.gif)
Bright Lights, Big City (film)
Encyclopedia
Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 drama film
starring Michael J. Fox
, Kiefer Sutherland
and Phoebe Cates
, based on the novel of the same name
by Jay McInerney
. It was the last film directed by James Bridges
before his death in 1993.
) works as a fact-checker for a major New York
magazine
, but because he spends his nights partying with his glib best friend (Kiefer Sutherland
) and his frequent cocaine
abuse, he's on the verge of getting fired by his boss, Clara Tillinghast (Frances Sternhagen
). His wife Amanda, a fast-rising model
(Phoebe Cates
), just left him; he's still reeling from the death of his mother (Dianne Wiest
) a year earlier; and he's obsessed with a tabloid story about a pregnant
woman in a coma
. The movie captures some of the glossy chaos and decadence of the New York nightlife during the 1980s
and also its look at a man desperately trying to escape the pain in his life.
championed Jay McInerney's novel against resistance from older executives. He felt that the book spoke to his generation and described it as "Graduate
, with a little bit of Lost Weekend". The studio agreed to make the film with Jerry Weintraub
producing and Joel Schumacher
directing. McInerney wrote a draft of the screenplay and soon afterward, Schumacher started rewriting it. Actor Emilio Estevez
was interested in optioning it and adapting it into a film. He met with McInerney while he was still working on the screenplay. Tom Cruise
was offered first refusal on the script but McInerney and Schumacher were unable to capture the novel's distinctive voice. McInerney, Cruise and Schumacher scouted locations in New York City and checked out the atmosphere of the club scenes described in the novel. At one point, Judd Nelson
, Estevez, and Rob Lowe
were all considered for the role of Allagash.
In 1985, Weintraub took the property to United Artists
when he became chief executive there. The film needed a new producer and Sydney Pollack
and Mark Rosenberg agreed to work on Bright Lights, Big City. They hired writer Julie Hickson to write a script but no one liked it either. Both Cruise and Schumacher got tired of waiting for a workable script but before they could be replaced, Weintraub left United Artists. The project became entangled in a complicated settlement with the studio and months were lost before it finally stayed at United Artists. The decision was made to shoot the film in Toronto
and cast then-unknown Charlie Sheen
in the leading role.
Joyce Chopra
was hired to co-write the film with her husband Tom Cole, and direct the film. She had her agent send a copy of McInerney's novel to Michael J. Fox. The actor won the leading role and, at his request, the part of Tad Allagash went to Kiefer Sutherland. Fox's casting increased the budget to $15 million and principal photography was moved to New York City. The producers hired a crew, many of whom had worked with Pollack, while Chopra brought along the cinematographer from her first film, Smooth Talk
, James Glennon. Fox had to be back in Los Angeles
to start filming Family Ties
by mid-July giving Chopra only ten weeks to finish the film. It is rumored that she was indecisive, relying too much on consulting with Glennon and Cole, wasting time over a single shot. It was also rumored that she panicked while shooting on the streets of New York as fans of Fox disrupted filming. Chopra claims, "I kept insisting that we take time each day to give the actors a chance to find their way, in spite of the panic caused all around us by the morning calls from United Artists asking if I had taken my first shot yet. Working collaboratively with my cameraman seemed to drive the producers into a sort of frenzy". Studio executives did not like what Chopra was shooting and a week into filming, the chairman of the studio and the president of production flew from L.A. to New York to check on the film. Both executives had not read the script and were unaware of how different it was from the novel.
McInerney claims that Cole wrote all the drugs out of the script while Cole claims that he did this on instructions from Pollack who was worried that the film would hurt Fox's wholesome image with audiences. Cole recalls, "there was definitely pressure and concern at that time about how Michael was seen by America". The studio announced that "a more experienced director" was needed as a result of an impending strike by the Directors Guild of America
. On the short list of possible replacements were Ulu Grosbard, Bruce Beresford
, and James Bridges
. Bridges received a call on a Friday that the film was in trouble, read the novel that night and flew to New York on Sunday. He saw Chopra's footage and agreed to direct if he could start from scratch and hire Gordon Willis
as his cinematographer.
