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In the history of the Oscars, only three people were nominated for acting and writing in the same movie.

Orson Welles for Citizen Kane

Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator

Sylvester Stallone for Rocky

 

One of the writer-stars of this movie became the fourth.

***

Top billing went to an actor who was nominated for best supporting actor.

Second billing went to the one referred to in the first clue.

 

***

The screenwriters are also actors who worked together on two other movies (they did NOT write). Both those movies were directed by the same person (a mere co-executive producer on this movie, who did not want to direct because it was more of a drama than he was accustomed to directing). In one of their other two on-screen collaborations, the screenwriters played themselves.

***

The trivia on this one is quite obscure.

Honestly, I thought screenwriter getting nominated for both writing and acting was a dead giveaway, but then most people probably forgot he was nominated for acting in this one.

They won the screenwriting Oscar, and the top-billed star won Best Supporting Actor.

***

I can't think of a single "what it's about" fact that would not be a dead giveaway, but I'll try.

Boy meets girl.

Boy gets girl's number.

Boy scores.

Boy pushes girl away.

Boy chases girl to get her back after stealing something from a confidante.

***

WordWolf guessed “Chasing Amy,” which is incorrect. However, people associated with “Chasing Amy” are referenced in the above clues, one directly, the other less so.

***

The theft [from the confidante] is the subject of the last line of the movie.

***

George guessed "Dogma," which is incorrect but was referenced in one of my earlier clues.

 

Edited by Raf
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10 hours ago, Raf said:

The screenwriters are also actors who worked together on two other movies (they did NOT write). Both those movies were directed by the same person (a mere co-executive producer on this movie, who did not want to direct because it was more of a drama than he was accustomed to directing). In one of their other two on-screen collaborations, the screenwriters played themselves.

Amended: on one of their other two collaborations, the screenwriters played both themselves AND one other fictional character each:

One played himself and a character from a movie that was a wrong guess.

The other played himself and the character he plays in the correct answer.

 

You guys are just messing with me by now. Right?

You cannot be THIS close and not know.

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The only "Jay and Silent Bob" film I've actually seen is "Dogma."  Those guys have done more than three movies together, though, so it can't be about them.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were also in Dogma.  I don't know how many collaborations they had, but one was 

Good Will Hunting

Is that it?

George

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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck shared screenwriting credit and an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting.

Damon was nominated for Best Actor and lost, but he was only the fourth person to be nominated for writing and acting in the same movie. Not sure if there's been a fifth since then.

Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor, though he gets top billing in the credits.

Damon and Affleck were both in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back [both directed by Kevin Smith, a co-producer of Good Will Hunting who chose not to direct the drama because he was more into comedies]. In the latter movie [Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back], Ben Affleck played himself in one scene and Holden McNeil in another. Holden is the character he played in Chasing Amy. Damon played himself and Will Hunting, his character in Good Will Hunting.

Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl's number (how do you like THEM apples?). Boy chases girl to get her back after stealing something from a confidante. The confidante (note, not friend. Psychotherapist. Robin Williams' character). What did he steal?

"I gotta go see about a girl."

To which Williams replies (in an ad lib): "Son of a bitch stole my line."

Roll credits.

You're up.

Edited by Raf
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Carrie Fisher's first movie.  Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, told the star of the film that if he messed around with her daughter, she would put out a "hit" on him.

The actress who won the Best Supporting Actress for this film had been nominated for Best Actress 24 years earlier but was blacklisted shortly thereafter for saying something nice at a Communist friend's funeral.

George

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7 hours ago, WordWolf said:

The blacklisted actress might be Jane Fonda, but that's all I've got so far.   

No.  Communism was "in" by the time Hanoi Jane showed her colors.  And without googling, I suspect that Fonda did not win an Oscar 25 years before Fisher's first movie.

 

7 hours ago, WordWolf said:

BTW, I've never seen "Good Will Hunting." Considering the cast, I know that's strange.  Getting me to sit still for a movie seems harder than ever, lately.

I haven't seen GWH, either.  I'm more into Sci-Fi, action, or comedy, so I miss a lot of "deep" films.

George

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Ok, so here is a movie based on a true story about an actual guy who did actual, not-very-good things. But the funny thing is, there was already a movie, that year, about the same guy. Totally different genre. One movie tried to be faithful to the source material, which is, after all, the life of the not so good guy. This movie was played for laughs and was more about what happened after the first movie ended.

 

The guy was not happy with this movie.

 

John Travolta was considered for the lead role. He chose another project, but the woman who plays the lead's mother is the same person who played Travolta's mother in Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive.

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Here's what I have (which is not a movie, yet.)   We have TWO movies that came out in the same year about the same guy, an actual guy. That almost certainly means it was about something fairly recent and in the news (unless it was the anniversary of a crime or something.)   This was a story of a guy who did not-very-good things (no "Sully Sullenberger's story" or anything like that.)   The guy in question was alive when this aired. 

The guy is Caucasian-  because otherwise it makes no sense to think Travolta could pass for him, or that someone who passed for Travolta's Mom could pass for his Mom.   

