Swimming with Sharks
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Swimming with Sharks is a 1994 black comedy/drama film, directed and written by George Huang.
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[edit] Plot
Buddy Ackerman, an influential movie mogul, hires a young executive as his assistant. Guy, who has just graduated from film school, believes that his new job is a golden opportunity. Despite warnings from Rex, the outgoing secretary, Guy remains optimistic.
Unfortunately, Buddy turns out to be an employer from hell; he treats Guy like a slave, subjects him to sadistic (and public) verbal abuse, and has him running around doing meaningless errands. Guy is humiliated and forced to bear the brunt of his insults. When Guy overhears a phone conversation between his girlfriend, Dawn, and Buddy that leads him to believe Buddy is sleeping with her, he snaps and kidnaps Buddy in order to enact some revenge.
Once in Guy's power, however, Buddy reveals for the first time a human, vulnerable side, telling a tragic story about his wife's death and revealing that he too was once a bullied assistant to powerful, tyrannical men. Guy also learns a few secrets about Dawn, and suddenly must confront what he really wants from life and what lengths he'll go to get it.
Buddy Ackerman's character was inspired by real life movie mogul Scott Rudin
[edit] Cast
- Kevin Spacey — Buddy Ackerman
- Frank Whaley — Guy
- Michelle Forbes — Dawn Lockard
- Benicio Del Toro — Rex
- T.E. Russell — Foster Kane
- Roy Dotrice — Cyrus Miles
- Matthew Flint — Manny
- Patrick Fischler — Moe
- Jerry Levine — Jack
