin was directing years ago. Roth brings in young Stuart Stratland (Jace Alexander) to adapt the script for the investors mistresses, but not only does Stuart constantly enrage Marvin with his suggested changes, he falls in love with Peggy and they have an affair.
When Marvins wife demands he grow up and move with her to New York, where she is opening a restaurant, he breaks up with her instead, giving his loyalty to a film that, as she puts it, nobody wants to see. On the verge of signing contracts, everything falls apart, when Beverly discovers that the role she expected to play has been drastically reduced in Peggys favor.
Marvin is left alone, a broken man, done with Hollywood for good. Or at least until the next time Jack Roth gets in touch.
Similar Movies
Martin Landau and others appear in Mistress and Ed Wood. Robert De Niro appears in Mistress and What Just Happened. Adaptation (2002). Irma Vep (1996). Irreconcilable Differences (1984).
Cast
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References
Mistress (1992 film) WikipediaMistress (1992 film) IMDb Mistress (1992 film) themoviedb.org