Broadcast News (film)

Infobox Film
name = Broadcast News


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = James L. Brooks
producer = James L. Brooks
writer = James L. Brooks
starring = Holly Hunter
Albert Brooks
William Hurt
Robert Prosky,
Lois Chiles
Joan Cusack
Jack Nicholson
music = Bill Conti
cinematography = Michael Ballhaus
editing = Richard Marks
distributor = 20th Century Fox
Gracie Films
released = December 16, 1987
runtime = 133 min.
country = flagicon|USA
language = English
budget = $20 million
gross = $51,249,404
amg_id = 1:7181
imdb_id = 0092699

"Broadcast News" is a 1987 romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by James L. Brooks, about a virtuoso television news producer (Holly Hunter), who has daily emotional breakdowns, a brilliant yet prickly reporter (Albert Brooks) and his charismatic but far less seasoned rival (William Hurt). It also stars Robert Prosky, Lois Chiles, Joan Cusack, and Jack Nicholson in an unbilled role as the evening news anchor.

Plot

The film revolves around three characters who work in television news. Jane Craig (Hunter) is a talented producer who tries to conceal how important it is for her to be found sexually attractive by a handsome man who epitomizes everything about television news that appalls her. Jane's best friend and frequent collaborator, Aaron Altman (Brooks), is a gifted writer and reporter ambitious for on-camera exposure, who is secretly in love with Jane, and embittered by her rejection of him. Tom Grunick (Hurt), a local news anchorman who was up until recently a sports anchorman, is charismatic and telegenic but denied self-respect due to his intellectual limitations, of which he is all too aware. He is attracted to Jane, although he is also intimidated by her skills and intensity. The emotional triangle formed by these three disparate people and their different career paths form the basis for the film's storyline.

The film contains bits of business that are a send-up of TV journalism's egos on the one hand, and a tribute to the immediacy with which the medium can infuse news events on the other. Many of its detailed observations of public affairs TV are extremely accurate.

Cast

*Holly Hunter as Jane Craig
*Albert Brooks as Aaron Altman
*William Hurt as Tom Grunick
*Robert Prosky as Ernie Merriman
*Lois Chiles as Jennifer Mack
*Joan Cusack as Blair Litton
*Jack Nicholson as Bill Rorich
*John Cusack as Angry Messenger
*Marc Shaiman as News Theme Writer

Production

The events depicted in the movie closely parallel and satirize the 1984 mass layoffs ("downsizing") that occurred at CBS News. Longtime "CBS Evening News" producer Susan Zirinsky was a technical adviser on the film.

The score was by Bill Conti. Emmy Award-winning composers Glen Roven and Marc Shaiman make cameo appearances as a dorky musician team who have composed a theme for the news program in the film.

The female lead was originally written for Debra Winger, who worked with James L. Brooks in the Academy Award-winning film "Terms of Endearment". However, Winger was replaced by Holly Hunter at the last minute because of her pregnancy.

Reception

The movie was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actor in a Leading Role (William Hurt), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Albert Brooks), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Holly Hunter), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

External links

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