by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
Christopher Guest is a Hollywood Renaissance man. After receiving his dramatic arts training at New York City’s High School of Arts and Music and at Bard College, Guest has gone on to become an actor, a director, a writer, a musician and a composer. Best known for his hilarious, mostly ad-libbed mockumentaries, the extremely busy man recently unveiled his latest film, For Your Consideration, a noted departure from most of his previous pictures (though, admittedly, not by much). A look back at Guest’s illustrious career shows that this multi-talented artist still has plenty of tricks up his sleeves.
After a number of minor roles in films such as Death Wish, Lemmings and The Long Riders, Guest became acquainted with writer-director Rob Reiner who put him in the writer’s room with Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. The trio came up with one of the funniest films ever made: This is Spinal Tap. The mock rockumentary about a heavy-metal glam rock band was a modest success at the box office, but quickly became a cult phenomenon after it was released on home video. While Guest did not direct This is Spinal Tap, he did star in the film as Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist for the band, and played his own instruments. The role earned Guest a great deal of notoriety, particularly for his memorable lines. Guest and his fellow faux band mates would appear as those unforgettable characters many times over the years. In fact, in 1992 they released Spinal Tap: Break Like the Wind - The Videos and A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out, in 1998 the band reunited for Spinal Tap: The Final Tour and in 2000 they made the short Catching Up with Marty DiBergi for the original film’s Special Edition DVD release.
After This is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest then took to the small screen, working at Saturday Night Live as a regular guest from 1984 to 1985. More small roles in successful films like Little Shop of Horrors and The Princess Bride followed. Then, in 1989 Guest made the leap from actor/writer to director/writer with the film The Big Picture starring Kevin Bacon, J.T. Walsh, Teri Hatcher, Fran Drescher and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The independent film, a satire about what Hollywood is really like, would go on to win the Audience Award for Best Comedy at Sundance that year but ultimately succumbed to the very issues the film itself dealt with. The then head of Columbia Pictures, Dawn Steel, must have taken issue with some of the playful lampooning of studio execs because she managed to get the film the worst release deal possible. The Big Picture, a film with a prestigious award under its belt and the backing of many top critics, got a one week theatrical release and was then pulled. The movie was given a second life, however, by art house theaters around the country.
Guest’s next stab at directing came in 1996 when he wrote and directed Waiting for Guffman. The film was the first Guest-directed mockumentary and is considered by many fans to be his best work. Set in the small, mid-western town of Blaine, Missouri, the film chronicles the lives of a group of talent-less community theater actors who are hoping for their big break with the musical “Red, White and Blaine,” a play about the history of the tiny burg. Waiting for Guffman stars Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard and Bob Balaban and all of which have, over the years, signed on to each project Guest has pursued. The film was a hit with critics and was nominated for three Independent Spirit awards.
A few more years passed and in 2000 Guest released his second mockumentary Best in Show. With a nearly identical cast, the film takes a swipe at the dog show circuit. Five show dogs and their owners and trainers are followed and interviewed as they prepare for their chance at the gold in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Best in Show won a number of comedy awards in the US and abroad and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
With two hit films under his belt, Guest once again got behind the lens in 2003 with A Mighty Wind. Yet another mockumentary, the film chronicles the trials and tribulations of three different folk music acts who are coming together for the first time in years to pay tribute to a deceased music producer they all knew and loved. A Mighty Wind won a Grammy and was nominated for an Oscar and several other awards.
In April of 2005 Guest vowed that he would no longer make mockumentaries because he no longer finds them funny. True to his word, Guest’s latest film For Your Consideration is not in the same format, though it does have the same group of actors and is dripping with satire. For Your Consideration is now in theaters.
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