The Big Picture (film)
Encyclopedia
The Big Picture is a 1989 comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 starring Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....

 and directed by Christopher Guest
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...

.

Plot

In a fictionalized version of Tinseltown itself, Nick Chapman is an up and coming film director hot off the win of a student academy award for his short film. No sooner does the award bring him into the limelight when it captures the attention of a movie executive (J. T. Walsh
J. T. Walsh
James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...

) who offers Nick a deal to make his dream picture: a character-driven drama taking place in a cabin during the winter season. Everything seems all well and good to Nick, who's also got a good girlfriend (Emily Longstreth) by his side and his best friend (Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...

) always there to lend a hand. But when Nick sees his vision corrupted, his deal just disappearing into thin air because of corporate changes and a seduction to the Hollywood lifestyle, Nick might be changing on his friends and family. It doesn't really help when he's got a smarmy agent (Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

) whose promise seems empty, a starlet (Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...

) playing with his mind and the grim reminder that all of his much less-talented and much more self-satisfied classmates are working successfully in Hollywood, Nick is finally getting a chance to look at the big picture at hand. Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...

 also stars in the film as a kooky but loyal friend and classmate of Nick's, who ultimately proves to be a career savior.

Cast

  • Kevin Bacon
    Kevin Bacon
    Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....

     as Nick Chapman
  • Emily Longstreth as Susan Rawlings
  • J. T. Walsh
    J. T. Walsh
    James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...

     as Allen Habel
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh
    Jennifer Jason Leigh
    Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...

     as Lydia Johnson
  • Michael McKean
    Michael McKean
    Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...

     as Emmet Sumner
  • Kim Miyori
    Kim Miyori
    Kim Miyori is an American actress, best known for the role of Dr. Wendy Armstrong on the first two seasons of the 1980s medical drama St...

     as Jenny Sumner
  • Teri Hatcher
    Teri Hatcher
    Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...

     as Gretchen
  • Dan Schneider
    Dan Schneider (TV producer)
    Daniel James "Dan" Schneider is an American songwriter, actor, writer, and producer of films and television. He is the co-president of his own production company called Schneider's Bakery....

     as Jonathan Tristan-Bennet
  • Jason Gould
    Jason Gould
    Jason Emanuel Gould is an American actor, writer and director.Gould is the son of singer/actress Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould, who divorced July 9, 1971. Gould spent his formative years around major Hollywood players in Los Angeles, California...

     as Carl Manknik
  • Tracy Brooks Swope as Lori Pressman
  • Don Franklin
    Don Franklin
    Don Franklin is an American actor, best known for his roles in seaQuest DSV as Commander Jonathan Ford, Seven Days as Captain Craig Donovan, and as one of The Young Riders .-Partial filmography:...

     as Todd Marvin
  • Gary Kroeger
    Gary Kroeger
    Gary Kroeger is an American actor best known for his work on Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985.Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Kroeger attended Northern University High School and graduated from Northwestern University in 1981. He joined the cast of Saturday Night Live during Lorne Michaels' hiatus...

     as Mark
  • Fran Drescher
    Fran Drescher
    Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher is an American film and television actress, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer, author, singer, talk show host, political lobbyist and health activist...

     as Polo Habel
  • June Lockhart
    June Lockhart
    June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...

     as Janet Kingsley
  • Roddy McDowall
    Roddy McDowall
    Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...

     as Judge
  • Eddie Albert
    Eddie Albert
    Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

     as M.C.
  • John Cleese
    John Cleese
    John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

     as Bartender
  • Martin Short
    Martin Short
    Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

     as Neil Sussman (uncredited)
  • Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould
    Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...

    as Prosecutor (uncredited)
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