# Living in Oblivion

Living in Oblivion is a 1995 American independent satirical black comedy film written and directed by Tom DiCillo, and starring Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck, James LeGros and Peter Dinklage in his film debut. The film won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival for DiCillo. It received critical acclaim.

## Plot

The film is divided into three parts in which the film director, crew, and cast, are making a low-budget motion picture.

### Part one

Director Nick Reve is shooting a low-budget independent film in New York City. The catering crew is underfunded and apathetic, deciding not to replace a carton of milk on the craft service table for a week. The scene being shot is a difficult one; a young woman, Ellen, reproaches her elderly mother for not intervening when the father beat Ellen as a child. On the set, just about everything that can go wrong does go wrong; shots are spoiled because of how the mic boom is visible; the camera assistant fails to keep the shot in focus, a light gets blown which then causes Cora, the actress playing the mother, to forget her lines and Nicole, the actress playing Ellen, to become increasingly unfocused and careless. A dispirited Nick calls for a rehearsal without a camera to refresh the actors.
When Nicole berates herself for subpar acting, Cora reassures her with a gesture that reminds Nicole of a similar gesture made by her own terminally ill mother. Nicole is so upset by the memory that she turns in an unexpectedly passionate performance; Cora, startled by Nicole's sudden intensity, is equally good. Watching them, Nick repeatedly becomes enthusiastic. Unfortunately, the scene was not captured on film; cinematographer and camera operator Wolf, who has been diluting the substandard coffee with spoiled milk, was vomiting in the toilet throughout. Nick ruefully calls for another take. This time, a sudden and insistent beeping sound distracts the actors. Nobody can tell where it is coming from and Nick flies into a rage, berating everyone on the crew and cast for their inadequacies. Nick wakes up in his own bed; the beeping sound is his own alarm clock. He has dreamed the entire segment. It is 4:30 a.m. and he is due on set.

### Part two

Early the same morning, the film's lead actor Chad Palomino gets dressed in Nicole's hotel room. They have spent the night together, and Chad suggests that they might get together again later. Nicole politely declines. Chad and Nicole arrive on the set separately. Nicole's character Ellen and Chad's character Damian have been in love for years but have never admitted it, until the scene being shot on this day. Shooting the scene is made practically impossible by Chad's irregular acting. He keeps changing his mind about where to stand and continually moves to places where he is either invisible or badly lit by scenic light. Nicole gets frustrated by Chad's egomania, and when he starts to stroke her head, she briefly loses her cool and apologizes. An irritated Chad demands a private talk with Nick. He tells him that he has slept with Nicole and makes out that it was she, not he, who had wanted to continue the relationship. Desperate to keep Chad happy, Nick agrees that Nicole is very bad. Nicole overhears this conversation on the sound mixer's headphones. Pretending to be contrite, she asks Nick if they can improvise a little, but when they do so, she announces to everyone that, although she slept with Chad, she is not at all interested in him. Chad stubbornly quits the film. Relieved that he will no longer have to please Chad, Nick calls him a "Hostess Twinkie motherfucker" and a fight breaks out. Nick beats Chad senselessly and fires him. He apologizes to Nicole and confesses that he loves her. They kiss, and Nicole abruptly wakes up, still in her bed, having dreamed the entire segment.

### Part three

Later the same day, the crew is setting up for a dream sequence in which Nicole, as Ellen, stands still, while the ill-tempered dwarf actor Tito walks around her with an apple. Nick claims to have learned a lesson from his own dream: That sometimes, "you just got to roll with things." Nicole admits she had a dream with Nick in it but does not tell him what happened. Nick manages to keep up his positive attitude despite various mishaps: The smoke machine is set ablaze, and his senile mother Cora arrives on the set. However, Tito complains that his appearance in a dream sequence is cliché and leaves the set in disgust. Nick's confidence collapses, and he announces that the film is over. At that moment, his mother intervenes, grabbing the apple, moving to Tito's mark, and announcing that she is "ready". The crew scrambles to shoot the scene, and her manic performance injects fresh energy and conviction into it. Nick is delighted and decides to keep the new dream sequence, and there is a tense moment while the sound mixer records 30 seconds of room tone. The entire cast and crew manages to remain silent, and during this moment they each daydream about different things. They go on to shoot the next sequence.

## Cast

* Steve Buscemi as Nick Reve, an intense and hopeful independent film director. He is sensitive and thoughtful with actors and tries to respect the status and dignity of everyone on the set, but sometimes the frustration just gets too much. His surname 'Reve' is derived from and pronounced like the French word rêve, meaning 'dream'.
* Catherine Keener as Nicole, an actress playing the female lead in Nick's film. Nicole is secretly in love with Nick. Although he believes she is a fine actress, Nicole is fatalistic, believing that she will one day give up acting and seek work as a waitress or short order cook.
* Dermot Mulroney as Wolf, a talented but pretentious and prima donna-ish cinematographer and camera operator. He is in a relationship with Wanda, although she breaks up with him at the beginning of the third part. He is opinionated, sulky, and obstinate. His surname is Überman, as shown on the clapperboard.
* Danielle von Zerneck as Wanda, the film's First Assistant Director.
* James LeGros as Chad Palomino, the male lead in Nick's film, a major Hollywood actor appearing in a low-budget film to gain critical kudos. Chad is a selfish egomaniac. All of his suggestions about changing the blocking are in fact covert attempts to place himself in the foreground of the frame, instead of in the background. He turns out to be also a liar, admitting to Nick that he considers him a "loser" and that he only accepted the role "because I thought you were tight with Quentin Tarantino!" This character is sometimes assumed to be based on Brad Pitt, but this is not the case according to the director on the DVD commentary track.
* Rica Martens as Cora Reve, Nick's mother, who on set is both a nuisance and a savior.
* Peter Dinklage as Tito, a frustrated dwarf actor complaining about his clichéd roles.
* Michele Carlo as Nurse

## Background

DiCillo got inspiration for the film from the frustrations he experienced when making the film Johnny Suede, and his long struggle to make his next intended film, Box of Moonlight. Living in Oblivion was rejected by all producers, but the actors and friends of the director felt so strongly about the project that they financed it. Two of the producers, Michael Griffiths and Hilary Gilford, were given parts in the movie for helping to finance the film. Griffiths plays Speedo, the sound mixer; Gilford plays the unnamed Script girl.
The film is divided into three parts. The first part was shot in five days and after DiCillo realized that it was too short to be a feature and too long to be a short he expanded it into a full feature film with parts two and three. The film title was taken from the hit '80s song by synth-pop artists Anything Box.

## Reception

The film was acclaimed by critics. On the website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 86%, based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "Living in Oblivion dives into the folly of filmmaking with a sharp satire that sends up indie cinema while working as an entertaining independent picture in its own right." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 17 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
DiCillo won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival.
The American Film Institute nominated the film for its AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list.

## Home media

The 2003 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release includes a commentary by Tom DiCillo, deleted scenes and an interview with DiCillo and Buscemi. Shout! Factory released a 2-disc set Blu-ray on November 17, 2015.