- guardian.co.uk,
- Sunday July 18 1999 20:06 BST
There comes a time in every actor's life when it's time to take stock and look at the career so far. Usually that's as far as it goes but a few feel the need to channel their experiences on to the big screen. Given that rampant egos and bizarre situations abound, irreverent comedy is the obvious genre for a movie about the film industry.
Obviously no self-respecting player bites the hand that feeds it at the peak of a glittering career. Not surprisingly, Robert Altman's dark-hearted The Player was a comeback movie. Now, step forward Steve Martin, Albert Brooks and Burt Reynolds.
Brooks co-wrote, directs and stars in The Muse, as an out-of-work movie scribe, in need of inspiration. This can be bought, it transpires, from Ms Stone. But she brings trouble alongside inspiration to the blocked writer. She has 'problems', a 'history'. She needs more than her fair share of Hollywood pampering - suites at the Four Seasons, trinkets from Tiffany's, etc. In the end, the inspiration is born of perspiration, as Brooks is driven to vent his spleen at her through his writing. Top directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron and Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men) bring authenticity to the film, appearing as 'themselves'.
Hot on the heels of Brooks' film is Bowfinger, which was written by its star Steve Martin. Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) is the wonderfully named aspiring producer who has no money, fewer friends in high places and too many lofty dreams. To kick start his rise to the top, he decides Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) - a Will Smith-style action hero - must head his cast. Kit (wisely) declines the offer. Bowfinger ties himself in knots trying to make his film by shooting the real Ramsey's daily movements. Obviously, Kit gets paranoid, and we are made to ponder, among other things, exactly how little acting does a major movie role actually require?
One man who should know, Burt Reynolds, gets in the director's chair for the first time in 15 years for The Last Producer. He also stars as the jaded movie mogul hoping for a last shot at glory. His is the only film of the trio that has yet to be made, but on the evidence of Bowfinger and The Muse, it seems, savage self-parody is out and soft-focus farce is in. It's down to Burt, then, to give the new genre some edge. Hold your breath.
