Cecil B. Demented (2000)

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Director: John Waters
Writer: John Waters
Stars: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Adrian Grenier, Lawrence Gilliard Jr.
Countries: United States, France

In front of the cameras and in public, famed Hollywood actress Honey Whitlock, a product of the studio system, is as sweet as her name. Behind the scenes, she is demanding and controlling, making life a nightmare for anyone who has to deal with her, especially her browbeaten assistant, Libby. She and her entourage are in Baltimore – what is emerging as the Hollywood of the east – for the premiere of her latest movie. The premiere gets hijacked by a group of guerrilla independent filmmakers, led by director Cecil B. DeMented, in wanting to make a statement against the Hollywood studio system and the bad movies they produce. Cecil and his band kidnap Honey in the process. What their goal is, with no money per se, to make their own movie starring Honey as a statement against the Hollywood studios. Their general process is to have the scripted elements of the movie, such as Honey’s dialogue, being set against “real life” in they overtaking several of the Hollywood movie studio events in Baltimore, such as the filming of the sequel to Forrest Gump (1994). The main questions become if Honey, who is being forced to participate against her will, will truly change as a person and as an actress in seeing Cecil’s vision, and how long Cecil and his group can continue in their kamikaze ways, overtaking the movie events in the city, in being the outlaws they have become.