Michael Lesslie has taken the script for George Huang’s relatively unmemorable 1995 movie and written a play that fizzes with witty one-liners and possesses an energy that befits the high-octane, cut-throat world of the Hollywood blockbuster producer.
“The world outside is crumbling into equality. But in here we stick to what works,” says the central anti-hero Buddy Ackerman when asked about the battle of the sexes. Later, defining his antipathy towards worthy independent movies he says: “Guilt and goodwill is my kryptonite.”
Imagine these being snarled out by a top-of-his-game Christian Slater and therein lies the fuel that feeds this show. Slater, impressive in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, surpasses himself here. He brings a logic to Ackerman’s inhumanity, fleshing out a caricature into a believable character. He makes Ackerman a creation of our own desire for violent entertainment, a man serving rather than corrupting society and gives legitimacy to that argument.
His foil is Guy, a film-buff in his first job on the bottom rung of the ladder and who Ackerman gradually turns into his acolyte. Matt Smith manipulates his character through the drastic change, again without losing credibility - sensitive handling from director Wilson Milam helps - violently shedding the last scales of Guy’s own humanity.
Helen Baxendale has the more difficult task of portraying the voice of reason in principled independent film-maker Dawn Lockard. Her more classical approach to the character puts her at odds with Slater and emphasises her role as the outsider. Hollywood here is presented as a man’s world and, perhaps unintentionally but certainly ironically, less effort has been put into the development of Baxendale’s character. Still, perhaps that’s what works.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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