Bowfinger

From Muppet Wiki

Bowfinger is a 1999 comedy directed by Frank Oz and starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy.

During the Spotlight On Location feature on the film's DVD release, Oz explained why he was interested in making the movie:

One of the reasons that the script was endearing to me is I started out with a group called "Muppets" - and I'm still part of the Muppets, I just don't perform that often - and we were just four people about thirty-five years ago, and we were on the fringes also. And Jim Henson wanted to shoot a movie called Timepiece which eventually won an Academy Award nomination. But he didn't have the money or the time. And we did it on weekends for a year. The four of us grabbing an old camera with a D.P. who did commercials. We would just go around, I remember, just like Bowfinger. So, I lived through that. And it was a very evocative thing to do that. To see the script that way.

Plot

Down and out filmmaker Bobby Bowfinger is desperate for a hit movie -- so desperate that he tells a big-shot Hollywood producer that he has international star Kit Ramsey lined up to star in his next effort, Chubby Rain. He wins a distribution deal on the back of this, but when Ramsey turns the film down, Bowfinger is forced to fake his way through production, shooting the unsuspecting star as he goes about his daily business and utilizing a nerdy body double.

Cast

• Steve Martin as Bobby Bowfinger
• Eddie Murphy as Kit and Jefferson Ramsey
• Heather Graham as Daisy
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Jerry Renfro
• Phill Lewis as an actor at audition

Notes

• This was Frank Oz's ninth film as a director.