Actors - The Fisher King

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	Actors - The Fisher King

The Fisher King is a movie from 1991 written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. The film starred Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer and Michael Jeter. It deals with the legend of the Fisher King from Arthurian romance.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that the film "sweeps you up on waves of humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance." Other reviewers commented on its "industrial-strength whimsy."

Plot

Jack Lucas, a cynical, arrogant shock jock talk radio host (Bridges), becomes suicidally despondent after his on-air comments inadvertently prompt a psychotic caller to commit multiple murders. Three years later he is attacked and almost set on fire, but is rescued by Parry (Williams), a crazy homeless man. Parry is on a mission to find the Holy Grail, and tries to convince Lucas to help him; Lucas is initially reluctant, but comes to feel responsible for Parry when he learns that the man's condition is a result of witnessing his wife's death at the hands of Lucas's psychotic caller.

The title refers to the legend, a form of which Parry recounts to Lucas, of the Fisher King. The legend varies, but all iterations posess three elements: the Fisher King was charged by God with guarding the Holy Grail, but later incurred some form of incapacitating physical punishment for his sin of pride, and had to wait for someone to deliver him from his suffering(usually Percival). Echoes of the legend recur throughout the film, but in a continually shifting manner, so that it sometimes appears that Lucas is Percival to Parry's Fisher King, sometimes vice versa, and sometimes that one or the other is re-enacting part of the story with another character (most obviously in Parry's self-assigned quest to obtain the Grail from the man he believes is its guardian).

Tagline: A Modern Day Tale About The Search For Love, Sanity, Ethel Merman And The Holy Grail.

Trivia

This was the first film Terry Gilliam directed in which he was not involved in writing the screenplay.
It was also Gilliam's first film not to feature any other members of Monty Python. It is ironically his second film involving the Holy Grail, the first being Monty Python and the Holy Grail
.

Awards

It won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes Ruehl) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robin Williams), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Music, Original Score and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Fisher King (film) ]

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