The Big Picture

1989
PG-13
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

6.3K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:08

1 Video

26 Photos

Satire Showbiz Drama Comedy Drama Romance

Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

6.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
As Nick walks out of the Los Angeles movie theater, the short cigar-smoking fellow one step ahead of him is Jerry Maren, who at the time was one of the last surviving Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Goofs
A pointed piece of equipment moves up and out of frame as Lydia is talking to Nick in her house.

Quotes
Neil Sussman: I don't know you. I don't know your work. But I think you are a genius. And I am never wrong about that.

Alternate versions
The 2015 Blu-ray from Mill Creek has only a mono soundtrack. It also changes out the end card of A Columbia Pictures Release for a modern Sony Pictures Television logo.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Sea of Love/True Love/The Big Picture/Shirley Valentine/The Rachel Papers (1989)

Soundtracks
The Whites of Their Eyes
Written by Christopher Guest and Michael McKean
Performed by PEZ® People
Sung by Michael McKean

User reviews54

Review

Featured review

Nick Chapman - an indie-film pioneer?

THE BIG PICTURE is a breezy satire of the movie business from the mind of writer/director Christopher Guest (BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND). It tells the story of Nick Chapman (Kevin Bacon), a young film director who gets put through the Hollywood wringer. Studio executives, agents, and starlets all prey on Nick's naivete and he eventually sells out, neglecting his girlfriend and best friend in the process.

What's interesting about THE BIG PICTURE is its grassroots portrayal of how Nick finally launches his Hollywood career - by starting small, doing his own thing, and involving his friends. Those are basically the tenets of independent film, which boomed in the decade following THE BIG PICTURE.

Nowadays, many of those indie directors - among them Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, and Christopher Nolan - are getting hired to do big-budget studio pictures. In fact, Soderbergh's "sex, lies, and videotape" was released the same year as this movie.

Was Nick Chapman's "Pez People" video responsible for the indie film movement? Not likely, but THE BIG PICTURE was certainly an advocate of its principles.