''I'll Do Anything'' is a 1994 American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film written and directed by
James L. Brooks. While a large part of the film is a
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...
of the film industry, it also skewers relationships from various angles. Its primary plot concerns a down-on-his-luck actor who suddenly finds himself the sole caretaker of his six-year-old daughter. The film starred
Nick Nolte and
Whittni Wright in her film debut, with supporting roles filled by
Albert Brooks,
Julie Kavner,
Joely Richardson and
Tracey Ullman.
Plot
In 1980, on the night he fails to win an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
, 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. Seven years 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 clueless
film producer Burke Adler's new project but fails to get the part. He does however agree to
chauffeur
A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine.
Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...
Adler occasionally. Matt flies to
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
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 sitcom. Her newfound success contrasts with Matt’s ongoing struggles in the industry.
As Jeannie’s acting career begins to take off, Matt continues to pursue his own opportunities while grappling with the responsibilities of being a single parent. He also becomes romantically involved with Cathy Breslow, a script reader who works for Adler. Matt starts to come to terms with his own shortcomings as both an actor and a father, realizing that his daughter’s success and happiness are becoming more important to him than his own career.
Throughout this time, Matt also navigates his complicated professional relationship with Burke, while Jeannie’s success forces him to rethink what truly matters in his life. As Matt grows closer to his daughter, he finds a new sense of purpose and fulfillment in their relationship, even as his acting career remains uncertain.
Cast
Production
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.
It featured songs by
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...
,
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, and
Sinéad O'Connor, among others, with
choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...
by
Twyla Tharp.
[ 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."][
He later said of the film,
]
Reception
''I'll Do Anything'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics. It currently holds a rating of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 18 reviews.
In his three-star review in the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'', Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
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." Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described it as "droll" and "improbably buoyant."
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.
Box office
The film was a box office failure. Produced on a budget of $40 million, ''I'll Do Anything'' grossed only a little over $10.4 million, making it one of the worst performing films of the year when compared to its cost.
Year-end lists
* Top 10 runner-ups (not ranked) – Janet Maslin, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
* Honorable mention – Jeff Simon, ''The Buffalo News
''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York.
It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...
''
*7th worsts – Glenn Lovell, ''San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
''
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 Varèse Sarabande, along with four instrumental tracks by the film's composer, Hans Zimmer. While other versions of songs penned by Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
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 director's cut restoring the musical numbers and including a making-of documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
, that project has yet to come to fruition. The film's commercially released version is available on DVD.
In a 2013 interview, Zimmer said that a release of the musical version is unlikely: "The deal structure on those songs was so complicated and so expensive, and it would cost so much money in rights to put it out.”
In an interview on ''Off Camera'' with Sam Jones, Jackson Browne stated that his song "I'll Do Anything", released on the 1993 album ''I'm Alive'' was originally written to be the title song for the movie. It was to be a comedic song sung by Albert Brooks where he is begging a test audience to favorably review his latest film.
Bootleg of "Musical Cut"
A bootleg recording of the original cut of the film with the musical numbers intact is known to exist. In April 2018, this version was watched and reviewed by the podcast '' Blank Check with Griffin & David''. In August 2020, an underground live stream attempted to screen the "Musical Cut" online, but this was cancelled after the hosts were sent a cease and desist
A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
by the Prince estate.
References
External links
*
*
*
"They Just Gotta Trust This Guy"
- ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' profile
{{Gracie Films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
1990s satirical films
1994 comedy-drama films
1994 films
American comedy-drama films
American satirical films
Columbia Pictures films
English-language comedy-drama films
Films about actors
Films about father–daughter relationships
Films about parenting
Films directed by James L. Brooks
Films produced by James L. Brooks
Films scored by Hans Zimmer
Films with screenplays by James L. Brooks
Gracie Films films