Playmaker (also known as Private Teacher and Death Date) is a drama/mystery/thriller film starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Rubin, directed by Yuri Zeltser. The film was released in 1994. Background The film stars Colin Firth as Ross Talbert/Michael Condren and Jennifer Rubin as Jamie Harris. Others in the film included John Getz as Eddie, Jeff Perry as Allen, Arthur Taxier as Detective Chassman, Dean Norris as Detective Marconi, Belinda Waymouth as Angie and Diane Robin as Terry. Originally, producer Peter Samuelson saw two people standing on a corner holding a sign "looking for money for movie" to turn their screenplay into a feature film. Their story was used as a basic for the Playmaker screenplay. Playmaker commenced production in August 1993, many months and several re-writes after the initial screenplay was obtained by Samuelson. With the exception of a few scenes, the film was shot almost entirely in one location in Chatsworth, slightly north of Los Angeles, in a house once owned by the popular 1970s singing team Captain & Tennille. Since the film's release, Firth has expressed his dislike for the film. In an August 1994 interview for the UK newspaper The Sun, Firth stated "My son happened to be in Los Angeles at the time. It was a three-week job and it paid extremely well. It's a rather silly story about an acting coach who trains an actress by psychologically torturing her. I knew it would be complete rubbish and I sincerely hope no one ever sees it." In a 1997 interview with The Weekly News, he stated "I was desperate to see my son Will after doing six months of theatre in Britain so I said yes to the movie. But it was a terrible film and I hope it sinks without a trace." In February 1997, Firth spoke of the film again during an interview with Radio Times. He stated "If I want to buy a house, or am about to go bankrupt, and someone comes along with a hefty pay cheque for a ridiculous job, I'd do it. I've made a couple of pieces of crap, although when one is working one takes it seriously. Its embarrassing appearing in rubbish, so you con yourself it's worth while, even though the third eye knows full well it isn't. But I do have a child to support." The film remains on out-of-print VHS in America to date,