The Big Picture

Nick Chapman has just finished film school and won a national award for his student short, and he heads to Hollywood hoping to turn that momentum into his first feature. A studio executive, Allen Habel, offers him a dream deal, but once production begins Nick finds he has little control over his own project. Executives, agents and stars all push their own interests, and the compromises pile up until his original vision is barely recognisable. His relationship with his girlfriend Susan and his friendship with his best friend Emmet suffer as his career takes over.

The Big Picture is a 1989 comedy drama with romantic elements, directed by Christopher Guest from a screenplay he wrote with Michael McKean and Michael Varhol. It was Guest's first feature as director, and he went on to make Waiting for Guffman, Almost Heroes, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and Mascots. Kevin Bacon plays Nick, with Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Teri Hatcher, Michael McKean and Jennifer Jason Leigh among a credited cast of 63. It was produced by Columbia Pictures and the Aspen Film Society on a budget of about 5 million dollars.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 5.9 out of 10 from around 110 votes, suggesting a modest and limited response rather than a wide following.