The Understudy (2012)

Name: The Understudy
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2012-03-16
Duration: 101 min
Cast: Marin Ireland, Paul Sparks, Aasif Mandvi, Richard Kind, Tom Wopat

The Understudy (2012), directed by David Conolly, starring Marin Ireland and Paul Sparks.

03/16/2012 BR Comedy and Drama 1h 41m

Not rated
yet

Quiz about this movie

Dying for stardom... she found a role to kill for.

Synopsis

A perennial understudy takes matters into her own hands to achieve fame at any price.

David ConollyDirector, Producer, Screenplay
Hannah DavisDirector, Producer, Screenplay
Kate EalesEditing
Carl DavisOriginal music

About the film

The Understudy is a 2008 black comedy film directed by David Conolly and Hannah Davis. It stars Marin Ireland, Paul Sparks, Aasif Mandvi, and Richard Kind. The film debuted at the Avignon Film Festival on 25 June 2008, but did not get a release in the United States until 2012.

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Plot

Rebecca is an unemployed actress who is living with an equally unsuccessful screenwriter, Sarfras. Rebecca makes a living by caring for a blind and diabetic woman while going from one disastrous relationship to the next.

Rebecca is invited to understudy the famous movie star Simone Harwin in an off-Broadway production of Electra. However, Rebecca's unfulfillment is compounded: despite outshining Simone with her own talent, Rebecca is treated as second-class, either bullied or ignored by the cast and crew, which includes the director Ian and stage manager Alison. Her salvation lies within her relationship with the seemingly perfect firefighter Bobby.

Accidents start to disrupt the leading ladies of Electra, and as Rebecca's star begins to rise, suspicion surrounds her.

Cast

Critical reception

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times said, "The film’s downfall is its clumsy mix of serious drama and attempts at humor through tired theater clichés. Its writers and directors, David Conolly and Hannah Davis, would have done better to jettison a few plotlines and make a movie with a consistent tone." In The Village Voice, Andrew Schenker said the film "[refuses] to commit to being either a character-based ethical drama or a wicked showbiz satire".

References

External links

The Understudy at IMDb

The Understudy at Rotten Tomatoes

Text from The Understudy (2008 film) on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Understudy_(2008_film)

Trivia

It premiered on March 16, 2012, a Friday.
It runs 1h41 — a typical feature length.
This film's quiz has 11 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.