| The Big White |
Promotional poster for The Big White |
| Directed by |
Mark Mylod |
| Produced by |
Michael Birnbaum,
Kia Jam,
John Schimmel,
Andreas Schmid,
Andreas Grosch |
| Written by |
Collin Friesen |
| Starring |
Robin Williams,
Holly Hunter,
Giovanni Ribisi,
Alison Lohman,
Tim Nelson,
Woody Harrelson |
| Editing by |
Julie Monroe |
| Distributed by |
Momentum Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
March 24, 2005 |
| Running time |
105 min. |
| Language |
English |
| Budget |
$18,000,000 (estimated) |
The Big White is a 2005 black comedy picture directed by Mark Mylod starring Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Woody Harrelson, Tim Blake Nelson, W. Earl Brown and Alison Lohman.
Plot
A body left in a dumpster by Mafia hitmen is discovered by financially troubled travel agent Paul Barnell (Robin Williams). Far in debt and attempting to find a cure for his wife's Tourette Syndrome, he stages a disfiguring animal attack with the body in order to cash in his missing brother's life-insurance policy which requires a corpse.
Local police are convinced, but a promotion desperate insurance agent (Giovanni Ribisi) is not. The Mafia hitmen are also in search of the corpse for proof to collect their payment. They take Paul's wife (Holly Hunter) hostage to ensure that they will get the body. Paul stays in his brother's cottage.
Paul's missing brother Raymond (Woody Harrelson) returns home, beats him, and demands a portion of the insurance money. By suggesting the insurance agent has assaulted him, Paul speeds up the delivery of the million dollar insurance payment. He has the body exhumed and agrees to exchange it and a portion of the money for his wife. In fear that Raymond will attempt to kill his wife to keep her quiet, Paul considers killing his brother in his sleep.
The next morning Paul leaves his brother asleep and meets the hit-men for the exchange. Raymond is angered at his brother's deception and arrives as well, and is told by the insurance agent, who has finally pieced together what has happened about his million dollar policy.
Raymond then pulls out a pistol and shoots Paul's fleeing wife, and is in turn shot in the leg by one of the hit-men (Tim Nelson). Raymond accidentally shoots himself and falls to his knees. Paul finds his wife alive, the insurance money he had hidden in his jacket his wife was wearing stopped the bullet. The brother's reflect on childhood memories as Raymond dies.
Using the money, Paul takes his wife on a flight to a presumably tropical location in an attempt to cure her mental issues, his love for his wife being the sole motivation for the whole situation.
Filmed
The movie was shot in Winnipeg, with additional photography in the Yukon, Alaska, and New Zealand (the latter for aerial photography used in the opening moments of the film).
References
External links
