Bob Balaban — the only prominent American actor in the cast, who plays an American film producer — reportedly came up with
the initial idea for the film, and most of the other forms of inspiration and discipline seem actor related as well.
Though most behind - the - scenes features showcase the production process once
filming is underway, The Player gives us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of the behind - the - scenes process, where the only dreams that come true are
for the people up top — the people who feel that anyone can make a story that will entertain millions, while the lowly creators that nurtured the
initial ideas are seen as little more then expendable goods hardly worth receiving input from once the studio handlers squeeze their foots in the door, symbolically getting away with murder — the figurative death of the writer in the Hollywood production process.