There’s enough irony in all this to make a Robert Altman movie. “I’ll Do Anything” is itself a behind-the-scenes look at the machinations of movie development, from cutthroat casting to test-screening hell. Nolte plays Matt Hobbs, an unemployed actor who will “do anything” to get a part. What he gets is custody of his 6-year-old daughter, Jeannie (Whittni Wright), the kind of child who slaps herself to make everyone think she’s being beaten. She arrives as Hobbs’s career is flickering, thanks to his new girlfriend, a ladder-climbing studio exec (Joely Richardson), and a carnivorous studio chief (Albert Brooks) for whom Hobbs works as a chauffeur. When Jeannie gets cast in a TV show, it further tests a deeply troubled parent-child relationship.
Even more amazing than the parallels between on-screen and behind-the-scenes Hollywood is that Brooks has somehow pulled it all together. “I’ll Do Anything” is both wickedly funny and surprisingly touching, part “The Player” and part “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Some of the fun is guessing where frog-voiced Nolte was to sing Prince songs with frightening titles like “Be My Mirror.” But except for a few spots where the music gallops and dies abruptly, Brooks has done a miraculous job of sandpapering and spackling the holes left by the 10 songs (only King’s sweet one remains). Which brings us back to our original question: if the movie works this well a cappella, what was he thinking? “I wanted to render Hollywood and this 6-year-old emotionally. I thought the music would help me make it more real. I just made a mistake.”
But we may still get to hear Nolte Sings Prince. Danny DeVito wants to help put the music and dance numbers on laser disc. And fresh on the heels of disastrous movies-turned-Broadway-musicals like “The Red Shoes” and “The Goodbye Girl,” Brooks says he’s received several calls from producers eager to bring “Anything” to the stage. Some people never learn.
