The Rewatchables: 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris

Published 2022-04-12; 1:46:15 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Rewatchables (The Ringer)” and the episode “'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris”.

Hosts: Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, Wesley Morris. Guests: none.

Subject films: The Player (1992).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; ads and unrelated promos appear at the start (0:00:00-0:02:00), mid (0:32:42, 1:01:38) and end (1:46:51 onward). Sean and Wesley often blend, so many attributions are inferred from conversational turns and personal asides (Bill from age/Boston, Sean from 'in 1985, I was three').

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

The People entries for Greta Scacchi, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brion James, Randall Batinkoff, Leah Ayres, Paul Rhys, Nina van Pallandt, Teri Garr, Sissy Spacek, Dianne Wiest and Raymond Carver use correct spellings from memory, not the transcript.
Role labels such as 'Ice Pick' for Brion James in 48 Hrs. and Fred Ward's Tremors credit as the 'real' name-recognition point are from memory; the transcript only says Iceman and that Tremors was around then.
The mapping of 'Raj 4 stars' to Roger Ebert and 'Dion Waiters award' to the Dianne Wiest award are guesses from the show's known running bits.

Awards and segments (68)

Most rewatchable scene

pick The opening tracking-shot scene: the studio lot, the pitches (Buck Henry's The Graduate Part II, the out-of-Africa-meets-Pretty-Woman riffs), Fred Ward on foreign films.
“The opening scene, 7 minutes, 47 seconds, 15 takes were required.”
Bill Simmons · 0:34:18
pick The big party scene where we meet Sydney Pollack's character, Altman's crowd choreography with quick one-liners.
“Next rewatchable scene, the big party scene, when we meet Sidney Park's character, but just in general, like, Altman's so good at those big ass scenes with lots of things going and quick one liners and different people”
Bill Simmons · 0:43:19
pick The Burt Reynolds scene, where the camera moves away and comes back and he is still in the middle of his story.
“The Burt Reynolds scene we mentioned.”
Bill Simmons · 0:44:12
pick Griffin hunts down the writer at the old movie theater showing Bicycle Thieves, ending in the first murder.
“Griffin Huntsdown, Vincent DiNaprio's character at the old movie theater, um, bicycle thieves, which I'm sure Sean owns on Blu-ray.”
Bill Simmons · 0:44:15
pick The hotel pool pitch meeting where Griffin is pitched Habeas Corpus, no stars and a depressing ending.
“Next one is the hotel pool pitch meeting when he thinks he's going to meet the postcard guy and runs it to the other 2 guys and they pitch him habeas corpus, which has no stars and an depressing ending.”
Bill Simmons · 0:45:13
pick Tim Robbins's black-tie gala speech about the art of motion pictures.
“I love the black tie function when Robbins gives the speech about art.”
Bill Simmons · 0:46:14
pick The ending: the finished Habeas Corpus with Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis, then Griffin getting the pitch for The Player and driving home to his pregnant wife.
“And then the ending in Sean said, Griffin gets the pitch for the player and is Rolls Royce is he's driving home and his pregnant wife and the house that has the most flowers I've ever seen, the end.”
Bill Simmons · 0:47:12
pick Griffin arrested by the Pasadena police and interrogated by Lyle Lovett and Whoopi Goldberg, the tampon bit.
“Well, when he gets arrested by the Pasadena police, and he's brought into the station and he's being interrogated simultaneously by Lyle Lovin and Whoopi Goldberg and like an all-time Whoopi Goldberg performance.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:47:32

Ebert review · The reading of Roger Ebert's review of the film.

pick The Player: Four stars; the review calls it smart and funny, and the movie The Bonfire of the Vanities wanted to be.
“Our guy, Raj, 4 stars, not surprising.”
Bill Simmons · 0:32:11

What's aged the best · What about the movie has held up best after 30 years.

