Starring | |
Eva Mendes as Katy David Krumholtz as Rex Rob Brown as Byron Katie Cassidy as Jewel Eric Lively as Brad Jay Hernandez as Pablo Monet Mazur as Abalone Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Rick Missi Pyle as Plummy Andre Braugher as Don Jessica Collins as Starlet | |
Director | |
Bill Guttentag | |
Movie Release Date | |
Tribeca: April 28, 2007 Theater: December 1, 2009 | |
Packagers | |
Atlas Entertainment | |
Distrbuted By | |
Lionsgate Home Entertainment |
Live! is a mockumentary film that follows an ambitious TV network executive named Katy (played by Eva Mendes) trying to produce a controversial reality show where contestant play Russian Roulette (not to be confused with the 2002-03 Game Show Network/GSN original series of the same name).
Plot[]
Television executive Katy (Eva Mendes) develops what she hopes will become the most watchable television show of all time, the ultimate game show called Live! in which six contestants play Russian Roulette (not to be confused with the 2002-03 Game Show Network original/GSN series of the same name) 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. At first the idea is to give each of the six contestants $1,000,000 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 prizes.
As the TV executive struggles to overcome the challenges by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), her network, and the show's advertisers, a documentary filmmaker, Rex (David Krumholtz), films every detail of her glamorous, high-powered life. Rex becomes involved in the making of the show by creating biographical segments about the contestants. They are: Byron (Rob Brown) a young, struggling writer; Brad (Eric Lively) an extreme sports 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 supermodel 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 a gun at the host and threatening to kill him; 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 the 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.