The Big Empty
Encyclopedia
The Big Empty is a 2003 science-fiction film directed and written by Steve Anderson. It stars Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...

 as a struggling actor with a bizarre request from his neighbor to deliver a suitcase that he cannot open. While there, he meets an unusual cast of characters, and starts to think this delivery might be more than it seems.

Plot

John Person (his stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

) is an out-of-work actor living in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, with a credit card debt of over $27,000. Across the hall from him lives his friend, Grace. One night, his nebbish neighbor Neely, who wears a neck brace, invades his apartment with an unusual request: deliver a large blue suitcase to the truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...

 of Baker, California
Baker, California
Baker is a census-designated place located in San Bernardino County, California, USA. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 735.Baker was founded as a station on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad in 1908,...

, where it will be picked up by a man named "Cowboy", for which he will be given $25,000. John is also given a gun to defend the case. He initially refuses and thinks the plan is insane, but Neely has a file containing many of John's personal information, including masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

 preferences and sperm sample test results. Realizing that Neely is serious, John takes the job, but demands that his price be raised to exactly what he owes on his credit cards. Neely agrees, and John drives to Baker.

Once there, he checks into the Royal Hawaiian Motel where he meets Elron, the peppy manager, who tells him that John has just missed meeting "Cowboy", and describes him as wearing a "big, stupid black duster
Duster (clothing)
A duster is a light, loose-fitting long coat.The original dusters were full-length, light-colored canvas or linen coats worn by horsemen to protect their clothing from trail dust. These dusters were typically slit up the back to hip level for ease of wear on horseback and were the recommended...

 and a black Stetson
Stetson
Stetsons are the brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri.Stetson eventually became the world’s largest hat maker, producing over 3.3 million hats a year in a factory spread over . Today Stetson remains a family-owned concern...

". Looking for a drink, John meets the bartender Stella, and is immediately held at gunpoint by the hot-tempered Randy, who thinks John is after his girlfriend. Later that night, a young girl named Ruthie comes to John's hotel room and gives back his wallet that he dropped in the bar, and they hit it off. It will later turn out that Ruth is Randy's girlfriend.

The next day, John goes to a diner and meets Dan, who tells a lot of tall tale
Tall tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely...

s and conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...

 about what goes on in the desert. Later, John meets Ruthie outside a gas station, where he buys her some beer and Jack Daniels
Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of sour mash Tennessee whiskey that is among the world's best-selling liquors. It is known for its square bottles and black label. As of November, 2007, one blogger was claiming that it was the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee by...

 whisky, and a can of whipped cream "for later". Then, they drive out to "Devil's Crest", a dry lake bed far out of town. She describes how RVs and people "disappear without a trace" out there. The two then get drunk, mostly on a mixture of Jack Daniels and whipped cream. Ruthie gets sick and faints, so John drives her home to Stella's bar.

The next day, the jealous Randy confronts John and asks what he and Ruthie did at Devil's Crest, and threatens to kill him if he even talks to Ruthie anymore. Later, at the bar, Stella reveals that she's not really Ruthie's mother; she found Ruthie wandering around the dry lake bed at Devil's Crest when she was two years old.

John goes back to the motel, and hears that he missed Cowboy again, but that Cowboy left him a package: a bowling ball bag that he's supposed to hold on to, and is not allowed to open. Neely's name is on the name tag. Back at the hotel, Grace calls John, and says that Neely was murdered, and the FBI was snooping around, asking questions. She described the murder as Neely getting shot, then beheaded, and tells him Neely's head is missing. John immediately suspects Neely's head is in the bag, but can't be sure, since he can't open the bag.

Candy, a hooker, comes into John's room, because she heard that John was meeting Cowboy. She previously had an "encounter" with Cowboy, and cautions John, because she has heard a rumor that Cowboy abducted three stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...

s from Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, and they were never seen again. She describes Cowboy's familiar black duster and Stetson, and John immediately becomes suspicious.

John soon buries the bag, and meets an FBI agent named Agent Banks at the bar, who implicates him in Neely's murder and 75 mysterious disappearances related to the town of Baker.