pick Early-1990s pre-internet LA, as the movies and books showed it: He likes that version of LA, known only through books and movies.
“Yeah. Um, I just like this version of LA where it's like pre-internet.”
Bill Simmons · 0:51:19
pick The idea of a movie with no stars: The studio people are flabbergasted by the concept.
“The concept of a movie with no stars when they're like, no stars?”
Bill Simmons · 0:51:39
pick Jeremy Piven: Before the toupee, full comb-over, about 31.
“How about, uh, pre-toupaid Jeremy Piven?”
unknown · 0:51:46
pick Griffin meeting Anjelica Huston and John Cusack, who do not like him: His favorite cameo.
“Griffin, seeing Angelica Houston and John Cusack, who just do not like him.”
Bill Simmons · 0:52:06
pick Randall Batinkoff as the banker's son from Boston: Once the odds-on favorite to be the biggest star of his group; this was peak Batinkoff, and the character is hilarious.
“I have, um, I have Randall Battenkoff as a witsage, the best.”
Bill Simmons · 0:52:29
pick Being tormented by a mystery person who knows the secret: A device he has never seen fail in a movie.
“Being tormented by a mystery person, who knows the secret.”
Bill Simmons · 0:54:22
pick Brion James as the studio head: One of the great that guys; the speakers then trade Brion James roles from 48 Hrs. and Striking Distance.
“How about Brian James?”
unknown · 0:54:36
pick Larry Levy going to AA meetings to make deals
“Larry Leavy going to AA meetings to make deals.”
Bill Simmons · 0:56:33
pick Malcolm McDowell: His cameo.
“Malcolm McDowell's cameo is great.”
Bill Simmons · 0:56:40
pick Sydney Pollack: As an actor; the role starts a run of acting parts after a drought since Tootsie, ending in Eyes Wide Shut.
“Sydney Pollock, the actor?”
Bill Simmons · 0:56:42
pick Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis suggested for every movie: A funny running bit.
“How Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis get suggested for every movie is just a funny running bit.”
Bill Simmons · 0:57:57
pick The joke about Julia Roberts, when she had been famous barely two years
“This is what was so amazing about that joke in the player, which was that she had only been famous that she'd only been the Julia Roberts at that point for for not even two years.”
unknown · 0:58:37
pick The throwaway line that Pasadena is as good a place to die as anywhere
“Come to think of it, Pasadena is as good a place to die as anywhere is just iconic.”
Bill Simmons · 0:59:50
pick Griffin being served a different brand of bottled water everywhere he goes
“And then, uh, apparently every time Griffin Mill enters a bar restaurant or party, he orders or is served a different brand of bottled water.”
Bill Simmons · 0:59:59

What's aged the worst · What about the movie has dated worst.

pick Spelling Entertainment in the opening credits: Funny that the company was simultaneously making 90210, Melrose Place and this.
“Spelling entertainment being at the opening credits of this is so fucking funny to me that they're simultaneously working on 902 and 0 Melrose Place, Model Zinc, and the player.”
Bill Simmons · 1:03:04
pick Fax machines and giant mobile phones in the cars
“Fax machines in the car.”
Bill Simmons · 1:04:12
pick June Gudmundsdottir: He does not understand where the long name came from.
“I, uh, I don't know how they came up with June Goodmanstadter.”
Bill Simmons · 1:04:20
pick Greta Scacchi as June Gudmundsdottir: He does not think she is that good in it and does not understand the character's motives; Sean disagrees and Wesley reads the character as a noir femme fatale echo.
“The player, I don't think she's that good in the player.”
Bill Simmons · 1:06:07
pick The clothes (oversized double-breasted suits)
“Um, the clothes.”
unknown · 1:13:26
pick The Range Rover as the vehicle of power
“I feel like the Range Rover as like the the vehicle of power is a really funny one.”
unknown · 1:13:35

Casting what-ifs · Almost-castings and recasts.

pick Chevy Chase as Griffin Mill: He wanted the part; Warner Brothers passed.
“Chevy Chase wanted to play Griffin Mill.”
Bill Simmons · 1:13:46
pick John Travolta as Griffin Mill: Allegedly considered by Altman; the hosts are glad it did not happen because of Pulp Fiction.
“Allegedly, Robert Altman was considering John Travolta for the lead at one point.”
Bill Simmons · 1:13:51
pick Robert De Niro as the Fred Ward part: Four scenes, popping in and out; the others doubt his process fits an Altman set.
“Could he have just played the Fred Ward part for like 4 scenes.”
Bill Simmons · 1:19:11
pick Jennifer Jason Lee as Bonnie: Over Cynthia Stevenson; others float Joan Cusack, Glenne Headly, Lisa Kudrow, Holly Hunter and more, each rejected.
“All due respect to Cynthia Stevenson, but this, it just has Jennifer Jason Lee crying all over it.”
unknown · 1:19:53

Best that guy (the Joey Pants Award) · The best that-guy performance in the movie.

nominee Richard E. Grant as Tom Oakley: Runner-up for his manic pitch of Habeas Corpus.
“Our runner-up is going to be Richard E. Grant, who plays Tom Oakley, the pitcher of habeas corpus.”
Bill Simmons · 1:15:25
winner Leah Ayres: Van Damme's love interest in Bloodsport, the first person seen in the movie, working at the studio; nobody could name her.
“Von Dom's love interest in Bloodsport, Le Ayres, is one of the people that works for the studio.”
Bill Simmons · 1:16:04

