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I'll Do Anything
Matt Hobbs is a talented but unsuccessful actor. When estranged (and strange) ex-wife Beth dumps their daughter Jeannie on Matt, father and daughter have a lot of adjusting to do. His budding relationship with attractive production assistant Cathy Breslow is made complicated, while the precocious child is overly accustomed to getting her own way. Matt eventually faces the choice of family vs career in a particularly difficult way.
1994 · Directed by James L. Brooks · 115 min · Comedy · Drama · Music · Screenplay in the scene database · 10 frames
Tagline
She's the most maddening female he's ever met. And she's only six years old.
Plot
In 1980, on the night he fails to win an Emmy Award, Matt Hobbs proposes to his longtime girlfriend Beth. He says the only thing holding him back is his dedication to his career, one which may not always work out, and Beth says that's one of the things she loves most about him. Seven years later, with a baby crying and no job for Matt, Beth is overflowing with resentment. By 1993, the pair have been divorced for several years and are living on opposite coasts.
Matt auditions for a role in pompous, self-absorbed, and clueless film producer Burke Adler's new project but fails to get the part. He does however agree to chauffeur Adler occasionally. Matt flies to Georgia to pick up his daughter Jeannie for what he believes is a brief visit and discovers Beth is facing a prison term and Jeannie will be living with him for the duration of her sentence. The two return to Hollywood and struggle with their new circumstances and building a relationship (Matt hasn't seen the six-year-old since she was four).
When Matt goes in to make a screen test for a lead in a film, he leaves Jeannie with a friend at the studio, and when he picks her up he's stunned to learn she's been cast in a sitcom. Her newfound success contrasts with Matt's ongoing struggles in the industry.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: James L. Brooks
- Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus
- Edited by: Richard Marks
- Music: Hans Zimmer, Prince
- Production design: Stephen J. Lineweaver
- Produced by: James L. Brooks, Polly Platt
Cast
- Nick Nolte as Matt Hobbs
- Whittni Wright as Jeannie Hobbs
- Albert Brooks as Burke Adler
- Julie Kavner as Nan Mulhanney
- Joely Richardson as Cathy Breslow
- Tracey Ullman as Beth Hobbs
- Jeb Brown as Male D Person
- Joely Fisher as Female D Person
- Vicki Lewis as Millie
- Anne Heche as Claire
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Spanish
- Studios: Gracie Films, Columbia Pictures
- Budget: $40,000,000
- Themes: parent child relationship, unsuccessful
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