Swimming with Sharks (1994) on Netflix
Guy, a film school graduate, takes a job as assistant to the movie producer Buddy Ackerman, sure it is his way into Hollywood. Rex, the assistant he replaces, warns him about Buddy.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.0/1024,825 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes76%
Trailer
Plot summary
Buddy Ackerman is a powerful movie producer. Guy, a recent film school graduate, believes the assistant's job he has just been given is a golden opportunity. Rex, the outgoing assistant, has been hardened by his time under Buddy and warns Guy what the work is like. Buddy orders Guy around like a servant, insults him in front of the office and sends him on errands that have nothing to do with the job, and Guy endures it. Dawn Lockard, Guy's girlfriend, is a producer at the same company. Guy wants to climb the industry's ranks, and he regards Buddy as his only route there.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Swimming with Sharks (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer-director George Huang had worked as an assistant to Barry Josephson, then Sony Pictures' Senior Vice President of Development, and Buddy Ackerman has been said to be based on movie mogul Scott Rudin or producer Joel Silver, with Guy based on Silver's early-1990s assistant Alan Schechter.
- Swimming with Sharks gained new significance in 2017, when the Harvey Weinstein abuse cases and the MeToo movement went viral and Kevin Spacey and producer Scott Rudin faced misconduct allegations. Producer Angelina Burnett said veteran assistants treated the film as required viewing to prepare for being screamed at.
- George Huang wrote the script after a conversation with Robert Rodriguez, who told him to quit his post at Sony Pictures and write full-time. Huang had been thinking of a book called Stories from Hollywood Hell, collecting friends' stories about working for high-powered Hollywood executives.
