Bogdonavitch, Platt, Shepard simularities explained in detail

ryan o neal's character is, as is now known, peter bogdonavitch.

shelly long on his first wife/collaborator polly platt.

sharon stone is cybill shepard.

and sam wanamaker's 'david kessler' character is roger corman.

now, the films of o'neal's character... the fictional films in this movie are:

AN AMERICAN ROMANCE, which is O'Neal's first movie that puts him 'on the map', is based on TARGETS. TARGETS and AN AMERICAN ROMANCE are both stories centering on 'an old man at the end of his rope', as it were. also, the Kessler/Corman character gives ONeal's character the oppurtunity to make this film "because I couldnt make it work"; as Corman gave Bogdonavitch the same oppurtunity with TARGETS, simply because Boris Karloff owed him a week's worth of shooting. and most importantly, Polly Platt co-wrote TARGETS with Bog, same as Shelly Long's character does with AMERICAN ROMANCE.

ONeal's second movie is GABRIELLE, and this makes him a big star. and he discovers Sharon Stone, and then they marry. GABRIELLE is based on THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. bogdonavitch met Cybill Shepard on this film. Polly Platt also worked on this film: as production designer.

then, the last film ONeal makes before bottoming out in hollywood is called ATLANTA. it's a time period movie and starring Sharon Stone's character. the movie totally bombs. this is based on the Bogdonavitch/Shepard film DAISY MILLER, which bombed big time, and Bog never did do a classic movie since.

also, Sharon Stone goes naked in GABRIELLE after ONeal asks her; same with Cybil Shepard in LAST PICTURE SHOW.

also, before making AN AMERICAN ROMANCE, when Kessler/Corman hires ONeal, ONeal's character is a film teacher. Bog was a film critic. Kessler hires ONeal to 'help' with his films. Corman hired Bogdonavitch (years before TARGET) to help with films such as THE WILD ANGELS and THE TERROR (which Bog later used peices of in TARGETS).

also, ONeal's character quotes Orson Welles. Bog is a big time Orson Welles expert, and was a good friend of the late maverick as well.

ryan o neal, in real life, appeared in several bog films, including PAPER MOON.

and there's a part in the movie where Rex Reed is giving a report on the news, and he says about O Neal's character "He's this generations Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Speilberg" and yes "Peter Bogdonavitch".

hope this helped.

"me winning isn't, you do" ty webb