Main Cast: Nick Nolte, Whittni Wright, Albert Brooks, Julie Kavner, Joely Richardson, Tracey Ullman
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
James L. Brooks' showbiz comedy I'll Do Anything is "The Musical That Almost Was" (after test screenings Brooks removed all the musical numbers in the film, turning the film into a songless romantic comedy). Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) is a hardly working actor who finds himself raising his 6-year-old daughter Jeannie (Whittni Wright) after her mother Beth (Tracey Ullman) is sent away to prison. Since Matt now has to support a daughter, he has to develop more regular work habits. As a result, he takes a job as a chauffeur for a William Castle-inspired schlockmeister named Burke Adler (Albert Brooks). As Adler develops a relationship with divorced test-marketing researcher Nan Mulhanney (Julie Kavner), Matt becomes romantically attached to beautiful development executive Cathy Breslow (Joely Richardson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
One of the most problem-laden productions of the 1990s, I'll Do Anything still works overall despite the fact that it was initially created as a musical by writer/director James L. Brooks. The finished product is a surprisingly juicy satire of Hollywood and fatherhood, with Nick Nolte in a terrific performance as a beset dad simultaneously raising a child and trying to forge a successful acting career. The film's jabs at Tinseltown are blisteringly funny, and its supporting players are all perfectly appointed. Although the familial tale that dominates the narrative lacks punch, and some of the characters are too brittle to be taken easily (especially Nolte's onscreen daughter, who is too abrasive by half), Brooks' astute observations comprise a hearty story. Anything is also filled with good scenes even if, as a whole, it never reaches the heights of its creator's other, more developed works. As mentioned earlier, the film was intended by Brooks to be a full-scale musical (complete with choreography by Twyla Tharp and songs by Prince, among others) until negative test screenings suggested removing them entirely. However, the final cut of I'll Do Anything does contain one of the numbers, a final send-off sung to Nolte by young Whittni Wright. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Jeb Brown - Male D Person; Joely Fisher - Female D Person; Angela Alvarado - Lucy; Justine Arlin - Studio Executive; Amy Brooks - Shannon; Wren T. Brown - Floor Manager; Jake Busey - Burke's Fired Driver; D.J. Dellos - "Rainbow House" Child; Tricia Leigh Fisher - Airplane Passenger; Woody Harrelson - "Ground Zero" Hero; Anne Heche - Claire; Peter Kwong - Popcorn Pictures Intern; Arvie Lowe, Jr. - "Rainbow House" Child; Aaron Lustig - Jack; Joe Malone - Assistant Director; Ian McKellen - John Earl McAlpine; Kate McNeil - Stacy; Andy Milder - Warm-up Man; Rosie O'Donnell - Make-up Person; Ken Page - Hair Person; Maria Pitillo - Flight Attendant; Nicolette Scorsese; Steve Vinovich - "Rainbow House" Director; Robert Joy - U.S. Marshal; John D. Schofield - Screentest Director; Harry Shearer - Audience Research Captain; Anita Barone; Mayah McCoy - "Rainbow House" Child; Jose Payo - Airplane Passenger; Ron Perkins - Victor; Paula Herold; Suzzanne Douglas - "Rainbow House" Star; Heather DeLoach - "Rainbow House" Child; Joel Thurm - Martin; Patrick Cassidy - "Ground Zero" Villain
Credit
Richard Marks - Associate Producer, Paula Herold - Casting, Marlene Stewart - Costume Designer, Ned Dowd - First Assistant Director, Jan Sebastian Ballhaus - First Assistant Director, James L. Brooks - Director, Richard Marks - Editor, Penney Finkelman Cox - Executive Producer, Hans Zimmer - Composer (Music Score), Robert Ryan - Makeup, David M. Dunlap - Camera Operator, Stephen Lineweaver - Production Designer, John D. Schofield - Production Designer, Michael Ballhaus - Cinematographer, James L. Brooks - Producer, Polly Platt - Producer, Cheryl Carasik - Set Designer, Cosmas Demetriou - Set Designer, James L. Brooks - Screenwriter
I'll Do Anything is a 1994 Americandramedy film written and directed by James L. Brooks. Its primary plot concerns a down-on-his-luck actor who suddenly finds himself the sole caretaker of his six-year-old daughter.
In 1980, on the night he fails to win an Emmy Award, Matt Hobbs proposes to his longtime girlfriend Beth. He says the only thing holding him back is his dedication to his career, one which may not always work out, and Beth says that's one of the things she loves most about him. Little more than a year later, with a baby crying and no job for Matt, Beth is overflowing with resentment. By 1993, the pair have been divorced for several years and are living on opposite coasts. Matt auditions for a role in pompous, self-absorbed, and obviously clueless film producer Burke Adler's new project but fails to get the part. He does however agree to chauffeur Adler occasionally. Matt flies to Georgia to pick up his daughter Jeannie for what he believes is a brief visit and discovers Beth is facing a prison term and Jeannie will be living with him for the duration of her sentence. The two return to Hollywood and struggle with their new circumstances and building a relationship (Matt hasn't seen the six-year-old since she was four). When Matt goes in to make a screen test for a lead in a film, he leaves Jeannie with a friend at the studio, and when he picks her up he's stunned to learn she's been cast in a televisionsitcom. There are multiple sub-plots, including one focusing on Matt's relationship with staff script-reader Cathy Breslow and another concerning test screening analyst Nan Mulhanney and her tumultuous relationship with Adler. While a large part of the film is a satire of the film industry, it also skewers relationships from various angles.
Originally I'll Do Anything was conceived and filmed by James L. Brooks as an old-fashioned movie musical and parody of "Hollywood lifestyles and movie clichés", costing £40 million.[1] It featured songs by Carole King, Prince, and Sinéad O'Connor, among others, with choreography by Twyla Tharp.[1] When preview audience reactions to the music were overwhelmingly negative, all production numbers from the film were cut and Brooks wrote several new scenes, filming them over three days and spent seven weeks editing the film. Brooks noted: "Something like this not only tries one's soul - it threatens one's soul."[1]
"I conceived the story as a musical because musicals have a heightened sense of reality. Through song you can get closer to the truth. But even before I had any music I believed I had a complete script. I wrote it like any script. As far as the music was concerned, I only knew where I wanted the songs to go. [...] The point is that with or without musical numbers, the story worked."[1]
Critical reaction
In his three-star review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert called it "one of those offcenter comedies that gets its best moments simply by looking at people and seeing how funny, how pathetic, how wonderful they sometimes can be . . . it's a bright, edgy, funny story about people who have all the talent they need, but not all the luck . . . It is helpful, I think, to simply forget about the missing songs, and recognize that I'll Do Anything is a complete movie without them - smart, original, subversive."[2]Janet Maslin of the New York Times described it as "droll" and "improbably buoyant."[3]
Music
One of the original songs meant to be performed in the film is heard during the closing credits and is included on the soundtrack album released by Varese Sarabande, along with four instrumental tracks by the film's composer, Hans Zimmer[4]. While other versions of songs penned by Prince resurfaced on some of his later projects, Girl 6 and The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, none of the actual performances from the movie were ever officially released.
Although James L. Brooks has mentioned he would like to release a Directors Cut restoring the musical numbers and including a making-of documentary, that project has yet to come to fruition. The film's commercially released version is available on DVD.
References
^ abcdRobert W. Butler (1994-02-03). "Anything to save the movie James L. Brooks dumped the music, rewrote the scenes and did more filming for `I'll Do Anything'". The Kansas City Star: p. E1.
