Cecil B. Demented (2000)

Synopsis: Written and directed by John Waters, Cecil B. DeMented is an insane action-comedy about a young underground filmmaker and his loyal cult of film fanatics who declare war on bad cinema. Kidnapping... Written and directed by John Waters, Cecil B. DeMented is an insane action-comedy about a young underground filmmaker and his loyal cult of film fanatics who declare war on bad cinema. Kidnapping an A-list Hollywood movie queen and forcing her to star in their radical outlaw film, the cinema terrorists wreak havoc on the city of Baltimore, committing brazen acts of guerrilla filmmaking and stirring the populace to new levels of cinema unrest. Stopping at nothing to bring his vision to the screen, the obsessed auteur DeMented converts his restyled starlet to the cause of celluloid revolution as he creates a magnum opus that does justice to his name.

Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) is every inch a star and her career as an actress is flourishing even if her personal life is in disarray. Forty years old and divorced, she is still beautiful, rich and talented; an Oscar® winner who is on every producer's short list, despite her reputation as a diva who throws "star fits." Honey's new film, Some Kind of Happiness, promises to be her biggest hit yet. Arriving in Baltimore for the gala premiere to benefit the Maryland Heart Fund, Honey cannot know that she is about to encounter the most demanding director of her career.

By day Sinclair Stevens (Stephen Dorff) is the trusted twenty-something manager of the Senator Theatre, a fully restored art deco movie palace that is hosting the premiere of Some Kind of Happiness, By night, he is the self-proclaimed Cecil B. DeMented, guerrilla filmmaker and cult leader to the Sprocket Holes, a group of cinematic misfits who have joined him in infiltrating the staff of the landmark theatre. With the charisma of Charles Manson, the style of Andy Warhol and the artistic temperament of Otto Preminger, Cecil is not a violent young man -- unless you get in the way of his shot.

Cecil has recruited the perfect army to help him realize his cinematic vision, beginning with his actors: Cherish (Alicia Witt), Cecil's outlaw cinema girlfriend and one-time porno star, and Lyle (Adrian Grenier), a scary thespian whose Method acting includes taking every drug known to man. The Sprocket Holes production crew is even more terrifying: obsessed cinematographer Pam (Erika Lynn Rupli); dangerously coiffed sound person Chardonnay (Zenzele Uzoma); art director and staple gun fanatic Lewis (Larry Gilliard, Jr.); the onanistic and aptly named costumer Fidget (Eric M. Barry); satanic makeup artist Raven (Maggie Gyllenhaal); self-hating heterosexual hairdresser Rodney (Jack Noseworthy); loyal redneck chauffeur Petie; and, overseeing it all, the frighteningly effective producer Dinah (Harriet Dodge).

As the benefit premiere of Some Kind of Happiness gets underway with a speech by the chairperson of the Maryland Heart Fund (Mink Stole), Cecil and the well-armed Sprocket Holes spring into action. Snatching Honey from the Senator stage under a cloud of smoke and gunfire, they spirit the terrified star back to Sprocket House, their hideout in an abandoned movie palace.

Held against her will, Honey is brainwashed into the twisted world of Cecil B. DeMented. Given an alarming fashion makeover for her role as the insane theatre owner in Cecil's Raving Beauty, a no-budget film shot in "ultimate reality," Honey begins to sympathize with her kamikaze captors. Meanwhile, her personal assistant Libby (Ricki Lake) and the rest of the Hollywood establishment begin to trash Honey's reputation on national television. Cecil's universe of real-life cinema terror, sexual frustration and drug-addled film theory starts to feel like an attractive alternative to the formerly pampered movie star, and she becomes a willing soldier in the war against commercial cinema.

Battling forces as diverse as militant family-film supporters, the Maryland Film Commission, and the Police Department, Cecil B. DeMented becomes a hero to many Baltimore filmgoers, from action aficionados to porno enthusiasts and, together with newly recruited film anarchists, they rally to Cecil's cellu-revolutionary cause. As Raving Beauty nears completion, Cecil, Honey and the Sprocket Holes go all out to "seize the cinema" and begin the revolution to destroy mainstream movies by creating the ultimate fiery climax to their own little underground movie from hell.

Lots of kids dream of making a movie. Only those willing to die for it succeed. [More]

Starring: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Starring: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Patricia Campbell Hearst

Director: John Waters

Director: John Waters
Producer: Yves Attal, John Fiedler, Mark Tarlov, Joseph M. Caracciolo
Screenwriter: John Waters

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