The Player

"Now More Than Ever!"

1992 2h 4m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🔥

97%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 998🍅97%Rotten Tomatoes●86Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 71,299

MysteryDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

“Now More Than Ever!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Tim Robbins
Griffin Mill
Greta Scacchi
June Gudmundsdottir
Fred Ward
Walter Stuckel
Whoopi Goldberg
Detective Avery
Peter Gallagher
Larry Levy
Brion James
Joel Levison
Cynthia Stevenson
Bonnie Sherow
Vincent D'Onofrio
David Kahane

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Altman
Writers: Michael Tolkin
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Altman, shot by Jean Lépine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Maysie Hoy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi and Fred Ward carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Now More Than Ever!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0105151 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Altman directs. Jean Lépine behind the camera. Thomas Newman scores. Maysie Hoy cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

134 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Robert Altman, shot by Jean Lépine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Maysie Hoy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi and Fred Ward carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Now More Than Ever!".
7IMDB entry: tt0105151 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 13 themes, including "based on novel or book", "homicide", "movie business", "blackmail".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jean Lépine
Original score: Thomas Newman
Editing: Maysie Hoy
Production design: Stephen Altman
Makeup / hair: Scott Williams
Sound: Matthew Iadarola
Stunt coordinator: Greg Walker
Runtime: 124 min · 2h 4m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,000,000
Box office: $21,706,101
Return: 271% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Player (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 86/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 71,299 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 3 Oscars. 24 wins & 33 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Robert Altman

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2024-06-09
★ 10/10
A remarkable work. This is one of those films that I decided to watch without having a clear idea of what I was going to find. I know that there are many people who like to know, read and even watch the trailers to decide what to watch, and I also do this moderately, but one of the sensations I like most in the cinematic experience is surprise, that feeling of pleasure, difficult to describe, that happens when a film pleases us and surprises us. Of course, the opposite could happen, the surprise could be bad, and the film could be magnificent rubbish. It happens! But I think you understand me... Robert Altmann is not a director I know much about. As far as I remember, I've only seen one film of his, “Shortcuts”, and I wasn't particularly impressed. However, I think any director has their ups and downs, and you can't categorize anyone for just one film or two. In this film, Altmann surprises in a positive way, with very careful direction and an attention to detail that I was very pleased with. The cinematography is good, the editing is very well done, and the rhythm is quite pleasant, with no dead moments. The opening scene is a true cinematic masterclass, with almost ten minutes without cuts and lots of camera movement. And throughout the film, the feeling that prevails is that we are led to peek, in secret, into a story that no one wants to be known. The script fits perfectly into this feeling of secrecy, taking us behind the scenes of the film industry through the hands of an arrogant and obnoxious producer who finds himself the target of anonymous death threats. He decides to question the person he suspects of, a screenwriter he ignored for many months, and ends up killing him. From then on, viewers are invited to follow him in his attempts to hide everything, along with the studio he works for, which has little interest in scandals. This is, obviously, a punch in the stomach of the Hollywood industry, where there is no shortage of unscrupulous, arrogant, pedantic, obnoxious people, willing to do anything for ambition, and where the moral conduct of the studios has not always been the most immaculate, preferring to ignore and /or hush up compromising situations whenever possible. With these characteristics, the film had everything to cause hives in many people within the industry. However, it did surprisingly well, garnered a lot of praise, a good box office and was nominated for three Oscars, continuing to be, even today, a film that is regularly shown on TV channels specializing in films. If the technical quality and the intelligent and scathing story are fundamental, the cast also contributed with the union of talents of several renowned actors. Tim Robbins leaves us with one of his most notable works as an actor, with a consistent and impactful acting, and is elegantly accompanied by Greta Scacchi who, in addition to resisting the idiotic idea of appearing naked for no reason, knew how to interpret her character in a deep and controversial. In addition to them, the film also features good performances by Pater Gallagher and Whoopi Goldberg in minor characters, and with a veritable rain of cameos and brief appearances by actors, screenwriters and others, playing themselves, with many of them agreeing to donate the salary for that single day of filming for a social project at the time. The procession of notables is almost endless, making this film perhaps the American film with the most cameos and guest stars in the history of commercial cinema.
CinemaSerf2025-03-05
★ 7/10
It’s the job of “Griffin” (Tim Robbins) to secure good storylines for his Hollywood studio and he’s good at filtering out the wheat from the chaff. The thing is, though, he’s getting on a bit and there are rumours abounding that he is on his way out. When “Levy” (Peter Gallagher) arrives from an erstwhile competitor, the writing looks more like it’s on the wall than on the page. He’s also been having some difficulties with a mysterious stalker whom he’s spurned, professionally, at some stage and who is now bombarding him with threatening postcards. Finally, there’s his more off than on relationship of convenience with “Bonnie” (Cynthia Stevenson) to which he is surprisingly indifferent. Under pressure and under siege, his tormentor starts to get under his skin so he determines to get to the bottom of that whilst cleverly manoeuvring his new rival into a cul-de-sac that can only end one way! What now ensues sees a plethora of genuine stars pepper a film that allows Robbins to show us a character that’s shrewd, ruthless and charmingly shallow whilst at the same time not averse to taking drastic measures. It’s those that attract the attentions of tenacious detective “Avery” (Whooping Goldberg) who has a dead body, nobody to pin it on and is curious about the burgeoning relationship between the girlfriend of the deceased (Greta Scacchi) and this outwardly brash and smarmy film executive. This has all the ingredients of a comedy thriller with loads of glamour, a good deal of pithy dialogue and it sends up the Hollywood mentality satirically and plausibly. Robbins is in his element and exudes a sort of selfish obnoxiousness that’s actually quite likeable as he treads on the eggshells of a fickle and unforgiving business. It packs a lot of story into two hours, raises a smile and an heckle in equal measure and is probably Robbins’s best performance to date.