The Thing Called Love

Infobox Film
name = The Thing Called Love


caption = Director's Cut DVD cover
director = Peter Bogdanovich
producer = John Davis
writer = Carol Heikkinen
starring = Samantha Mathis
River Phoenix
Sandra Bullock
Dermot Mulroney
music = G. Marq Roswell
cinematography = Peter James
editing = Terry Stokes
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = July 16, 1993
runtime = 116 min./120 min. (director's cut)
country = USA
language = English
budget = $14,000,000 (est.)
gross = $1,029,721 (USA)
amg_id = 1:49463
imdb_id = 0108327

"The Thing Called Love" is a Peter Bogdanovich comedy-drama movie released in 1993. The film's tagline is: "Stand by your dream."

The movie stars Samantha Mathis as Miranda Presley ("no relation," she tells people), who comes from New York City to Nashville, where she auditions at The Bluebird Cafe. She is not invited to perform, but accepts a job as a waitress. She meets and falls in love with an up-an-coming star performed by River Phoenix in one of his last roles, and befriends a less likely candidate for stardom in the quirky Linda Lue Linden, performed by Sandra Bullock.

While the movie involves a love triangle and various complications in Miranda's route to success, it is primarily a somewhat sweetened glimpse at the lives of aspiring songwriters in Nashville. A more bitter movie with the same premise is Robert Altman's "Nashville". Interestingly, both movies feature songs written by and performed by casts of actors who are not professional musicians, and were distributed by Paramount Pictures.

A "making of" documentary is available on the film's DVD release, titled "The Thing Called Love: A Look Back". [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815481/]

Plot summary

Miranda Presley is an aspiring singer/songwriter from New York City who loves country music and has decided to take her chances in Nashville, Tennessee, where she hopes to strike it big as a musician. After arriving in the Music City after a long bus ride, Miranda makes her way top the Bluebird Cafe, a local watering hole with a reputation as a showcase for new talent. The bar's owner, Lucy, takes a shine to the plucky newcomer, and gives her a job as a waitress.

Before long, Miranda has gotten to know a number of other Nashville transplants who are looking to land a gig or sell a song, including sweet and open-hearted Kyle Davidson, moody but talented James Wright, and spunky Linda Lue Linden. As the four friends struggle to find their place in the competitive Nashville music scene, both Kyle and James display a romantic interest in Miranda, but she is drawn to James in spite of his moody temperament.

Main cast

External links

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