Swimming with Sharks

Infobox Film
name = Swimming with Sharks


image_size = 200px
caption = "Swimming with Sharks" theatrical poster
director = George Huang
producer =
writer = George Huang
narrator =
starring = Kevin Spacey
Frank Whaley
Michelle Forbes
Benicio del Toro
T.E. Russell
music =
cinematography = Steven Firestone
editing =
distributor = Lions Gate
released = 1994
runtime = 93 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0114594Infobox movie certificates
United_States = R (Restricted)

"Swimming with Sharks" is a 1994 American black comedy/drama film, directed and written by George Huang.

It is also known as "The Boss" and "Buddy Factor".

Plot

Buddy Ackerman, an influential movie mogul, hires a young executive as his assistant. Guy, who has just graduated from film school, believes that his new job is a golden opportunity. Despite warnings from Rex, the outgoing secretary who has become hardened under Buddy's reign and about to take a major executive position at another studio, Guy remains optimistic.

Unfortunately, Buddy turns out to be an employer from hell; he treats Guy like a slave, subjects him to sadistic (and public) verbal abuse, and has him bending over backwards by doing meaningless errands. Guy is humiliated and forced to bear the brunt of his insults. When Guy overhears a phone conversation between his movie producer girlfriend, Dawn, and Buddy that leads him to believe Buddy is sleeping with her, he snaps and kidnaps Buddy in order to exact some revenge, which results in tying up Buddy and subjecting him to severe beatings, torture and paper cutting Buddy on his face.

Once in Guy's power, however, Buddy reveals for the first time a human, vulnerable side, telling a tragic story about his wife's death and revealing that he too was once a bullied assistant to powerful, tyrannical men for ten years, leading to why he subjects Guy to such abuse and Buddy's plans for Guy's future. Guy also learns a few secrets about Dawn, and must confront what he really wants from life and to what lengths he'll go to get it.

Cast

*Kevin Spacey — Buddy Ackerman
*Frank Whaley — Guy
*Michelle Forbes — Dawn Lockard
*Benicio del Toro — Rex
*T.E. Russell — Foster Kane
*Roy Dotrice — Cyrus Miles
*Matthew Flynt — Manny
*Patrick Fischler — Moe
*Jerry Levine — Jack

Background

Huang decided to write the script after having a conversation with Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez was in Los Angeles after his film "El Mariachi" brought him to the attention of Sony Pictures, where he befriended Huang. Huang told of Rodriguez his frustrations with filmmaking when the director encouraged him to quit his post at Sony and pursue writing full time so Huang could produce a script to direct himself.

Many rumors circulate about who Buddy is based on. One is that the character was inspired by real life movie mogul Scott Rudin, another is that he is based on producer Joel Silver and Guy is based on Silver's assitsant in the early 90's, Alan Schechter. However, George Huang used to work as an assistant for Barry Josephson, who was the SR. VP of Development at Sony Pictures.

In Popular Culture

A stage adaptation penned by Michael Lesslie had its world premiere at London's Vaudeville Theatre in October, 2007. The play starred Christian Slater as Buddy, Matt Smith as Guy and Helen Baxendale as Dawn.

Punk band Lagwagon feature a quote from the movie in their song Gun In Your Hand, off their 1998 album Let's Talk About Feelings. It quotes Buddy's speech "I was young too, I felt just like you. Hated authority, hated all my bosses, thought they were full of s**t. Look, it's like they say, if you're not a rebel by the age of 20, you got no heart, but if you haven't turned establishment by 30, you've got no brains. Because there are no story-book romances, no fairy-tale endings. So before you run out and change the world, ask yourself, "What do you really want?"

ee also

*1994 in film
*"The Devil Wears Prada"

External links

*imdb title|id=0114594|title=Swimming with Sharks