When I think of pharmaceutical companies I usually yawn, or I think of those drug commercials that include a soothing voice listing off the endless number of terrible-sounding side effects.
Hollywood, however, is finding much to say about big pharmaceutical companies: Last week, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway signed up to play two people who fall in love thanks to a pharmaceutical company, and now there's news that Reese Witherspoon will get her own prescription drug movie.
The writers of Bad Santa have penned what sounds like a dark comedy about the drug industry titled Pharm Girl in which Witherspoon will play, "a woman who gets a job at a pharma powerhouse but begins to see the underbelly of the industry as she rises through the company's ranks."
I love Witherspoon in darker comedies (see: Election) so this sounds interesting, but I wonder why Hollywood is so drawn to stories about Big Pharma these days.
Linea
I think they are drawn to it because something like 1 in 6 people is on some kind of prescription medicine- thats a lot of folks..
1I think it's not too hard to figure out why Hollywood would want to explore the pharmaceutical world. Healthcare reform is at the top of the Obama agenda, so the faster Hollywood can start to shed light on that industry, the better the agenda will go down. People need to fear pharmaceutical companies more than they fear an overreaching government, so Hollywood is more than happy to step in. Easy peasy.
2Most Pharma Reps I know look like models or starlets anyway.
There was a film like this a few years ago, starring Katherine Heigl as a pharma rep who starts to see the industry for what it really is. The plot sounds incredibly similar
3I also think that the pharmaceutical companies are evil if not suspcious many of them are in it for money and corrupt the system. So it's really good to see some movies tackle this.
4The title's kinda lame. They should have named it "Side Effects May Include Death." Now THAT would be dark comedy.
5leslieevanhoute, it does sound like the movie Katherine Heigl was in--Side Effects. They are probably just rehashing it Hollywood-style, since I'm pretty sure side effects was a low budget, independently-produced film.
6Is this for real? I'll watch for it & believe it when I see it. If Reese plays the part, I know it will be awesome!!!!!! Go Reese!!!!!
7Bash pharmaceutical companies all you want to, but if it wasn't for them, new drugs would not come to market. It takes a lot of $ to develop and test new therapies. Do you think that the government is going to pay for this? Absolutely not.........
8Who's bashing? If I'm dying... and it's either that or death...then bring em on. But, who needs them if you're healthy? There's a time & place for everything. Brian, I think that number is really low...are you sure just 1:6?
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