Best former that guy · A new category for movies 30 or more years old: actors who were once that guy and later became a known name.

pick Fred Ward: He was that guy until around 1990 or 91, when he became Fred Ward.
“I think Fred Ward and Brian James were both former that guys.”
unknown · 1:17:09
pick Brion James: Arguably still a that guy.
“Brian James, you could argue, is still a that guy”
unknown · 1:17:09

Vincent Hanna Award · Best overacting.

winner Cynthia Stevenson as Bonnie: Bonnie's last scene, where the wheels come off the casting a little.
“That's where Bonnie, the wheels come off a little bit for the Cynthia Stevenson casting, which we'll get to in a second.”
Bill Simmons · 1:18:06

Dion Waiters Award · Small role, big impact.

nominee Vincent D'Onofrio
“Apologies to Vincent DiNofrio.”
Bill Simmons · 1:18:14
nominee Richard E. Grant
“Apologies to Richard E. Grant who's really fantastic.”
Bill Simmons · 1:18:18
winner Whoopi Goldberg: Three scenes; the hosts agree, and Richard E. Grant is said to wonder what more he could have done.
“No, this has to be Whoopi, right?”
unknown · 1:18:22
nominee Dean Stockwell as Andy Civella
“I wouldn't sleep on Dean Stockwell, honestly.”
unknown · 1:18:36

Apex Mountain · Where this movie sits on a star's or filmmaker's career mountain.

pick Whoopi Goldberg: Her apex-mountain moment: dropped in for a few scenes and stealing the movie, right after Ghost.
“This is definitely the Apex Mountain of the era of Whoopi Goldberg coming in hot for a few scenes and just stealing.”
Bill Simmons · 0:49:41
pick Tim Robbins: Not his apex.
“Tim Robbins, no.”
Bill Simmons · 1:25:30
pick Vincent D'Onofrio: Not his apex; asks what his apex was.
“Vincent DiNofrio, no, that does raise a good question of what his Apex Mountain was.”
Bill Simmons · 1:25:33
pick Vincent D'Onofrio: Answer: probably the Law and Order seasons.
“Um, probably Law and Order, right?”
unknown · 1:25:40
pick Robert Altman: Nashville is his apex, in his view.
“It's Nashville, it's got to be Nashville, right?”
Bill Simmons · 1:25:56
pick Robert Altman: Argues for his post-MASH run (Brewster McCloud) as the peak of pure power.
“I mean, peak of his powers is post-mash, I think.”
unknown · 1:26:00
pick Cynthia Stevenson
“Syntony Stevenson, yes.”
Bill Simmons · 1:26:20
pick Peter Gallagher: Not his apex, but he calls him wildly underrated.
“Peter Gallagher, no.”
Bill Simmons · 1:30:07
pick Oversized, double-breasted suits: The apex of the era's fashion, which the hosts hate; Wesley calls it his least favorite era.
“Oversized, double breasted suits.”
Bill Simmons · 1:30:45
pick Lisa Gibbons: Her cameo as an Entertainment Tonight host.
“Lisa Gibbons, I'm going to say yes.”
Bill Simmons · 1:31:21
pick Whoopi Goldberg: Unsure; the others say Ghost or Sister Act was higher, and 1992 was a great year for her.
“Whoopi Goldberg, no.”
Bill Simmons · 1:31:34
pick Greta Scacchi: Her apex was Presumed Innocent.
“I think it's presumed innocent for her.”
unknown · 1:32:24
pick Randall Batinkoff: It never got better: School Ties, Buffy and The Player.
“Randall Batcock. It never got better.”
Bill Simmons · 1:32:42

Picking Nits · Nitpicks of a film they love.

pick Greta not seeing Griffin through the window while on the phone with him
“How does Greta not see Griffin through the window as she's talking to him and he's like 5 feet away?”
Bill Simmons · 1:32:58
pick How the studio-insider writer knew so much about Griffin's studio: The answer offered: he reads the trades.
“How would DiNofrio know this much about the inner workings of Tim Robbins' studio in the Hollywood situation during an era when there was no internet or anything else?”
Bill Simmons · 1:33:44
pick The police and press having suspects and evidence by the next morning
“How did they get so much information about the David Kehane?”
Bill Simmons · 1:34:04
pick The postcard guys stopping their harassment for a year
“Why did postcard guys stop messing with Griffin for like a year?”
Bill Simmons · 1:35:00
pick The movie not having enough cocaine: Sean says Richard E. Grant and Dean Stockwell are pretty coked up, though no powder is shown.
“Should this movie have had more cocaine, Sean?”
Bill Simmons · 1:35:17
pick What the postcard-sending screenwriter actually wants: A follow-up reading treats the harassment as cosmic justice.
“Um, I guess, like, what does the screenwriter want?”
unknown · 1:36:08

