The ultimate ‘meta movie’, Director’s Cut is an insane, cinematic sleight of hand trick that
reflects on itself, much like the stage persona of its co-star and creator, world famous illusionist
Penn Jillette. Here, teamed with acclaimed Director Adam Rifkin, Jillette conjures a mind-bending, genre-defying movie-within-a-movie mash-up that’s part narrative thriller, part docu-
mental-case.
Director’s Cut is a dark and twisted comedy about a crazy person making a movie. The meta
film-within-a-film follows actress Missi Pyle, playing herself, and an obsessed fan, Herbert
Blount (Penn Jillette), who gains access to the set of her new cop movie by having purchased a
one line role via the film’s crowdfunding website. Herbert steals wardrobe from the set, all of the
film’s footage by hijacking the password to the production’s FTP site and eventually stalks and
kidnaps Pyle herself.
His psychotic goal is to reshoot the film in his dungeon studio, recasting himself as the romantic lead. Pyle is literally acting for her life. The end result is a mad mash-up of scenes from the real movie, outtakes, clips from other movies and the lo-fi footage delusional psycho Herbert has created. He’s even recorded a Director’s Commentary track, which plays throughout the entire film, acting as an insane narrative device… from a very unreliable narrator.
The trailer below is a total mindfreak, starting off rather mundane and by-the-numbers and then taking a sharp left turn into cloud cuckoo land. It looks crazy and awesome and bonkers–but a good bonkers. Check it out!
