The Story: Here's another of those Premier magazine "Classic Scene" features, one from Michael Tolkin and Robert Altman's poison pen letter to corporate Hollywood, The Player.
Two things are going on here: pitch-filter Griffin Mill has a board meeting, the first one including a recent acquisition from Fox studios, Larry Levy, who, even before he arrives, starts angling to eliminate Mill's job—both men detest each other as is apparent from their coolness towards each other; the second is that Mill had killed a man the previous night and notices at the board meeting that the newspapers are already reporting the murder. The scene subtly shifts from boardroom politics to Mill's growing paranoia about being caught for the crime.
And yet, the big-wigs go on nattering about the prospect of dispensing with writers and sharing headlines for movie ideas when Mill notices the little item about the writer killed in Pasadena. Subtly, the sound lowers as Thomas Newman's minimalist score starts to herald alarm bells and he maneuvers to retrieve the paper and take it off the table.
It's subtle film-making, it draws you in, and highlights the subtle and off-kilter way Altman shoots and cuts to build suspense.
The Set-Up: Studio Exec Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) takes pitches for upcoming projects, but the one he's living right now, he'd probably reject. Receiving threatening post-cards from a disgruntled writer, Mill agrees to meet with the writer in Pasadena, and the writer ends up deader than a script in turnaround. The next morning, he's unusually late for a meeting and—oh, joy!—there's a new hire (Peter Gallagher) who's angling for his job. He's probably considering a sequel to last night's action, but something stops him in pre-production.
Action!
GRIFFIN MILL: Excuse me...
GRIFFIN: Hello. Sorry I'm late. CELIA—(Levison's assistant): You certainly are. CELIA: A few minutes in the office would be fine. JOEL LEVISON (Studio Chief): Griffin, you missed the formal welcoming ceremony. LEVISON: You know Larry Levy. LEVISON: ...able to leave Fox a week earlier than he thought...and has come aboard as of this morning.
- GRIFFIN: Great. Let's...let's start. LEVISON: Larry was in the middle of something. LEVY: Ah, no, I wasn't.
LEVY: I was just killing time waiting for Griffin. LEVISON: Well, no, finish. What were you saying? LEVY: I was saying I've yet to meet a writer who could change water into wine...and we have a tendency to treat them like that. LEVISON: Not at this studio.
LEVY: A million, million and a half for these scripts. It's-it's nuts.
LEVY: And, I think, avoidable. LEVY: Let me ask you something. LEVY: When was the last time you bought a ticket to see a movie? LEVY: You actually paid(your own money?)
GRIFFIN (interrupts): Last night. BONNIE SHEROW (Mill's associate): You went...
BONNIE: ...to see The Bicycle Thief? WHITNEY GERSH (Sherow's assistant): I love that film. It's a great film. LEVY: It's an art movie. It doesn't count. We're talking about movie movies.
LEVY: I'm just saying...
LEVY: ...there's time and money to be saved if we came up with these stories on our own. SHEROW: Where are these stories coming from, Larry? LEVY: Anywhere. Anywhere. It doesn't matter. Anywhere. Uh.
LEVY: Pick a story, any story. STEVE REEVES (marketing): All right. REEVES: 'Immigrants protest budget cuts in literacy program.' LEVY: Human spirit overcoming human adversity. Sounds like Horatio Alger in the barrio. MARTY GROSSMAN (accountant): Larry, this isn't my field. LEVY: Marty, it doesn't matter. Just give it a shot. You can't lose here. GROSSMAN: How about 'Mud slide kills 60 in slums of Chile'? LEVY: That's good. Triumph over tragedy. Sounds like a John Boorman picture. LEVY: You slap a happy ending on it, the script will write itself.
- LEVY: Bonnie, here. Give me the paper. SHEROW: Gee, I don't know, Larry. LEVY: Give it a shot.
SHEROW: 'Further bond losses... SHEROW: ...push Dow down 7.15'
- LEVY: That's funny. It's a good thing... LEVY: ...Oliver Stone wasn't listening to you. Where would we have been? SHEROW: Well, we would have been spared sitting through Wall Street, for one thing. LEVY: Marty, what did Wall Street do worldwide? GROSSMAN: Seventy, seventy-five, maybe eighty. LEVY: $80 million, a couple Oscars, is nothing to sneeze at. LEVISON: Okay...
LEVISON: I think Larry's point is well taken. LEVISON: Let's move on now.
Griffin...
GRIFFIN: I was thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate... GRIFFIN: ...the writer from the artistic process.
GRIFFIN: If we can get rid of the actors and directors, maybe we've got something here.
The Player is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from The Criterion Collection.
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