1992 · Movie
The Player
Griffin Mill, a Hollywood movie studio Vice President in charge of securing story ideas from writers which entails listening to a series of twenty-five second pitches day after day, is facing several issues in his life. He is in a so-called serious relationship with one of his story editors Bonnie Sherow, a woman who he deep down doesn't even really like, and who is probably smarter than he is when it comes to the work of their department. Rumors abound that he will soon be demoted or perhaps even fired and replaced by Larry Levy, a younger, more ambitious executive from another studio. But probably the worst issue is that he has been receiving death threats from an anonymous source, always via handwritten postcards usually making their way to his desk via the studio's mail system. All he knows is that the threats are coming from a writer he had pissed off in the past by not getting back to him after a story pitch as he said he would do. Griffin believes that the person making the threats is David Kahane, a writer he had only met once at a pitch meeting. As such, Griffin decides to find David, and slowly confront him about the threats. At that meeting, Griffin physically assaults and kills David outside a movie theater in Pasadena. After David's dead body is discovered, Detective Avery with the Pasadena Police Department leads the murder investigation, which could be a problem for Griffin, as he was known to have met with David the evening of the murder. Who may be more involved in what has been happening to Griffin may be the tall, slim man he has seen follow him of late, but who he does not recognize. What complicates the situation even more is that Griffin is attracted at first sight to June Gudmundsdottir, David's less than mourning girlfriend, who in turn ultimately falls for Griffin. The question becomes whether Griffin's collective story will end the way of all the movies that comes out of his studio, namely happily ever after.
