'American Movie,' about a 'Blair Witch Project' that wasn't, predicted Hollywood's future
LOS ANGELES — For a tiny moment in Chris Smith's wry 1999 documentary "American Movie," Hollywood glamour seeps into the film's wintry Wisconsin gloom. On a TV set, Billy Crystal monologues at the 1997 Oscars, a broadcast that saw the likes of "Shine," "Fargo," "Secrets & Lies" and "Breaking the Waves" jockeying for major awards. "Who are you people?" Crystal cracks to a decent-sized laugh from an industry crowd unaccustomed to so much scruffy indieness.
Mark Borchardt, lank-haired, divorced and on the cusp of 30, watches from his mother's
