The Winner is a 1996 film, directed by Alex Cox

Alex Cox

Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...

. Most noted for its quirky cast (Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen

Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...

, Vincent D'Onofrio

Vincent D'Onofrio

Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio is an American actor, director, film producer, writer, and singer. Often referred to as an actor's actor, his work as a character actor has earned him the nickname of "Human Chameleon"...

, Frank Whaley

Frank Whaley

Frank Joseph Whaley is an American film and television actor known for his roles in independent films.-Personal life:Whaley was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Josephine and Robert W. Whaley, Sr. He is half-Irish and half-Sicilian and grew up in Syracuse. He has two sisters and an older...

, and Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...

, among others) and art department, including art director Cecilia Montiel

Cecilia Montiel

Cecilia Montiel is a production designer of feature films.Montiel studied architecture and moved to Los Angeles in 1978, where she was a contemporary of Lorenzo O'Brien and Alex Cox....

.

The film was substantially re-edited by its executive producers, Marc Damon and Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise...

, and the original score – by Cox's longtime collaborators Pray for Rain

Pray for Rain (Band)

Pray for Rain is a San Francisco, California-based music production company and recording group specialising in film soundtracks, led by St. Louis, Missouri musician Dan Wool...

 – replaced by a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 score. Cox requested that his name be removed from the credits, so The Winner is now regarded as an Alan Smithee

Alan Smithee

Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...

 film.

External links

• The Winner at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
  
• The Winner page on Alex Cox website