'' is a darkly comic, low-budget
Independent Film depicting the making of a low-budget independent film, for which
Director Tom DiCillo won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1994
Sundance Film Festival .
DiCillo got inspiration for the film from the frustrations he experienced when making the film ''
Johnny Suede '', and his long struggle to make his next intended film, ''
Box Of Moonlight ''. ''Living in Oblivion'' was rejected by all producers but the actors and friends of the director felt so strongly about the project that they financed it.
''Living in Oblivion'' is divided into three parts. The first part was shot in five days and after DiCillo realized that it was too short to be a feature and too long to be a short he expanded it into a full feature film with parts two and three.
The film follows the troubles of independent film director Nick Reve (
Steve Buscemi ) as he struggles to keep the film going in the face of a seemingly neverending series of setbacks.
It's rumoured that the pompous character Chad Palomino (played by
James LeGros ) is based on
Brad Pitt . DiCillo denies this however and says that Pitt was in fact intended to play the part but canceled because of a scheduling conflict. James LeGros (who was brought into the film by
Catherine Keener ) told the director that he based his portrayal of Chad Palomino on someone he had recently worked with on another movie (they will not say who to avoid a
Defamation Lawsuit ).
