Live! (2007 film)
Encyclopedia
Live! is a 2007 film
directed and written by Bill Guttentag
and starring Eva Mendes
, David Krumholtz
, and Andre Braugher
. It was released in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival
.
) develops what she hopes will become the most watched television show of all time, the ultimate game show called Live! where six contestants play Russian roulette
with a revolver
with six chambers loaded with one live cartridge
and five dummy cartridges. During the show, after the cylinder
is randomly turned, the six will fire the gun one by one pointed at their head, without intermediate extra turning of the cylinder, until one is killed. Thus this will happen anyway. At first the idea is to go give all six contestants $1,000,000 each, but, while there are more applicants at the auditions than expected, they are suicidal people. This is not desired, the contestants should want to live; therefore the prize is raised to $5,000,000 each for the surviving contestants, while the family of the killed contestant does not get any prize. Also contestants who do not have to pull the trigger because one is killed before it has been their turn get the prize.
As the TV Executive struggles to overcome the challenges by the Federal Communications Commission
, her network, and the show's advertisers, a documentary filmmaker (David Krumholtz
) films every detail of her glamorous, high powered life. The documentary filmmaker becomes involved in the making of the show by creating biographical segments about the contestants, who are Byron (Rob Brown
), a young, struggling writer; Brad (Eric Lively
), extreme sport
s star; Rick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan
), a man who had to spend much on medical bills for his young son and is now trying to save his family's farm; Jewel (Katie Cassidy
), an aspiring actress; Abalone (Monet Mazur
), a former super model turned performance artist; and Pablo (Jay Hernandez
), a young gay Mexican immigrant determined to help his family .
Jewel is first, Pablo next, both are unharmed. Next is Abalone; before pulling the trigger with the gun pointed at herself she does a performance in which she frightens others by pointing the gun at them; she is also unharmed, but plays falling dead. The fourth is Byron, also unharmed. Brad is fifth and kills himself. Katy is shocked and feels guilty, and goes to the bathroom to throw up. The body is quickly removed off-camera. Rick, who would be sixth wins the prize without having to pull the trigger. After that, during the after-show press gang, a man comes forward with another gun and kills Katy. The network claims the murder is unrelated to the theme of the show. Apart from the murder the show is a success. It has become an annual broadcast.
This film shares similarities with independent film Series 7: The Contenders
.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed and written by Bill Guttentag
Bill Guttentag
Bill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar winning documentary and feature film writer-producer-director.-Career:In 1988, Guttentag won an Oscar for Best Documentary with his HBO film "You Don't Have to Die," telling the story of one boy's battle against cancer...
and starring Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
, David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
, and Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
. It was released in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
.
Plot
Television executive Katy (Eva MendesEva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
) develops what she hopes will become the most watched television show of all time, the ultimate game show called Live! where six contestants play Russian roulette
Russian roulette
Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger...
with a revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
with six chambers loaded with one live cartridge
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
and five dummy cartridges. During the show, after the cylinder
Cylinder (firearms)
In firearms terminology, the Cylinder refers to the cylindrical, rotating part of a revolver containing multiple cartridge chambers. The cylinder revolves around a central axis in the revolver to bring each individual chamber into alignment with the barrel for firing...
is randomly turned, the six will fire the gun one by one pointed at their head, without intermediate extra turning of the cylinder, until one is killed. Thus this will happen anyway. At first the idea is to go give all six contestants $1,000,000 each, but, while there are more applicants at the auditions than expected, they are suicidal people. This is not desired, the contestants should want to live; therefore the prize is raised to $5,000,000 each for the surviving contestants, while the family of the killed contestant does not get any prize. Also contestants who do not have to pull the trigger because one is killed before it has been their turn get the prize.
As the TV Executive struggles to overcome the challenges by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
, her network, and the show's advertisers, a documentary filmmaker (David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
) films every detail of her glamorous, high powered life. The documentary filmmaker becomes involved in the making of the show by creating biographical segments about the contestants, who are Byron (Rob Brown
Rob Brown (actor)
Rob Brown is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Finding Forrester , Coach Carter , Take the Lead , The Express , and currently stars in the HBO series Treme.-Personal life:...
