"The Big Picture"

In Christopher Guest's directorial debut "The Big Picture" (Columbia, 1989) Kevin Bacon goes to see the unlikely double bill of "Tess" and the Jerry Lewis film "Hardly Working" at  the Vista Theatre, 4473 Sunset Dr. The film also features Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael McKean, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Teri Hatcher, Martin Short, Eddie Albert and June Lockhart. The cinematography was by Jeffrey Jur. 

 

 

 

A rather strange looking crowd exiting the theatre. Kevin plays an aspiring filmmaker who's having a hard time getting a deal for the film he envisions. All the execs he talks to love it... but... could he change this to... 

 

It turns out that Jennifer Jason Leigh, aspiring artist and friend of Kevin, was also at the screening. 

 

They walk east and talk about career problems. 

 

See the page about the Vista Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the building. It opened in 1923 as Bard's Hollywood.  

 

 

Ignored for his big picture, later in the film Kevin takes a gig shooting a music video for a band that Jennifer is involved with. In the background we see a lot of the Cinerama Dome, 6360 Sunset Blvd. 

 

 

The band's violist.  

 

Costumes by Jennifer's character. Yes, his head and body are supposed to look like a Pez dispenser. 

 

 

More "top of the dome" action with the band that Kevin's character has named the Pez People. Of course there's even an overhead Busby Berkeley-style shot looking down on a circular array of Pez humans.

 

 

One of the execs sees the video on TV and realizes that Kevin has something. Now they're worried that all the studios will be after him. Yes, he does get to make the film he wanted.  

 

Visit the Cinerama Dome pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building and way too many photos.

On IMDb: "The Big Picture"