In seven days, Bridges wrote a new draft and got rid of six actors, casting instead Jason Robards, John Houseman, Swoosie Kurtz, Frances Sternhagen, and Tracy Pollan while keeping Sutherland and Dianne Wiest. The new cast members read the novel because there was no script at the time. Chopra had worked on the film for only a month, which Fox described as "a rehearsal period, though it wasn't meant to be". The strike forced the production to shoot in seven weeks and using McInerney's first draft, which Bridges liked the best. Bridges worked on the script on weekends with McInerney, who was enlisted to help with revisions. The two agreed to share screenwriting credit but the Writers Guild of America
decided to give it to McInerney only.
The cocaine that Fox snorts in the film was a prop called milk sugar. The filmmakers shot two different endings - one where Fox's character decides to start his life all over and an alternate one to please the studio where he has finished writing a novel to be called Bright Lights, Big City with a new girlfriend who is proud of what he has written.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and has a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
. In his review for Newsweek
, David Ansen
wrote, "Bright Lights isn't an embarrassment, like Less Than Zero
; it's a smooth, professional job. But when it's over you may shrug your shoulders and ask, "Is that all?" Janet Maslin
, in her review for the New York Times wrote, "Mr. Bridges may not have breathed fire into this material, but he has preserved most of its better qualities. He has treated it with intelligence, respect and no undue reverence, assembling a coherent film that resists any hint of exploitation". In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson criticized Fox's performance, claiming that he "was the wrong actor for the job. Fox, who in The Secret of My Succe$s
showed a gift for light comedy, is too stylized a performer for the heavier stuff; he has no natural weight. In addition, Fox shows a reluctance to let the audience see him in an unflattering light". However, Roger Ebert
praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". Time
magazine's Richard Schickel
felt that the film, "arrives, however, looking like something that has been kicking around too long in the dead-letter office".
All Things Considered
interview that Gossip Girl
's co-creator Josh Schwartz
is remaking an updated version of the film.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
, Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
and Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.-Early life:...
, based on the novel of the same name
Bright Lights, Big City (novel)
Bright Lights, Big City is an American novel by Jay McInerney, published by Vintage Books on August 12, 1984.- Plot :It is written about a character's time spent caught up in, and notably escaping from, the mid-1980s New York City fast lane. It is one of the few well-known English-language novels...
by Jay McInerney
Jay McInerney
John Barrett McInerney Jr. is an American writer. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City; Ransom; Story of My Life; Brightness Falls; and The Last of the Savages...
. It was the last film directed by James Bridges
James Bridges
James Bridges was an American screenwriter and film director.Bridges was born in Paris, Arkansas. He got his start as a writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of his episodes, "An Unlocked Window", earned him a 1966 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV...
before his death in 1993.
Plot
Originally from Pennsylvania, Jamie Conway (Michael J. FoxMichael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
) works as a fact-checker for a major New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, but because he spends his nights partying with his glib best friend (Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
) and his frequent cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
abuse, he's on the verge of getting fired by his boss, Clara Tillinghast (Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
). His wife Amanda, a fast-rising model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
(Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.-Early life:...
), just left him; he's still reeling from the death of his mother (Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.-Early life:...
) a year earlier; and he's obsessed with a tabloid story about a pregnant
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
woman in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
. The movie captures some of the glossy chaos and decadence of the New York nightlife during the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
and also its look at a man desperately trying to escape the pain in his life.
