The Kid Stays in the Picture

Robert Evans Director: Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen

Overview

Robert Evans' rise from second-string actor (who really was discovered while lounging by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel) to head of one of Hollywood's biggest movie studios is told from the viewpoint of Evans himself in this documentary, adapted from his autobiography (and featuring Evans' own narration). In 1957, Evans had already achieved success in the garment business when actress Norma Shearer spotting him at poolside and suggested he should play her late husband, legendary producer Irving Thalberg, in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces. While Evans knew he wasn't cut out to be an actor, he discovered he liked the movie business, and after becoming a film industry executive, Evans was named head of production at Paramount in the late '60s. Under Evans' leadership, Paramount produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, and The Godfather. He also married actress Ali McGraw; however, McGraw left Evans for Steve McQueen after they starred together in The Getaway. After leaving Paramount to become a producer (and racking up hits like Chinatown and Marathon Man), Evans' golden touch began to elude him; an arrest for drugs seemed to put an end to his career, until he made a comeback as a freelance producer in the 1990s on such films as Sliver and The Saint. Part of the narration for The Kid Stays in the Picture was drawn from the book-on-tape version of Robert Evans' autobiography of the same name, which featured Evans reading his own work; the audio book has developed a cult following of its own, and legend has it Dustin Hoffman based his performance in Wag The Dog on Evans' reading style on the tape.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2014
UPC:	0025192095764
Original Release:	2002
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	58,455

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Evans	Narrator,Narrator
Jeff Danna	Composer

Technical Credits

Brett Morgen

Nanette Burstein	Director,Producer
Brett Morgen	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Yorgo Alexopoulos	Special Effects
John Blair	Special Effects
Graydon Carter	Producer
Claude Letessier	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Legendary movie producer Robert Evans narrates the story of his own tumultuous career in this cinematic version of his autobiography. As a book-on-tape, The Kid Stays in the Picture became a cult favorite, thanks to Evans's hilariously over-the-top, tough-guy narration, and that same narration is also the heart of the film. A raging yet oddly appealing egomaniac, Evans recounts a life story that feels like something dreamed up by, well, Hollywood. Evans broke into showbiz by accident when Norma Shearer spotted the good-looking youngster lounging beside a Los Angeles swimming pool. By the late 1960s, after a lackluster foray into acting, Evans had turned his attention to producing and was eventually named head of Paramount. There he became a major force in the birth of the "New Hollywood," producing such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown. Meanwhile, he lived the high life and dallied with scores of beautiful women, eventually marrying Ali MacGraw. His meteoric rise was, in the best Hollywood tradition, followed by a resounding fall -- box office failure, divorce, drug addiction, murder charges, arrest for cocaine possession -- before he eventually clawed his way back into the industry as a freelance producer. As Evans talks himself up, filmmakers Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen supply the images, including dazzlingly manipulated still photos, archival footage, newspaper clippings, and a few too many tracking shots of Evans's empty mansion. Eschewing the gritty realism of their Oscar-nominated documentary On the Ropes, Burstein and Morgen surrender themselves to the sleazy charms of this Tinsletown maverick. Gossipy, funny, and immensely entertaining, The Kid Stays in the Picture is an exercise in blatant self-mythologizing, but considering the subject, it seems perfectly appropriate.