), a young, struggling writer; Brad (Eric Lively
Eric Lively
Eric Lawrence Lively is an American actor. He played the role Nick Larson in The Butterfly Effect 2.-Early life:Lively was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He has a sister, actress Blake Lively, half-sisters actresses Lori Lively and Robyn Lively and a half-brother, Jason Lively, who played Rusty in...
), extreme sport
Extreme sport
An extreme sport is a popular term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger...
s star; Rick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen....
), a man who had to spend much on medical bills for his young son and is now trying to save his family's farm; Jewel (Katie Cassidy
Katie Cassidy
Katherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming...
), an aspiring actress; Abalone (Monet Mazur
Monet Mazur
Monet Happy Mazur is an American actress, model and musician.-Personal life:Mazur was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Ruby Mazur, an illustrator who has worked in the record industry and at one time was the manager of Billy Joel. Mazur has four siblings: Nicholas, Cézanne, Matisse...
), a former super model turned performance artist; and Pablo (Jay Hernandez
Jay Hernandez
Javier Manuel "Jay" Hernandez, Jr. is an American actor.-Early life and career:Hernandez was born in Montebello, California, the son of Isis , a secretary and accountant, and Javier Hernandez, Sr., a mechanic. He has a younger sister, Amelia, and two older brothers, Michael and Gabriel. Hernandez...
), a young gay Mexican immigrant determined to help his family .
Jewel is first, Pablo next, both are unharmed. Next is Abalone; before pulling the trigger with the gun pointed at herself she does a performance in which she frightens others by pointing the gun at them; she is also unharmed, but plays falling dead. The fourth is Byron, also unharmed. Brad is fifth and kills himself. Katy is shocked and feels guilty, and goes to the bathroom to throw up. The body is quickly removed off-camera. Rick, who would be sixth wins the prize without having to pull the trigger. After that, during the after-show press gang, a man comes forward with another gun and kills Katy. The network claims the murder is unrelated to the theme of the show. Apart from the murder the show is a success. It has become an annual broadcast.
This film shares similarities with independent film Series 7: The Contenders
Series 7: The Contenders
Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill...
.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Eva Mendes Eva Mendes Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood... |
Katy |
| David Krumholtz David Krumholtz David Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas... |
Rex |
| Rob Brown Rob Brown (actor) Rob Brown is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Finding Forrester , Coach Carter , Take the Lead , The Express , and currently stars in the HBO series Treme.-Personal life:... |
Byron |
| Katie Cassidy Katie Cassidy Katherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy is an American actress who has performed in The CW TV series Melrose Place, Supernatural, Harper's Island, and Gossip Girl, and on the films When a Stranger Calls, Black Christmas, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Monte Carlo, and has roles in the upcoming... |
Jewel |
| Eric Lively Eric Lively Eric Lawrence Lively is an American actor. He played the role Nick Larson in The Butterfly Effect 2.-Early life:Lively was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He has a sister, actress Blake Lively, half-sisters actresses Lori Lively and Robyn Lively and a half-brother, Jason Lively, who played Rusty in... |
Brad |
| Jay Hernandez Jay Hernandez Javier Manuel "Jay" Hernandez, Jr. is an American actor.-Early life and career:Hernandez was born in Montebello, California, the son of Isis , a secretary and accountant, and Javier Hernandez, Sr., a mechanic. He has a younger sister, Amelia, and two older brothers, Michael and Gabriel. Hernandez... |
Pablo |
| Monet Mazur Monet Mazur Monet Happy Mazur is an American actress, model and musician.-Personal life:Mazur was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Ruby Mazur, an illustrator who has worked in the record industry and at one time was the manager of Billy Joel. Mazur has four siblings: Nicholas, Cézanne, Matisse... |
Abalone |
| Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen.... |
Rick |
| Andre Braugher Andre Braugher Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr... |
Don |