An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)

Directors:

Arthur Hiller
Alan Smithee

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

20 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see

Plot:

Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad, big budget action film which he proceeds to steal the reels and leave the cast and crew in a frenzy.

Plot Keywords:

Box Office Flop | Hollywood California | Fake Documentary | Amazing Grace Hymn | Film In Film

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Ryan O'Neal	...	James Edmunds
Coolio	...	Dion Brothers
Chuck D.	...	Leon Brothers
Eric Idle	...	Alan Smithee
Richard Jeni	...	Jerry Glover
Leslie Stefanson	...	Michelle Rafferty
Sandra Bernhard	...	Ann Glover
Cherie Lunghi	...	Myrna Smithee
Harvey Weinstein	...	Sam Rizzo
Gavin Polone	...	Gary Samuels
MC Lyte	...	Sista Tu Lumumba
Marcello Thedford	...	Stagger Lee
Nicole Nagel	...	Aloe Vera
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Bill Bardo
Erik King	...	Wayne Jackson

Also Known As:

An Alan Smithee Film (USA) (working title)
Burn Hollywood Burn (UK) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some sexual humor.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:R(A) | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

La Brea Tar Pits, Hancock Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinergi Pictures Entertainment

Trivia:

Joe Eszterhas announced through the media during post-production that Cinergi Pictures didn't have the money to pay for soundtrack. He said that he would finance the soundtrack from his own money and asked to submit tracks for it to him. He received 9,200 CDs and cassettes from mostly unknown and unsigned artists, listened to all that was sent (at least a couple of tracks from each record) and compiled the soundtrack.

Quotes:

Jackie Chan: I don't die. Even if I die, I come back with Reincarnation, so I don't die!

Movie Connections:

Features Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)

Not as bad as you might think

I disagree with the people here saying this is one of the worst films ever made. I'm somewhat of a connosieur of bad films, and that just isn't the case. It's competently put together from front to back, but the script definitely could have used another draft or two.

At its worst, it's just unfunny, not mind-bendingly horrible as some would have you to believe. Certainly if you know nothing about the inner workings of Hollywood you won't understand the references and almost none of it will be funny.

I'm sure there were lots of references I didn't understand -- I get the feeling people working in Hollywood would get more out of this movie than the rest of us. One odd reference is the repeated name of "Michael Ovitz" throughout the movie. It appears in the song "I Wanna Be Michael Ovitz" in the soundtrack, there's a "Paging Dr. Ovitz..." in the background in a hospital, etc. It's not quite clear what writer Eszterhas's feelings toward Ovitz are -- does he hate him or look up to him?

Another thing I don't understand is why director Arthur Hiller felt he had to change his credit to "Alan Smithee", except that it's amusingly appropriate. Looking at the film, I can't imagine that it was changed too radically in the editing, except perhaps the ultra-acidic put-downs on the title cards that introduce new characters.