Swimming with Sharks
| Swimming with Sharks | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | George Huang |
| Written by | George Huang |
| Starring | Kevin Spacey Frank Whaley Michelle Forbes Benicio Del Toro T.E. Russell |
| Cinematography | Stevem Firestone |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate |
Release date | 1995 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
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Swimming with Sharks is a 1994 American black comedy/drama film, directed and written by George Huang.
Plot
Buddy Ackerman, an influential movie mogul, hires a young executive as his assistant. Guy, who has just graduated from film school, believes that his new job is a golden opportunity. Despite warnings from Rex, the outgoing secretary who has become hardened under Buddy's reign and about to take a major executive position at another studio, Guy remains optimistic.
Unfortunately, Buddy turns out to be an employer from hell; he treats Guy like a slave, subjects him to sadistic (and public) verbal abuse, and has him running around doing meaningless errands. Guy is humiliated and forced to bear the brunt of his insults. When Guy overhears a phone conversation between his girlfriend, Dawn, and Buddy that leads him to believe Buddy is sleeping with her, he snaps and kidnaps Buddy in order to exact some revenge.
Once in Guy's power, however, Buddy reveals for the first time a human, vulnerable side, telling a tragic story about his wife's death and revealing that he too was once a bullied assistant to powerful, tyrannical men, leading to why he subjects Guy to such abuse. Guy also learns a few secrets about Dawn, and must confront what he really wants from life and to what lengths he'll go to get it.
Many rumors circulate about who Buddy is based on. One is that Buddy Ackerman's character was inspired by real life movie mogul Scott Rudin, another is that Buddy is based on producer Joel Silver and Guy is based on his assistant in the early 90's, Alan Schechter. However, George Huang used to work as an assistant for Barry Josephson, who was the SR. VP of Developement at Sony Pictures. Many of the mannerisms of Buddy can be traced to him and the names are very similar.
Cast
- Kevin Spacey — Buddy Ackerman
- Frank Whaley — Guy
- Michelle Forbes — Dawn Lockard
- Benicio del Toro — Rex
- T.E. Russell — Foster Kane
- Roy Dotrice — Cyrus Miles
- Matthew Flynt — Manny
- Patrick Fischler — Moe
- Jerry Levine — Jack
Stage adaptation
The film has been developed as a stage play and had its world premiere at London's Vaudeville Theatre in October, 2007. The play starred Christian Slater as Buddy, Matt Smith as Guy and Helen Baxendale as Dawn.
