More than a decade has passed since Griffin Mill made his murderous ascent to Hollywood power in The Player. Now, with his career stalled and only $6 million in the bank, he is, by Hollywood standards, broke. The 12-year-old daughter he sired with his then mistress (now discontented wife), Lisa, is a brat who reverts to noxious baby talk when she doesn’t get her way. His two older children hold him in cold contempt. He suffers from erectile dysfunction (his allergy to Viagra a wicked double whammy) and lusts after his ex-wife, June. In Griffin’s mind, all of Western civilization is in decline, and his fantasies feature a Pacific atoll stocked with food and weapons. Leveraging the politics of elite Los Angeles private schools (and committing manslaughter in the process), Griffin snags the attention of a voracious entertainment magnate who plucks Mill from his stagnation and taunts him into concocting a multibillion-dollar idea. Mill’s anti-heroic effort to wring love and meaning from a loveless and meaningless life is heartfelt and cynical, resulting in a powerful dark comedy that transcends the shopworn genre of Hollywood satire.
The Return of the Player
Michael Tolkin revisits his character Griffin Mill a decade after he made his murderous ascent to Hollywood power in The Player. Now, with his career stalled and only $6 million in the bank, he is, by Hollywood standards, broke. In this excerpt from The Return of the Player, Mill assesses his situation, says a prayer for guidance and forgiveness and begins to calculate his next move. Mill's anti-heroic effort to wring love and meaning from a loveless and meaningless life is heartfelt and cynical, resulting in a powerful dark comedy that transcends the shopworn genre of Hollywood satire.