The next day, John finds that Randy has stolen his suitcase. He drives down to the junkyard, armed with his gun,and finds that Randy has tied Ruthie up. Randy and John have an armed standoff, but John convinces Randy to let him and Ruthie go by threatening to shoot Ruthie. Later, Ruthie comes to John's hotel room to tell him that Randy was arrested, and they make love.

The following evening, Randy points a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...

 at John, and orders him to drive out to the desert and dig a hole. After the hole is dug, Randy is about to shoot him, but Randy is instead shot by Cowboy. It's time to deliver the suitcase and the bowling bag.

Cowboy and John go back to the motel, and John finds more suitcases stacked in his room. Cowboy asks John to drive out to the dry lake bed at Devil's Crest with the suitcases, but John refuses, saying "he's done his job." Cowboy convinces John to take the suitcases by using Grace as a hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...

. John goes to Devil's Crest and meets "Bob the Indian", who tells John to arrange the suitcases in a circle, then drives away.

Soon, Cowboy arrives in an RV, with a group of travelers in blue tracksuits, similar to one Neely wore. One of the travelers is Ruthie. Cowboy opens the infamous bowling bag, and pulls out a pair of size 11 bowling shoes. He offers them to John, claiming that he will offer him a chance to "come with him" to Paradise. He refuses, so Cowboy instead gives the shoes to the barefooted Ruthie. John asks Ruthie about it, and she excitedly asks John to come with her. He declines, and then Cowboy shoots a flare
Flare (pyrotechnic)
A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...

 into the air. John blacks out.

Some time later, John wakes up, still in the middle of the desert, all alone. All the suitcases are open and empty, except for one in the middle of the circle, which is locked. Frustrated, John takes it, and walks to the highway, where Grace meets him, and says he has been missing for three days. She also has a key that Cowboy gave her, telling her that John "would know what to do with it". John opens the case, and finds the $27,000 originally promised to him.

Back in LA, Agent Banks interrogates him about what happened in Baker, which explains the 75 disappearances attributed to Cowboy. Banks says that he can't bring a story like this to the families of those who have disappeared. He then tells John that his credit card debts were already paid off with money unrelated to the $27,000, which he thinks John won in Vegas. Banks hints that he believes John's story, and John sees a band-aid
Band-Aid
Band-Aid is a brand name for Johnson & Johnson's line of adhesive bandages and related products. It has also become a genericized trademark for any adhesive bandage in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and the United States....

 on Banks' neck, similar to one that appeared on John's neck after his encounter at Devil's Crest, which related to one of the conspiracy theories Dan told John about.

Following all this, John and Grace are on a date at a bowling alley. Grace congratulates John for getting a supporting role in a movie, implying that John's acting prospects are becoming better. John, wearing size 11 shoes, bowls a ball down the alley, which is then shown rolling across the vast moonlit landscape of Devil's Crest. In the distance, a white flare rises.

Cast

  • Jon Favreau
    Jon Favreau
    Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...

     as John Person - An out-of-work actor, and the story's protagonist. He keeps waiting for callbacks from "promising auditions" and hangs a number of his headshots on the wall wherever he goes. He is like the story's everyman
    Everyman
    In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...

    , reacting rather seriously and deadpan to his situations. John Person is his stage name
    Stage name
    A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

    , and we never learn his real name. His favourite drink is a gin and tonic
    Gin and tonic
    A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over ice. It is usually garnished with a slice or wedge of lime, or lemon. The amount of gin varies according to taste...

    .

  • Joey Lauren Adams
    Joey Lauren Adams
    Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress who has appeared in more than thirty films. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and for her roles in View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination.-Career:She...

     as Grace - John's friend, who lives across the hall from him. She is slightly nerdy, but is cheery and supportive of John.

  • Bud Cort
    Bud Cort
    Bud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...

     as Neely - John's strange neighbor. He is stocky and squirrely, and wears a neck brace for an unknown reason (John and Grace gossip about why he is wearing it). He is the one who convinces John Person to deliver the suitcase to Baker, California. John finds him rather creepy and Neely somehow knows more than he should about John.