What if it were made today · Whether and how the movie would be remade now.

pick The Player: A 10-episode Netflix series updated with the internet; the others worry it would be like Super Pumped and say a remake would work better from the book.
“Could this be remade as a 10 episode Netflix show?”
Bill Simmons · 1:37:17

Unanswerable questions · Questions the movie leaves open.

pick Did Altman see the future of movies?: The hosts answer yes: the gala speech and the death-of-stars talk look prophetic.
“Did Altman see the future movies?”
Bill Simmons · 1:39:01

Memorabilia · A piece of memorabilia they would want from the movie.

pick The M poster (the Fritz Lang movie) from the office
“I mean, the M poster, the Fritz Long movie, I think, is probably like the, that's the movie I like the most that is featured.”
Sean Fennessey · 1:44:02
pick One of the double-breasted suits: Said to be what Wesley would want.
“Wesley would want one of the double breasted suits.”
unknown · 1:44:19
pick Whoopi Goldberg's clogs
“clogs is what I want.”
unknown · 1:44:27
pick More theaters like the Rialto: Would trade the memorabilia for theaters like the ones in these movies.
“I would sacrifice the memorabilia to have more movies like the Rialto, because I say those movies like that in these, or theaters like that in these movies.”
unknown · 1:44:37

Who won the movie · Who came out ahead from the movie.

winner Robert Altman: His fourth comeback.
“It's got to be Altman.”
unknown · 1:44:50

Films that came up

Claims (58)