This ALL (actions and filming)  happened a few decades ago (and the guy was young in the film)  or happened in the last decade or so (and the guy's not young but probably not depicted as retired.) 

On the off-chance the guy is not the lead, then the clues about Travolta don't apply to him at all. 

The only possible not-very-nice guys that come to mind for me would be either :  Joey Buttafuoco (the famous Long Island Lolita case had something that WAS played up for comedy that was performed about it),  or  Frank Abegnale Junior  (if Abegnale is the guy and the lead is the Treasury Dept agent who went after him.  

IF it is either (which is a big jump), then I'm leaning towards the latter- if there was a movie OTHER than "Catch Me If You Can" that appeared about Abegnale at the same time.

 

On the other hand, it's probably neither Buttafuoco nor Abegnale.

Were there multiple movies about the Enron scandal?

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Nice work.

Not even close.

 

Ok, I really want the second movie, the comedy that's a sort of sequel to the drama. But I'll take either.

The drama was a best picture nominee that is a classic of its genre.

The comedy changes the main character's name and takes liberties with the story, though some things are true. Like the wedding. Really happened.

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The lead character in the second movie (the comedy) is not recognizably the same character in the drama (name was changed, fictional elements added). There is a clear line where the drama's story ends and the comedic spiritual sequel picks up.

The main character died in 2012 in real life.

The two main stars of the comedy appeared together in two other very well known comedies: One is a remake of a cult classic, while the other was a dramedy remade as a television series (twice, though the first attempt flopped).

The sequel is named for a 1920s hit song

 

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There is a very subtle hint repeated in the first clue that damn near gives away the title of the drama. Once you remember how the drama ended, you can ask yourself, what happens to the main character next? Then look for a COMEDY with THAT PLOT. It's the second movie.

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Don't overthink the wedding.

In Sweden, the comedy was named "How I Taught an FBI Agent to Dance the Marengo."
 

Quotes:

"You know, it's dangerous for you to be here in the frozen food section."

"Why is that?"

"Because you could melt all this stuff."

***

"I get to never see my parents again. Or my loved ones. I get to live in a place... It's OK, don't get me wrong... The air is clean and the people are nice, but for a guy like me, who was raised on the sidewalks of the city that never sleeps, it's a living hell. There were times when I thought of giving it all up, particularly when my wife left me. They gave us a nice house, with flowers in front. It made us sick. But I made a deal with the government so I'm here to tell the truth. So if you think I'm saying what I'm saying about Mr. Gatzo killing Nicky Capelli only because of the deal, you got a point. But it's still the truth."

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Wait,  I had a thought.  Could be a clever thought, or it could just be another weird idea.

 

The guy could be   Ray Liotta's character in "GOODFELLAS."   At the end, he went into the Federal Witness Protection Program, and couldn't find any good Italian food in Smalltown USA.      At the beginning of "MY BLUE HEAVEN<" Steve Martin's character enters the Federal Witness Protection Program-  and has trouble adjusting to life neither mobbed up nor in a city of any size (and lacking any good Italian food, he imagines.)

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I'm pretty sure WW is correct with "My Blue Heaven."  The merengue sequence with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis is a favorite of mine.

I've never seen "Goodfellas," so any witness protection reference would have been lost on me.

"You don't tip federal agents!
"Of course you do!"

George

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Both movies came out in 1990 and were based on the life of mobster Henry Hill, who died in 2012 and did not like My Blue Heaven.

My Blue Heaven, named after a 1920s hit, starred Steve Martin and Rick Moranis, who also starred together in Parenthood (made into TWO TV series, one of which flopped and the second, much later ran for several seasons) and Little Shop of Horrors.

The first clue contained two references to the main character being and acting "not so good." WW threw himself off by changing it to "not so nice." I never said nice. Good was a clue. As in Goodfellas.

The sudden wedding in My Blue Heaven really happened. Henry Hill called his lawyer and said Guess what? THe lawyer had the marriage annulled.

Travolta was considered for the role that went to Steve Martin (who really wanted to play the FBI agent). Travolta decided to make Look Who's Talking Too instead.

WW, you are up.

Edited by Raf
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Ok, next movie.

This movie eventually gained a cult following.  When it was released, it was a box office disappointment- it had a budget of $25 million and the US theatrical run resulted in a box office of $12.9 million.  The director was quite despondent about that- he had been hoping to direct serious and weighty films, and that never worked (neither did this), so he gave up directing and his career went into a rough patch.    The first draft of the script was by Terry Jones, and a number of people did work on later drafts (like George Lucas) but received no writing credit for it.

The film has a main actor and a main actress.  Nobody seems to be able to remember any other actors from the movie unless they're really fans of the movie.  Both the main actor and main actress were in a few roles before this. IMHO, this is the first movie that either of them is actually REMEMBERED FOR.  Both have acted since, and both have had successful careers (although his was not primarily in acting, hers is.)    He has passed away, she's still alive.

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