An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)

Directors:

Arthur Hiller
Alan Smithee

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

20 February 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see

Plot:

Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad, big budget action film which he proceeds to steal the reels and leave the cast and crew in a frenzy.

Plot Keywords:

Director | Hollywood | Fake Documentary | Amazing Grace Hymn | Film Making

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Ryan O'Neal	...	James Edmunds
Coolio	...	Dion Brothers
Chuck D.	...	Leon Brothers
Eric Idle	...	Alan Smithee
Richard Jeni	...	Jerry Glover
Leslie Stefanson	...	Michelle Rafferty
Sandra Bernhard	...	Ann Glover
Cherie Lunghi	...	Myrna Smithee
Harvey Weinstein	...	Sam Rizzo
Gavin Polone	...	Gary Samuels
MC Lyte	...	Sista Tu Lumumba
Marcello Thedford	...	Stagger Lee
Nicole Nagel	...	Aloe Vera
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Bill Bardo
Erik King	...	Wayne Jackson

Also Known As:

An Alan Smithee Film (USA) (working title)
Burn Hollywood Burn (UK) (video title)
¡Arde Hollywood! (Spain) [es]
An Alan Smithee Film (France) [fr]
Die Hölle Hollywood (Germany) [de]
Fahr zur Hölle Hollywood (Germany) [de]
Hollywood al rojo vivo (Argentina) (video title) [es]
Hollywood brucia (Italy) [it]
Spalic Hollywood (Poland) [pl]
Um Realizador de Respeito (Portugal) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some sexual humor.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Singapore:R(A) | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

La Brea Tar Pits, Hancock Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinergi Pictures Entertainment

Trivia:

After Arthur Hiller had his credit changed to Alan Smithee, the Director's Guild of America unregistered the name Alan Smithee, therefore this film is the last film to ever bear that pseudonym.

Quotes:

Jackie Chan: I don't die. Even if I die, I come back with Reincarnation, so I don't die!

Movie Connections:

Features Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)

Highly underrated

This film is actually a rather intelligent, if cynical, satire of the shallow and idiotic nature of Hollywood. More cameos than you can shake a stick at. Ryan O'Neal is great as an amoral producer. Eric Idle is even better as an unfortunate director named Alan Smithee whose movie is corrupted by the studio. He wants to remove his name from the movie, but since Alan Smithee is the pseudonym used for directors who want to remove their name from a picture, he is out of luck and becomes... unbalanced. Very dry, but very amusing. If you liked Last Action Hero and Purple Rose of Cairo, you'll probably like this.