"Two thumbs up!"
-Ebert and Roeper
"One of the best movies of the year!"
-Roger Ebert, Ebert and Roeper
"Danny Huston has the bluff, intelligent charm of a young Orson Welles!"
-A.O. Scott, New York Times
"Danny Huston is dazzling!"
-Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
"Danny Huston has a wonderfully engaging screen presence!"
-Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
"An unexpectedly moving meditation on mortality in Hollywood. Danny Huston gives an eloquent, searing performance!"
-Stephen Farber, Movieline
BEST OF 2002 -- F.X. FEENEY:
1. Ivan’s XTC.
2. The Pianist.
3. Gangs of New York.
4. The Bourne Identity.
5. Sex & Lucia.
6. Lovely and Amazing.
7. Personal Velocity.
8. 25Th Hour.
9. Autofocus.
10. The Man From Elysian Fields.
11. The Triumph of Love.
Most Memorable Scene? That moment in Ivan’s XTC (pronounced Ivan’s Ecstasy), when superagent Ivan Beckman -- played unforgettably by Danny Huston -- has surprised himself by opening up to a pair of hookers he hired at random. He has no one else to talk to. He is literally dying behind his professionally forced smile, as the cancer he’s kept secret from the world is moving into its final stages. He catches his own reflection in a fragmented mirror and takes a quick but serious look, like a man who’s never really noticed himself before. - F.X. Feeney
ivans xtc.
Los Angeles, California. Ivan Beckman (DANNY HUSTON), the hottest young talent agent in Hollywood has been found dead. His fellow agents at Media Talent Agency scramble to cover up the ugly story. Was it drugs? Something worse? Clients must be placated, especially Don West (PETER WELLER) a gun-toting homophobic star. Ivan's funeral is disrupted as a fight breaks out between angry young director, Danny McTeague (JAMES MERENDINO), and Barry Oaks (ADAM KRENTZMAN), his agent. Danny’s contract has been terminated to prevent Don West from leaving the agency. As Ivan's coffin slides into the mausoleum wall the movie winds back in time. The audience meets Ivan and discovers how charismatic, attractive, charming and admired he was by all.
Ivan woos Danny McTeague to be his client, flatters his way into Don West's limousine and cooks up a big movie deal at a party. Ivan achieves all this without ever having read the script, as Charlotte (LISA ENOS) his ambitious girlfriend complains. The deal is about to unravel the next day, but Ivan successfully puts it together without skipping a beat. Signing superstar Don West, ranks Ivan king of the agency. In the flurry of congratulatory callers comes a telephone call of a different nature. The call is from the nurse (ALISON TAYLOR), with whom Ivan flirted and teased the previous day at his insurance medical. The Nurse asks, if Ivan can come in and see the doctor at once? She advises him to bring a friend. The news is disclosed that Ivan has a tumor in his lung and it is going to kill him. Ivan spins into a vicious cycle of drugs, girls and drugs which quickly climaxes at a chilling 'party' in a penthouse suite, presided over by Don West in full Roman Patrician purple. Ivan is celebrated as the Prince of Hollywood but is unable to confide in anyone but his therapist the truth about his fatal condition.
A fight with his sister (JOANNE DUCKMAN) and father (ROBERT GRAHAM) over Charlotte, further alienates him. Ultimately, the only people that Ivan can tell are two whores who share his drug addiction. Ivan observes the sympathy on their faces and warns them not to pity him. He threatens one day it will happen to them, their time will come. Ivan wakes screaming on his living room floor. He screams and cannot stop. Police break in and restrain him. Ivan is rushed to the hospital. He cannot breath upon and is given an emergency tracheotomy. When Ivan awakes in the recovery ward, he is breathing with a ventilator. In a delirious series of half understood visions, a parade of doctors, hospital administrators, clergy members and the continual glow of the TV screen, Ivan’s only comfort is the warm gestures made by a sensitive nurse (CAROLEEN FEENEY). The movie climaxes as Ivan reaches the moment we all fear, facing death.
Starring
Danny Huston and Peter Weller.
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