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An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (the onscreen title is simply Burn Hollywood Burn) is a 1997 comedy film and is regarded as one of the worst films of all time, scooping five awards (including Worst Picture) at the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards. The film had an estimated budget of $10 million and grossed at least $52,850, being that it was only released in 19 theaters.
The film's creation set off a chain of events which would lead the Directors Guild of America to officially discontinue the Alan Smithee credit in 2000. Its plot (about a director attempting to disown a film) eventually described the film's own production; director Arthur Hiller requested that his name be removed after witnessing the final cut of the film by the studio.
Plot[]
A director by the name of Alan Smithee has been allowed to direct Trio, a big-budget action film starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan. The studio recuts the film, and when Smithee sees the results (which he describes as being "worse than Showgirls") and realizes that he cannot use a pseudonym (because the only one allowed is "Alan Smithee") he steals the film and goes on the run, threatening to burn it.
The movie then proceeds to tell these events and their aftermath in the style of a documentary, consisting in multiple interviews with the production crew and executives.
The movie ends with the studio deciding that given the destruction of the Trio, they will instead make a movie about its production and destruction, thus echoing the motion picture itself.
Cast[]
- Eric Idle as Alan Smithee
- Ryan O'Neal as James Edmunds
- Coolio as Dion Brothers
- Chuck D as Leon Brothers
- Richard Jeni as Jerry Glover
- Leslie Stefanson as Michelle Rafferty
- Sandra Bernhard as Ann Glover
- Cherie Lunghi as Myrna Smithee
- Harvey Weinstein as Sam Rizzo
- Gavin Polone as Gary Samuels
- MC Lyte as Sista Tu Lumumba
- Marcello Thedford as Stagger Lee
- Nicole Nagel as Aloe Vera
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Bill Bardo
- Erik King as Wayne Jackson
- Dina Spybey as Alessandra
- Cameos as themselves
- Sylvester Stallone
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Jackie Chan
- Robert Evans
- Robert Shapiro
- Shane Black
- Mario Machado
- Lisa Canning
- Joe Eszterhas
- Larry King
- Peter Bart
- Dominick Dunne
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Billy Barty
- Norman Jewison (uncredited)
Production[]
The film was written (and produced, though he was not credited for it) by Joe Eszterhas. Filming took place between November 14, 1996 and January 24, 1997. The released film credits the Alan Smithee pseudonym as director. Arthur Hiller, the film's real director, objected to the way Eszterhas recut the film, and as a result, had his name removed. But in his autobiography Hollywood Animal, Eszterhas claims that Hiller still sat in the editing room with him to make certain suggestions. In his entry on Burn Hollywood Burn for his "My Year of Flops" column, pop culture critic Nathan Rabin sarcastically commented that Hiller's decision to use the Alan Smithee credit was "very transparently not a stupid, stupid gimmick to raise interest in a terrible film."[1]
Release[]
The movie was first screened on the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 1997, and would eventually be released in 19 theaters in February 20, 1998.
The movie was released on VHS and LaserDisc on August 26, 1998. It was released on DVD on April 6, 2004.
Reception[]
Film critic Roger Ebert gave the movie zero stars, his lowest possible rating.
The film currently holds an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "A witless Hollywood satire whose hammy, obvious jokes are neither funny nor insightful of the movie business."
Awards and nominations[]
| Award | Subject | Nominee | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|
| Razzie Award | Worst Picture | Ben Myron | Won |
| Joe Eszterhas | Won | ||
| Worst Screenplay | Won | ||
| Worst New Star | Won | ||
| Worst Supporting Actor | Won | ||
| Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | ||
| Worst Actor | Ryan O'Neal | Nominated | |
| Worst Original Song | "I Wanna Be Mike Ovitz" | Won | |
| Worst Screen Couple | Any combination of two people playing themselves | Nominated | |
| Worst Director | Arthur Hiller as Alan Smithee | Nominated |
Trivia[]
- This is one of only three movies that were distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to ever win a Razzie Award for Worst Movie of the year, in this case 1998, the others being Cocktail from 1988 and Color of Night from 1994.
- This was the final movie produced by Cinergi Pictures.
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Rabin, Nathan. "My Year Of Flops: Inside Hollywood Edition, Case File 109: An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn". AV Club, 2008. Retrieved November, 2011.
External links[]
- An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn at AllRovi
- An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn at Box Office Mojo
- An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn at Rotten Tomatoes
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |