Playing God (film)
| Playing God | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Andy Wilson |
| Produced by |
Marc Abraham Laura Bickford Thomas Bliss |
| Written by | Mark Haskell Smith |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Edited by | Louise Rubacky |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,000,000 |
| Box office | $4,166,918 |
Playing God is a 1997 film directed by Andy Wilson and starring David Duchovny (in his first starring role after achieving success with The X-Files), Timothy Hutton, and Angelina Jolie.
Duchovny plays Eugene Sands, a surgeon who has his medical license revoked after operating under the influence of amphetamines and opiates. Hutton's character, a crime lord named Raymond Blossom, happens upon him in a bar where Sands saves someone's life with an emergency procedure to inflate a collapsed lung. Blossom hires Sands as his personal physician, patching up his accomplices when they cannot go to a hospital, and tending to the crime boss and his girlfriend, Claire (Jolie). In the final act of the film, Claire and Sands become involved, and he must face up to conflicting loyalties to Blossom, Claire, and the FBI agent who has blackmailed him into being an informant.
The film was finished in 1995 but not released until 1997 due to initial negative reactions from test audiences. The film's trailer contained a brief glimpse of a sex scene between Duchovny and Jolie. The actress later confirmed that she had filmed two sex scenes for the movie, but that both of them were edited out of the final cut.
The film did not fare well financially or with critics, scoring just a 14% at the review site Rotten Tomatoes and making only $4,166,918 at the US theater box office. Popular film critic Roger Ebert however, gave the film three stars, saying "This may not be a great movie, but for both Duchovny and Hutton, it's a turning point", citing Duchovny's ability to "stand above the action" like Clint Eastwood; and Hutton's ability to create a real character as the villain, instead of merely filling a space.
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