Cast
- Michael J. FoxMichael J. FoxMichael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
as Jamie Conway - Kiefer SutherlandKiefer SutherlandKiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
as Tad Allagash - Phoebe CatesPhoebe CatesPhoebe Cates is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.-Early life:...
as Amanda Conway - Dianne WiestDianne WiestDianne Wiest is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.-Early life:...
as Mrs. Conway - Swoosie KurtzSwoosie KurtzSwoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters...
as Megan - Frances SternhagenFrances SternhagenFrances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
as Clara - John HousemanJohn HousemanJohn Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
as Mr. Vogel - Tracy PollanTracy PollanTracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
as Vicky - Jason RobardsJason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
as Mr. Hardy - David Hyde PierceDavid Hyde PierceDavid Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
as bartender at fashion show
Development
In 1984, Robert Lawrence, a vice president at Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
championed Jay McInerney's novel against resistance from older executives. He felt that the book spoke to his generation and described it as "Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
, with a little bit of Lost Weekend". The studio agreed to make the film with Jerry Weintraub
Jerry Weintraub
Jerry Weintraub is an American film producer and former chairman and CEO of United Artists. He now lives in Palm Desert, California.-Life and career:...
producing and Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
directing. McInerney wrote a draft of the screenplay and soon afterward, Schumacher started rewriting it. Actor Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
was interested in optioning it and adapting it into a film. He met with McInerney while he was still working on the screenplay. Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
was offered first refusal on the script but McInerney and Schumacher were unable to capture the novel's distinctive voice. McInerney, Cruise and Schumacher scouted locations in New York City and checked out the atmosphere of the club scenes described in the novel. At one point, Judd Nelson
Judd Nelson
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St...
, Estevez, and Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
were all considered for the role of Allagash.
In 1985, Weintraub took the property to United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
when he became chief executive there. The film needed a new producer and Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
and Mark Rosenberg agreed to work on Bright Lights, Big City. They hired writer Julie Hickson to write a script but no one liked it either. Both Cruise and Schumacher got tired of waiting for a workable script but before they could be replaced, Weintraub left United Artists. The project became entangled in a complicated settlement with the studio and months were lost before it finally stayed at United Artists. The decision was made to shoot the film in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and cast then-unknown Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
in the leading role.
Joyce Chopra
Joyce Chopra
Joyce Chopra , is an American director and writer of feature films and television.- Partial director filmography :*A Happy Mother's Day co-directed with Richard Leacock*Joyce at 34...
was hired to co-write the film with her husband Tom Cole, and direct the film. She had her agent send a copy of McInerney's novel to Michael J. Fox. The actor won the leading role and, at his request, the part of Tad Allagash went to Kiefer Sutherland. Fox's casting increased the budget to $15 million and principal photography was moved to New York City. The producers hired a crew, many of whom had worked with Pollack, while Chopra brought along the cinematographer from her first film, Smooth Talk
Smooth Talk
Smooth Talk is a 1985 drama film, loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates' 1966 short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, which was in turn inspired by the Tucson murders committed by Charles Schmid. The protagonist and main character, Connie Wyatt, is played by Laura Dern...
, James Glennon. Fox had to be back in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to start filming Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
by mid-July giving Chopra only ten weeks to finish the film. It is rumored that she was indecisive, relying too much on consulting with Glennon and Cole, wasting time over a single shot. It was also rumored that she panicked while shooting on the streets of New York as fans of Fox disrupted filming. Chopra claims, "I kept insisting that we take time each day to give the actors a chance to find their way, in spite of the panic caused all around us by the morning calls from United Artists asking if I had taken my first shot yet. Working collaboratively with my cameraman seemed to drive the producers into a sort of frenzy". Studio executives did not like what Chopra was shooting and a week into filming, the chairman of the studio and the president of production flew from L.A. to New York to check on the film. Both executives had not read the script and were unaware of how different it was from the novel.
