The Sinister Saga of Making "The Stunt Man"
| The Stunt Man | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Richard Rush |
| Produced by | Richard Rush |
| Screenplay by | Lawrence B. Marcus Richard Rush |
| Based on |
The Stunt Man (novel) by Paul Brodeur |
| Starring |
Peter O'Toole Steve Railsback Barbara Hershey |
| Music by | Dominic Frontiere |
| Cinematography | Mario Tosi |
| Edited by | Caroline Biggerstaff Jack Hofstra |
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Production
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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131 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $7,068,886 |
The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the 1970 novel of the same name by Paul Brodeur. It tells the story of a young fugitive who hides as a stunt double on the set of an anti-war movie whose charismatic director will do seemingly anything for the sake of his art.
It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Peter O'Toole), Best Director (Richard Rush), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. However, due to its limited release, it never earned much attention from US audiences at large. As O'Toole remarked in a DVD audio commentary, "The film wasn't released, it escaped."
Cameron (Steve Railsback) is a young veteran running from the police. He stumbles onto the set of a World War I movie and isn't sure if he has accidentally caused the death of one of the film's stunt men. The eccentric and autocratic director, Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole), agrees to hide Cameron from the police if he will take the dead man's place. Cameron soon begins to suspect that Cross is putting him in excessive danger. At a bar one night, another member of the production gets drunk and tells Cameron that Eli almost killed the helicopter pilot during the fatal accident Cameron caused, because he insisted he keep flying in order to get the shot. Cameron falls in love with Nina Franklin (Barbara Hershey), the film's star, and is devastated to find out that she and Eli slept together before he met her.
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