William Atherton

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q495487: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by Wikidata joins them to Die Hard 2, which ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey credits them on.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: The Sugarland Express (1974); The Day of the Locust (1975); Ghostbusters (1984); Die Hard 2 (1990).

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

58 Minutes (1987): 1 line

  1. lineage (source material) · through Die Hard 2 (1990), which they acted in: 58 Minutes ⇒ Die Hard 2 (the host's read). The screenplay was adapted from Walter Wager's 1987 novel with a similar plot.
    “Screenplay was adapted from Walter Wagers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:19:50 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

Manuel Noriega: 1 line

  1. lineage (real-world inspiration) · through Die Hard 2 (1990), which they acted in: Manuel Noriega ⇒ Die Hard 2 (the maker said so: the screenwriter admitted it). The writer admitted the script grabbed smoke from Iran-Contra and Manuel Noriega.
    “there's definitely some Iran Contra, kind of, they're just grabbing smoke from that whole scandal and shoehorning into this with Manuel Noriega in real life.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:20:16 · Bill Simmons (0.70 sure it was them)

Michael Ovitz: 1 line

  1. industry (super-packaging precedent) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they acted in: Michael Ovitz ⇒ Ghostbusters (the host's read). Ovitz's famous packaging example: assembling the cast, director and effects on paper and forcing studios to bid, as with Ghostbusters.
    “His famous example of this is that he puts together like Ghostbusters and goes to all of the studios and is like, like, it's on everyone's table, you know, like, start bidding.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:57:34 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they acted in: Ghostbusters ⇒ Ghostbusters: Afterlife (the host's read). Afterlife is a revival of the original series by Ivan Reitman's son, loaded with its mythology.
    “This is Jason Reitman's revivification of his father, Ivan Reitman's famed film series.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:02:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

Jason Reitman: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they acted in: Ghostbusters ⇒ Jason Reitman (the host's read). Reitman has said he wants to honor his father's franchise; Jason was on set of some of the originals.
    “Jason Reitman was on the set of some of these movies”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Pixels (2015): 1 line

  1. unmapped (tonal model) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they acted in: Ghostbusters ⇒ Pixels (the host's read). Pixels is called a Ghostbusters knockoff, with Adam Sandler trying to do Ghostbusters with Chris Columbus.
    “Hixels is Ghostbusters.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:48:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Positive K: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Die Hard 2 (1990), which they acted in: Die Hard 2 ⇒ Positive K (the host's read). Positive K's song 'I Got a Man' samples a line from Die Hard 2, so the song now brings the movie to mind.
    “And then that line got sampled on, I got a man, the positive K song. So now every time you hear that song, you hear that line from that movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:43:06 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (4) everyone in acting

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career arc): William Atherton → The Sugarland Express. He starred in Sugarland Express and people wondered if he was Robert Redford.
    “he was like the star of the Sugarland Express and everybody was like, is this guy Robert Redford?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:36:20 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (typecast jerk): William Atherton → Ghostbusters. Atherton went from Sugarland Express star to 80s shit heel in Ghostbusters and Die Hard.
    “he spent the 80s just being an absolute shit heel and like Ghostbusters and Diehards.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Die Hard 2’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:36:20 · Chris Ryan (0.55 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.