lineage (lineage): The Player → The Larry Sanders Show. Bill asks whether The Player is ground zero for the meta-Hollywood strain that runs through Larry Sanders and Curb.
“Larry Sanders and Curb your enthusiasm and all these different things we've had over the 30 years.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:03:46 · Bill Simmons (0.95 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The Player → Singin' in the Rain. Sean says movies about movies go back long before The Player, e.g. Singin' in the Rain, but this one is far more inside the joke.
“Going back to singing in the rain.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:04:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The Player → Wayne's World. Wesley pairs the two 1992 releases as opposite poles of fourth-wall-breaking commentary on the thing you are watching.
“this is the same year that Wayne's world came out.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:04:48 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
career (career): The Player → Short Cuts. The Player put Altman back among world-class directors: a best director nomination here and another the next year for Short Cuts.
“he gets nominated for best director here and then gets nominated the following year for his next film, Shortcuts”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:09:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.75 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Short Cuts → Raymond Carver. Bill loved The Player, then watched anxiously to see how Short Cuts would turn Carver into a movie.
“Carver was my favorite short story person.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:10:44 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
people (people): Harry Nilsson → Popeye. Wesley marvels that one of the greatest pop musicians, Harry Nilsson, made the music for the live-action Popeye musical, a production the hosts describe as fueled by cocaine and craziness.
“one of the greatest pop musicians ever is making the music for this, for this musical live action Popeye movie.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:14:42 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Robert Altman → Popeye. Sean wonders whether the Popeye flop triggered Altman's blue period in the 80s.
“whether it triggers Altman's kind of like blue period in the 80s is kind of an interesting question”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:15:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Robert Altman → Tanner '88. Tanner '88 is where Altman found the satirical tone he carried into The Player, using politics as the way into mocking egomaniacs.
“that's where he figures out this satirical tone that he's then going to follow into the player.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:16:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Tanner '88 → The Larry Sanders Show. Bill calls Tanner '88 ground zero for the mockumentary with cameos, thrown into a real world.
“that is kind of ground 0 for that mockumentary.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:16:51 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Nashville. Wesley says the tricks Altman uses in The Player, like famous people dropping into a space, are ones he used in Nashville.
“a lot of the tricks that he's using in the player, I mean, he uses in Nashville, right?”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:17:32 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Robert Altman → Paul Thomas Anderson. Bill says Altman's legacy is the filmmakers he influenced, and Boogie Nights is PTA trying to do The Player and Altman.
“He's just basically trying to do the player, right?”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:20:10 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
people (people): Paul Thomas Anderson → A Prairie Home Companion. PTA was on set with Altman and almost took over the last movie Altman made when he was sick.
“Paul Thomas Anderson was right there with Altman and he almost took over the last movie Altman made when Altman was sick.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:20:18 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Robert Altman → Richard Linklater. Sean lists Linklater with PTA among 90s directors who took Altman's interest in communities and worlds.
“They really were into Linklater is another one.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:21:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Popeye → Punch-Drunk Love. Wesley says PTA's debt to Altman runs deep, down to the Shelley Duvall Popeye song used in Punch-Drunk Love.
“the way that that Shelley Duval song from Popeye functions in punch trunk love”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:21:58 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
people (people): Robert Altman → Shelley Duvall. Altman had return customers, such as seven movies with Shelley Duvall.
“I think he did 7 movies with Shelley Duvall.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:22:53 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Robert Altman → Vincent & Theo. Wesley says Vincent & Theo got critics paying attention again and set the table for The Player.
“it sets the table for some kind of, um, you know, thunder striking from a god on high when you get to the player.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:28:53 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Robert Altman → Michael Tolkin. Altman changed Tolkin's screenplay and was unkind about it; the film's ending differs greatly from the book.
“And Altman was a little unkind about Tolkien's screenplay.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:31:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Robert Altman → Adam McKay. Altman was one of the first directors to encourage ad-libbing, a trend followed by McKay, Apatow and PTA.
“there is this whole generation directors that follows Adam McKay, Apatow, Paul Thomas Anderson”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:31:43 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): The Player → The Bonfire of the Vanities. The quoted review calls The Player the movie Bonfire of the Vanities wanted to be, and the hosts agree; Wesley followed the Bonfire saga before seeing it.
“The bonfire of the vanities wanted to be.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:32:24 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Touch of Evil. The Player's opening nods to Touch of Evil's tracking shot by having Fred Ward's character talk about it, then reveal he never watches foreign films.
“Fred Ward talking about the tracking shot and touch of evil, but then revealing that he never watches foreign films.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:35:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Freaks. Wesley notes Griffin knows his movies, citing him talking Freaks with Lyle Lovett's detective.
“he's like conversant in freaks enough to like, you know, talk to Freaky Lyle Lovett.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:37:01 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The Player → The Larry Sanders Show. Both treat agents and executives as the villains; Odenkirk's Larry Sanders finale line calls back to Griffin's wish to eliminate the writer and actors.
“So then in Larry Sanders, in the last episode, Bob Odenkirk, who plays, um, Sander's agent”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:39:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Bicycle Thieves. Griffin and the screenwriter end up at a screening of Bicycle Thieves, where the murder is set up.
“Griffin Huntsdown, Vincent DiNaprio's character at the old movie theater, um, bicycle thieves”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:44:15 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
career (career): Whoopi Goldberg → Ghost. Whoopi's few scenes land as an Apex Mountain moment: Ghost was just before, and she holds an Oscar prop a year after winning one.
“And Ghost is right before this, and it's just, you drop her in a movie like a grenade for 15 minutes.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:49:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Randall Batinkoff → Ben Affleck. Batinkoff was the odds-on favorite to be the biggest star of the Affleck/Damon/O'Donnell/Fraser class and peaked in 1992.
“Batenkoff was probably like the odds on favorite to be the biggest star of all of them.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:52:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Brion James → 48 Hrs.. Sean corrects the Blade Runner guess: Brion James is the Ice Pick/Iceman villain in 48 Hrs. and Another 48 Hrs.
“He turns out to be the Iceman at the end of 48 hours too, another 48 hours.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:55:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
career (career): Brion James → Striking Distance. Bill remembers him from cable as Bruce Willis's nemesis in Striking Distance, which spins into a Rowdy Herrington week idea.
“In my house growing up, he was Bruce Willis's like arch nemesis in striking distance.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:55:36 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Striking Distance → Road House. Bill pitches a Rowdy Herrington week for the show covering Road House and Striking Distance.
“We should do Rowdy Harrington week.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:56:10 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Sydney Pollack → Eyes Wide Shut. Pollack's Player cameo ended an acting drought since Tootsie and set off a chain that led to Eyes Wide Shut.
