Claim: Melanie Griffith performed in a movie.

Cecil B. Demented is a 2000 American black comedy film written and directed by John Waters . The film stars Melanie Griffith as a snobby A-list Hollywood actress who is kidnapped by a band of terrorist filmmakers ; they force her to star in their underground film . Stephen Dorff stars as the eponymous character and leader of the group , with Alicia Witt , Adrian Grenier , Michael Shannon , and Maggie Gyllenhaal co-starring as the rest of his gang of filmmakers , each of whom bear tattoos of various independent directors ' names , including Otto Preminger , Kenneth Anger , Sam Peckinpah , David Lynch , Herschell Gordon Lewis , Spike Lee , Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Pedro Almodóvar , and Andy Warhol .   The film , whose title -LRB- also the name of Dorff 's character -RRB- alludes to legendary director Cecil B. DeMille , is loosely based on the 1974 kidnapping of Patricia Hearst ; Hearst has a cameo role . As with all of Waters ' films , it was shot in Baltimore , Maryland . The film was given a limited theatrical release on August 11 , 2000 by Artisan Entertainment .   For her role as Honey Whitlock , Griffith was nominated for Worst Actress at the 21st Golden Raspberry Awards , where she lost to Madonna for The Next Best Thing . Despite lukewarm response from critics , the film has attained something of a cult status since its release .