  • Jon Gries
    Jon Gries
    Jonathan Francis "Jon" Gries is an American actor, writer and director. He is also credited under the names Jon Francis and Jonathan Gries. He is known for his role in Napoleon Dynamite as Uncle Rico, and more recently as recurring character Roger Linus on Lost...

     as
    Elron
    - The manager of the Royal Hawaiian Motel in Baker, California. He is irritatingly peppy and offers John a complimentary hooker and comes into his motel room every morning to wake him up and offer him breakfast. John usually refuses and Elron usually sits in the room and eats them himself. Later, it's discovered that he has a steel plate in his head.

  • Daryl Hannah
    Daryl Hannah
    Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...

     as Stella - The bartender at the local bar. She is an easygoing, urbane woman who helps John out

  • Rachel Leigh Cook as Ruthie - Stella's adopted daughter. She is very tomboyish and very much a "bad girl", with a high alcohol tolerance and a heavily opinionated attitude, but she also has a sweet side: she wants to leave Baker, California to see the world, and is attracted to John's good and supportive nature.

  • Adam Beach
    Adam Beach
    Adam Ruebin Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux actor.He is best known for his roles as Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers, Dr...

     as Randy - Ruthie's boyfriend. He has an obsession with Ruthie, and reacts violently if anyone so much as looks at her. He is psychopathic and homicidal, and often threatens to kill John Person.

  • Brent Briscoe as Dan - A trucker who is always at the diner with John Person, and rambles on about conspiracy theories such as how the government is building a bullet train
    High-speed rail
    High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...

     so that "they can get people liquored up and fire them out into the desert" so they don't notice the numerous UFO sightings around Baker. A lot of his conspiracy theories turn out to offer interesting insights on the story's details.

  • Sean Bean
    Sean Bean
    Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

     as Cowboy - A mysterious person who John Person needs to deliver the suitcase to. Cowboy is only alluded to for most of the movie as "the guy with a big, black duster and black Stetson". He is a classic cowboy (despite his English accent) with a gravelly voice and tough attitude. His role, though, is much more strange: his job is to gather up people to be taken away by aliens at a "jump point" outside Baker, California.

  • Kelsey Grammer
    Kelsey Grammer
    Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...

     as Agent Banks - An FBI agent who suspects John has a role in the unusual occurrences in Baker. He has a certain fast-talking wit and grandiosity about himself, possibly for the use of "good cop
    Good cop/Bad cop
    Good cop/bad cop, known in British military circles as Mutt and Jeff and also called joint questioning and friend and foe, is a psychological tactic used for interrogation....

    " interrogation. He may also have been involved in what is going on in Baker.

  • Gary Farmer
    Gary Farmer
    - History :Farmer was born in Ohsweken, Ontario into the Cayuga nation and Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy. Farmer attended Syracuse University and Ryerson Polytechnic University, where he studied photography and film production....

     as Indian Bob - A sarcastic Native American who guides John Person to the "jump point" in the dry lake bed, instructs him what to do, and offers him homespun wisdom about making the most out of life.

  • Melora Walters
    Melora Walters
    Melora Walters is an American actress.-Personal life:Walters was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to American parents. She was partly raised there and in Holland. Walters attended high school at Lake Forest Academy-Ferry Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois...

     as
    Candy
    - A hooker who works for the motel where John Person is staying, as a complimentary service to the guests. She is a bit of an airhead, but she offers important information about Cowboy's motives.

Locations

The Big Empty was all shot on location in Los Angeles and Baker, California, which is a real town in southern California where most of the story takes place. Many of its locations are real, including the Royal Hawaiian Motel. Several landmarks in Baker are also shown, including the world's tallest thermometer
World's tallest thermometer
The world's tallest thermometer is a landmark located in Baker, California, USA.It is technically an electric sign rather than a tall thermometer. However, it exists as a tribute to the record 134 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in nearby Death Valley on July 10, 1913...

.

Production Companies

Aura Entertainment
Echo Lake Productions
North by Northwest Entertainment
Rainstorm Entertainment
Rainstorm Entertainment
Rainstorm Entertainment is an independent film development, production and sales company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.-History:Rainstorm was founded in 2002 by Steven G. Kaplan and Gregg L...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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