“this sets off a chain of movies culminating in Him in the leather sleeveless vest and knives wide shut”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:56:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Sydney Pollack → Husbands and Wives. Pollack is praised as a trained actor who is great in Husbands and Wives.
“H husbands and wives.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:50 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The Player → Pretty Woman. The recurring pitch-as-mashup joke (Out of Africa meets Pretty Woman) and the running Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis casting gag.
“How Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis get suggested for every movie is just a funny running bit.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:57 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Julia Roberts → Sandra Bullock. After the Pretty Woman era Julia Roberts outran every actress for years, until Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock got a foothold.
“And then Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock finally like clawed their way in at least a tiny bit.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:16 · Sean Fennessey (0.45 sure it was them)
people (people): Julia Roberts → Lyle Lovett. Wesley asks a gossip question about whether Julia Roberts met Lyle Lovett on The Player.
“Did Julia Roberts meet Lyle Lovett on the set of this movie?”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:31 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Alfred Hitchcock. Wesley notes the Hitchcock-like touches in the rattlesnake and police station scenes.
“Little Hitchcock homage, I feel like.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:05:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The Player → Presumed Innocent. Bill finds Greta Scacchi much more compelling in Presumed Innocent than in The Player.
“The player, I don't think she's that good in the player.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:06:07 · Bill Simmons (0.90 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The Player → The Long Goodbye. Wesley reads Greta Scacchi's character as an echo of Nina van Pallandt's ice queen in The Long Goodbye, itself a riff on noir femmes fatales.
“that character is a an echo of another Altman character, the Nina Van Palant character in the longabai”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:07:08 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Greta Scacchi → The Player. Wesley says the 'quirky artist' love-interest type in The Player is a cliche that will soon be replaced by teachers and gallerists.
“But that character is soon going to be like in movies.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:10:45 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Julianne Moore → Short Cuts. Julianne Moore is offered as another actor who knows how to be in an Altman movie, via Short Cuts.
“Some people know how to be in a Robert Altman movie because Julian Moore's like that in shortcuts”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:12:43 · Bill Simmons (0.45 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Chevy Chase → The Player. Chevy Chase wanted the Griffin Mill part but Warner Brothers said no.
“Chevy Chase wanted to play Griffin Mill.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:13:46 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): John Travolta → Pulp Fiction. If Travolta had starred in The Player, the Pulp Fiction comeback might have gone differently, and Bill is glad it did not happen.
“It's a really interesting Travolta sliding doors.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:13:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Tim Robbins → The Shawshank Redemption. The Player is a step in Robbins's run from Bull Durham to Shawshank, and two years from Dead Man Walking.
“I think Robin needed this for his Bull Durham, to the player, to Shawshank”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:14:05 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Tim Robbins → Dead Man Walking. Robbins directed Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking; the hosts trace the Scacchi/D'Onofrio/Leila George/Sean Penn six degrees.
“Tim Robbins directed Sean Penn in the movie Dead Man Walking.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:15:11 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Leah Ayres → Bloodsport. Winner of best 'that guy': the first face seen in The Player is the Bloodsport love interest.
“Von Dom's love interest in Bloodsport, Le Ayres, is one of the people that works for the studio.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:16:04 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career): Fred Ward → Tremors. Bill remembers a stretch where he did not know Fred Ward's name, which changed around Tremors.
“Tremors, but I forget what year that was.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:17:50 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Robert De Niro → The Player. Bill proposes De Niro in the Fred Ward part, overqualified, as the right-era move after Goodfellas and Cape Fear.
“Could he have just played the Fred Ward part for like 4 scenes.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:19:11 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Robert De Niro → Robert Altman. The hosts debate whether De Niro's preparation-heavy method fits Altman's improvisational process.
“I think that something about the way Altman works, I think, is probably counterproductive for De Niro for the way De Niro works.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:19:34 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Jennifer Jason Lee → The Player. Bill says the Bonnie part, instead of Cynthia Stevenson, has Jennifer Jason Lee written all over it; the others disagree.
“it just has Jennifer Jason Lee crying all over it.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:19:53 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): The Player → Presumed Innocent. Bill's memory of falling for Greta Scacchi in Presumed Innocent frames why he finds her Player character underwritten; Scacchi refused nudity after Presumed Innocent.
“Skocky's like, I fucking went to town on Harrison Ford and presumed innocent.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:22:18 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Cynthia Stevenson → Greta Scacchi. Altman cast Stevenson as the nude counterpoint to Scacchi, who did not have a nude scene.
“She said, quote, why me? Nobody's ever asked me to be nude before. And he said, that's the reason.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:23:21 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The Player → Jean-Luc Godard. Wesley says withholding the nudity you paid to see is a Godardian frustration of the male gaze.
“it's very Godartian, that, that kind of frustration of the, of, I mean, let's just go there for 12nd.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:24:23 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Robert Altman → MASH. Altman's peak is argued as post-MASH, when he used a surprise hit to make the wild Brewster McCloud.
“he makes Brewster McLeod is the 1st movie he makes after Mesh, which is a wild movie”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:26:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): The Player → Network. In the meta-Hollywood movies discussion, Network, Argo, Tropic Thunder and Bamboozled are floated as the nearest cousins, none as acidic.
“But you have never seen a movie this acidic about, you know, the, and also involving the, the level of fit.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:27:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Gallagher → Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Wesley says Gallagher is both corporate and dad, which is why he was good in Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
“he's simultaneously so corporate and so dad.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:30:27 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
career (career): Whoopi Goldberg → Sister Act. Whoopi's 1992 peak: Ghost the year before, Sister Act the same year.
“She had a great, she had a great 1992.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:32:08 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Randall Batinkoff → School Ties. The Player, School Ties and Buffy are Batinkoff's peak trio.
“The the trio of school Taz Buffy and the player.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:32:46 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Player → Brian De Palma. The through-the-window phone call scene is called an Altman dunk on De Palma.
“It's it's like, it's a, it's a total dunk on diploma.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:33:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): The Player → Super Pumped. Bill jokes a ten-episode Netflix Player would be Super Pumped; the others say the mystery element makes binging work.
“But isn't this just called super pumped.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:37:49 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Tanner '88 → Vincent & Theo. Both made for TV and little seen at the time, now praised 30 years later; Underground Railroad may follow the same path.
“We talked about 10 or 88, and we talked about Vincent and Theo, both of which were made for TV”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:41:41 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items (26)

