'Best in Show' Director Takes on Worst in Hollywood

Nov. 16, 2006 — -- The most powerful man in Hollywood is short, bald and clearly not white.

Still, the mere sight of him triggers unparalleled hysteria in Tinseltown.

His name, of course, is Oscar. And in "For Your Consideration," Christopher Guest is doing to Academy Award addicts what he did to obsessed dog lovers in "Best in Show."

Indeed, in Guest's latest mockumentary, the filmmaker explores how just the slightest inkling of a nomination can warp an actor's mind.

"I don't think people realize how powerful that is, to say to someone, 'I bet you're going to get nominated for an award,'" said Guest.

"It shows the fragility of where people are in show business. Their feet aren't on the ground."

Guest nevertheless has grounded himself with a cadre of skilled actors who can improvise much of their parts and the results have been such lauded comedies as "Waiting for Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind."

In "For Your Consideration," Guest points his lens at the awards season monster, casting himself as the crusty director of "Home for Purim," the independent film within the film that launches its stars into the realm of Oscar contention.

The wannabe winners are portrayed by Guest's go-to ensemble, including co-writer Eugene Levy who plays his lousy agent, indie staple Parker Posey as an unstable ingénue, and Catherine O'Hara as an aging leading lady who wears her Oscar dreams on her sleeve.

They are actors playing actors, familiar with the seesaw of recognition and rejection that fuels Hollywood.

"We're making fun of ourselves," O'Hara said. "It is us."

Levy admits the premise of the film has loose roots in reality. He was bit by the Oscar bug once, unable to shake preemptive murmurs he'd be nominated for his role as a zoned-out, fading folk star in 2003's "A Mighty Wind."

Posey's up-and-coming "Purim" character, Callie Webb, is intoxicated by awards season, but Posey dismisses Oscar-mania as "delusional."

"I think it's a huge escape of the real problems," she said. "It's fantasyland."