Projections 10

Ever since his first journey to Hollywood in 1987, director Mike Figgis has been intrigued by the workings of The System. As he progressed from his acclaimed US debut Internal Affairs (1990), through hellish studio wrangles on Mr Jones (1994), to Oscar-laurelled success with Leaving Las Vegas (1996), Figgis always wanted to find a way to document the mores of the Hollywood system before it could swallow him whole. For Projections, he accepted an invitation to return to Los Angeles in late 1998 and create just such a document.The format is simple: a series of taped conversations with film-makers - directors, actors, writers, managers, agents. And these are real conversations - no prepared lists of questions. What emerges is a fairly dark image of an industry where money does more than talk.Mike Figgis's witnesses include: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Mickey Rourke, Nastassja Kinski, Elizabeth Shue, Salma Hayek, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jerry Bruckheimer and many more.