McInerney claims that Cole wrote all the drugs out of the script while Cole claims that he did this on instructions from Pollack who was worried that the film would hurt Fox's wholesome image with audiences. Cole recalls, "there was definitely pressure and concern at that time about how Michael was seen by America". The studio announced that "a more experienced director" was needed as a result of an impending strike by the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
. On the short list of possible replacements were Ulu Grosbard, Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
, and James Bridges
James Bridges
James Bridges was an American screenwriter and film director.Bridges was born in Paris, Arkansas. He got his start as a writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of his episodes, "An Unlocked Window", earned him a 1966 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV...
. Bridges received a call on a Friday that the film was in trouble, read the novel that night and flew to New York on Sunday. He saw Chopra's footage and agreed to direct if he could start from scratch and hire Gordon Willis
Gordon Willis
Gordon Willis, ASC, is an American cinematographer best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather series as well as Woody Allen's Annie Hall and Manhattan....
as his cinematographer.
In seven days, Bridges wrote a new draft and got rid of six actors, casting instead Jason Robards, John Houseman, Swoosie Kurtz, Frances Sternhagen, and Tracy Pollan while keeping Sutherland and Dianne Wiest. The new cast members read the novel because there was no script at the time. Chopra had worked on the film for only a month, which Fox described as "a rehearsal period, though it wasn't meant to be". The strike forced the production to shoot in seven weeks and using McInerney's first draft, which Bridges liked the best. Bridges worked on the script on weekends with McInerney, who was enlisted to help with revisions. The two agreed to share screenwriting credit but the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
decided to give it to McInerney only.
The cocaine that Fox snorts in the film was a prop called milk sugar. The filmmakers shot two different endings - one where Fox's character decides to start his life all over and an alternate one to please the studio where he has finished writing a novel to be called Bright Lights, Big City with a new girlfriend who is proud of what he has written.
Reaction
Bright Lights, Big City was released on April 1, 1988 in 1,196 theaters where it grossed USD $5.1 million on its opening weekend. The film went to make $16.1. million domestically, below its budget of $25 million.The film received mixed reviews from critics and has a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. In his review for Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, David Ansen
David Ansen
David Ansen is a reviewer and senior editor for Newsweek, where he has been reviewing movies since 1977. He came to Newsweek after several years as the chief film critic at Boston's The Real Paper...
wrote, "Bright Lights isn't an embarrassment, like Less Than Zero
Less Than Zero (film)
Less Than Zero is a 1987 American drama film loosely based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name. The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas to spend time with his ex-girlfriend Blair and his friend Julian , who is also a drug addict...
; it's a smooth, professional job. But when it's over you may shrug your shoulders and ask, "Is that all?" Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
, in her review for the New York Times wrote, "Mr. Bridges may not have breathed fire into this material, but he has preserved most of its better qualities. He has treated it with intelligence, respect and no undue reverence, assembling a coherent film that resists any hint of exploitation". In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson criticized Fox's performance, claiming that he "was the wrong actor for the job. Fox, who in The Secret of My Succe$s
The Secret of My Succe$s
The Secret of My Success is a 1987 American comedy film starring Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater, produced and directed by Herbert Ross . The screenplay is written by Jim Cash, who previously co-scripted Top Gun.-Plot:Brantley Foster The Secret of My Success (sometimes stylized as The Secret of My...
showed a gift for light comedy, is too stylized a performer for the heavier stuff; he has no natural weight. In addition, Fox shows a reluctance to let the audience see him in an unflattering light". However, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
felt that the film, "arrives, however, looking like something that has been kicking around too long in the dead-letter office".
Home video
A special edition DVD version of Bright Lights, Big City was released on September 2, 2008. In her review for the Washington Post, Jen Chaney wrote, "In the end, that's what is most disappointing about this DVD. What could have become a compelling look at a seminal novel of the '80s and its rocky path through Hollywood ends up being a rudimentary release with a couple of decent commentary tracks and two forgettable featurettes".Remake
On July, 31, 2010 the story's author confirmed on an NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
interview that Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
's co-creator Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...
is remaking an updated version of the film.