fun, about Popeye: Bill's first Altman movie in a theater was Popeye with his dad; it fucking sucked and he never saw another after that.
“But the 1st album movie I saw in the theater was Popeye.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:11:22 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Popeye: Wesley's first erotic movie memory is Popeye: the biceps, a real flesh-and-blood cartoon character, drunk and depressed cartoons somehow sexual.
“I can remember that movie being like an erotic experience for me.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:13:25 · Wesley Morris (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Altman: Wesley points to Mitchell Zuckoff's oral biography as where to start; it tells how Altman could be a terror and a menace.
“the oral biography that Mitchell Zukov did in 2009, that features a lot of stories of how he could really be a terror.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:26:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Altman: Studio offered full financing if Altman got a bigger star than Tim Robbins; he told them off and self-financed, hence Spelling Entertainment in the credits.
“Altman was offered full studio financing of the player if he had a bigger star than Tim Robbins, and Altman said, fuck you”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:30:04 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player cameos: Altman got 65 celebrities to do cameos by saying only that it was about an executive who murders a screenwriter and gets away with it.
“I only told them, I'm making a film about a studio executive who murders the screenwriter and get away, gets away with it, and they all wanted to be in it.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:30:37 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player opening shot: The 7:47 opening tracking shot took 15 takes and they used the 10th; it holds the Buck Henry Graduate II pitch and the meta quiet-on-the-set start.
“The opening scene, 7 minutes, 47 seconds, 15 takes were required.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:34:18 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player opening scene: The pitches within the opening are a Russian doll: Joan Tewkesbury and Alan Rudolph pitch, and Rudolph just directed Bruce Willis in Mortal Thoughts.
“He had just directed Bruce Willis in Mortal Thoughts the year before that.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:35:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Fred Ward: In the opening, the executive talking Touch of Evil's tracking shot then admits he never watches foreign films, never seen The Sheltering Sky.
“He's never seen sheltering sky.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:36:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Habeas Corpus (inside The Player): The pitch is no stars, an unknown cast and a depressing ending; a year later it stars Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis with a happy ending.
“Oh, my God, there's Bruce Willis.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:47:03 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Whoopi Goldberg: Whoopi's tampon scene and her mini moments: lifting the Academy Award a year after winning for Ghost, and pushing a witness to pick number 3 in the lineup.
“she picks up the Academy Award and holds it and she's like, oh, this is heavy.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:49:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Randall Batinkoff: Bill invested in Batinkoff rookie cards, certain he would be the star of his class.
“I had I had his rookie cards.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:52:53 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Brion James: The 48 Hrs. sequel making this guy the Iceman annoys Sean because it retroactively changes the first movie.
“Which is the most annoying sequel thing that has ever happened to me in a movie ever because it actually changes the way you watch the 1st 48 hours.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:55:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
fun, about Sydney Pollack: Sydney Pollack in suspenders and no shirt in Eyes Wide Shut is the text-thread photo and the energy Bill says he strives for.
“That's the energy I'm striving for in my life.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:07 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player running bit: Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis get suggested for every movie; in 2022 the hosts still say Julia Roberts for everything, and Zendaya/Chalamet/Tom Holland for now.
“I feel like it's still Julia Roberts for everything.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:58:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player: The throwaway Pasadena line is called iconic.
“Come to think of it, Pasadena is as good a place to die as anywhere is just iconic.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:50 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player: Every time Griffin Mill enters a bar, restaurant or party he is served a different brand of bottled water.
“every time Griffin Mill enters a bar restaurant or party, he orders or is served a different brand of bottled water.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:59 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Altman: A love-boat joke: an Altman movie is a deluxe Love Boat or Fantasy Island where the director is the cruise director.
“I mean, it's a deluxe love boat, right?”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:03:34 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player cast: Patrick Swayze karate moves and Jeff Daniels golfing in a surgeon gown were filmed and cut; Sean has them on his Blu-ray.
“Patrick Swayze is showing off karate moves that were filmed but cut, but apparently you can find them on Sean's Blu-ray.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:14:40 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Vincent D'Onofrio and Greta Scacchi: Six degrees: their daughter Leila George married Sean Penn, whom Tim Robbins directed in Dead Man Walking.
“They have a daughter named Leila George, who's married to Sean Penn.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:15:07 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Leah Ayres: Best that-guy winner: nobody knew the Bloodsport love interest's name.
“Nobody knows the blood sport lady's name.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:16:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Greta Scacchi: Scacchi refused nudity after Presumed Innocent, so the sex scene is shot from the neck up; Cynthia Stevenson's nude hot tub scene is the counterpoint.
“Skocky said no nudity. So that was why they filmed the sex scene from the neck up.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:22:13 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Burt Reynolds: Burt Reynolds improvised his bit knowing nothing about Griffin and still played the asshole; assholes identify assholes.
“Reynolds improvised the scene and knew nothing about Griffin, but still managed to improvise that he was an asshole.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:22:55 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Newman: Altman reportedly quoted Paul Newman on the Stevenson and Scacchi nude scenes, about not seeing the one you want to see.
“you don't get to see the tit you want to see and you get to see the ones you don't want to see.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:23:36 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
fun, about Hollywood directors dunking: A proposed spinoff podcast, Total Dunk, where each episode is one scene of a director dunking on another.
“That would be a good spinoff podcast of the rewatchables, Wesley. You hosting total dunk”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:33:32 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player: Nitpick: the LA Times has suspects and evidence of the Kahane murder by morning, only hours later; Even Tokyo Vice does not work that fast.
“Even Tokyo Vice doesn't work this fast.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:34:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Player memorabilia: Sean wants the M poster from Griffin's office; Wesley would want a double-breasted suit; Bill wants Whoopi's clogs.
“I mean, the M poster, the Fritz Long movie, I think, is probably like the, that's the movie I like the most that is featured.”
The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:44:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Bill Simmons (host): Loves early-90s LA-mystique movies, cameo spotting, and rewatching favorite sequences. Admits Altman's Popeye turned him off as a kid and he loves Striking Distance and Sarah Jessica Parker. Can't connect with Greta Scacchi's character and says Scacchi is not that good here.
Sean Fennessey (host): Altman is in his top five favorite filmmakers and he knows the filmography cold, from Tanner '88 to Cookie's Fortune. He's a sucker for Carver and Blu-ray collecting and defends Greta Scacchi. He has little patience for TV-style stretches of an asshole.
Wesley Morris (guest): Brings theory and cultural reading: Altman's improvisation and ensemble, Godardian male gaze, how Japan is used in 80s and 90s movies. He's a sucker for Popeye, Whoopi's scenes, and the Underground Railroad. Skeptical of studio stewardship of art.

