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5.6/10
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A successful playwright falls in love with his new actress Hilary (Thandie Newton) and, in an attempt to leave his wife Elena (Anna Galiena) without incident, recruits a handsome Hollywood a... Read allA successful playwright falls in love with his new actress Hilary (Thandie Newton) and, in an attempt to leave his wife Elena (Anna Galiena) without incident, recruits a handsome Hollywood actor (Jon Bon Jovi) to seduce her.A successful playwright falls in love with his new actress Hilary (Thandie Newton) and, in an attempt to leave his wife Elena (Anna Galiena) without incident, recruits a handsome Hollywood actor (Jon Bon Jovi) to seduce her.
Thandiwe Newton
- Hilary Rule
- (as Thandie Newton)
Danny Worters
- Danny Webb
- (as Daniel Worters)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
The Leading Man cast Jon Bon Jovi as a charming seducer willing to help a friend
for consideration. Bon Jovi was looking to spread his wings a little and try
straight acting like Crosby and Sinatra did as the best examples of singers who
expanded their careers.
In fact Bon Jovi is in London after suffering a discreet blacklist involving him bedding the wife of some studio executive. He's hoping to jumpstart his career again on the London stage. He's in a play that Lambert Wilson wrote, in fact in the title role of The Hit Man.
Wilson has his problems, he's falling in love with his leading lady Thandie Newton. No problem, Bon Jovi offers to nail Wilson's wife Anna Gallena for favors to be named later. It works like a charm.
I have to say that the climax which occurs at the premier of the play and the aftermath kind of fooled me. Which is the mark of a good film in my humble opinion. Bon Jovi did a good job in the lead and got good support from the other three in the foursided triangle. In fact he went above and beyond the call of duty.
Two others to note in the cast are Barry Humphries as the director and veteran actor David Warner as a veteran actor.
Looking at his credits I see Bon Jovi decided to concentrate on music, his career choice.
In fact Bon Jovi is in London after suffering a discreet blacklist involving him bedding the wife of some studio executive. He's hoping to jumpstart his career again on the London stage. He's in a play that Lambert Wilson wrote, in fact in the title role of The Hit Man.
Wilson has his problems, he's falling in love with his leading lady Thandie Newton. No problem, Bon Jovi offers to nail Wilson's wife Anna Gallena for favors to be named later. It works like a charm.
I have to say that the climax which occurs at the premier of the play and the aftermath kind of fooled me. Which is the mark of a good film in my humble opinion. Bon Jovi did a good job in the lead and got good support from the other three in the foursided triangle. In fact he went above and beyond the call of duty.
Two others to note in the cast are Barry Humphries as the director and veteran actor David Warner as a veteran actor.
Looking at his credits I see Bon Jovi decided to concentrate on music, his career choice.
Average romance drama that has a good story and adequate cast but a bad script/screenplay.Good moral lesson for men who want a misstress despite having a good wife.The movie starts very slow,has a promising middle part but ends weakly.Only for big fans of romance drama soaps and fans of the lead actors.....
The center of this film is the interesting performance of Jon Bon Jovi as a somewhat mysterious actor who is portraying a hit man in a play written by Lambert Wilson. Bon Jovi is very effective and keeps you guessing throughout. Wilson is excellent as a confused playwright half in love with an ingenue but who finds, when the chips are down, that he's not quite ready to give up his wife. With such an attractive cast and wondering about the motives of Jon Bon Jovi, the movie is quite intriguing, though draggy in parts.
This erotic thriller is quite engaging. The charming lead is a real bad boy, but I can't bring myself to hate him. I feel sorry for the victims of his manipulation.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie when I saw it at the cinema years ago. I hadn't expected much, had gone there just to see Jon Bon Jovi's performance in it but it'd be fair to say that the movie gave me more than what I'd bargained for. In the first place, it was not filled with clichés and most of the cast did a real good job through the movie. And, most of all, Robin Grange was so much fun to watch, it was a very smart pick to choose Jon Bon Jovi to play such an irresistible, charming character -if you know what I mean. All in all, the movie was surprisingly good for me and through the years I've seen it at least a dozen times and what I think of it still hasn't changed.
Did you know
- TriviaIn a 2020 interview with Vulture, Thandiwe Newton expressed her regret having appeared in this film, which was directed by John Duigan, who had groomed and abused her during the making of Flirting (1991) and had bullied her into participating. During a scene where Newton was topless, Duigan told her that the camera was framed above her breasts, and Newton was mortified to later discover that was not the case.
- GoofsThe exterior of the theatre in which the play is performed is obviously The Playhouse, Charing Cross, London but the interior is the Theatre Royal, Stratford, London.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Movie Show: Episode dated 1 June 1997 (1997)
- SoundtracksBurning Down the House
Performed by Talking Heads
Composed by David Byrne (as Byrne), Chris Frantz (as Frantz), Tina Weymouth (as Weymouth) AND Jerry Harrison (as Harrison)
- How long is The Leading Man?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $18,012
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,483
- Mar 8, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $18,012
- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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