The show's recurring bits

Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Sean Fantasy, Sarah (0:03:09) = Sean Fennessey
Matt Bellanie = Matt Belloni (ad read)
Michael Tolkien = Michael Tolkin
Greta Skocky / Scotchi = Greta Scacchi
Vincent DiNaprio / DiNofrio = Vincent D'Onofrio
Brian James = Brion James; 'Joel Robinson' in the studio-head line is unclear
Randall Battenkoff / Batenkoff = Randall Batinkoff
Dion Waiters (award, 0:46:05, 1:18:12) = probably the Dianne Wiest Award (guess)
Joey pants award = Joe Pantoliano award
Le Ayres = Leah Ayres
Penelope Spherest = Penelope Spheeris
Mitchell Zukov = Mitchell Zuckoff
Raj 4 stars (0:32:11) = probably Roger Ebert's review (guess)
Spenders in eyes wide shutters = Sydney Pollack's suspenders in Eyes Wide Shut
Terry Garr = Teri Garr; D. Wallace Stone = Dee Wallace Stone; Ronnie Blakely = Ronee Blakley
Nina Van Palant = Nina van Pallandt; Susan Sarian = Susan Sarandon; Spacetec = Sissy Spacek
Rowdy Harrington = Rowdy Herrington; Mary McDonald = Mary McDonnell; Glenn Hadley = Glenne Headly; Annabelle Siora = Annabella Sciorra
Diploma (1:33:26) = De Palma
Brewster McLeod = Brewster McCloud; 10 or 88 = Tanner '88; Mesh = MASH; code = CODA
Craig Corlback = Craig Horlbeck