Bowfinger is a 1999 American satirical buddy comedy film directed by Frank Oz. The film depicts a down-and-out filmmaker in Hollywood attempting to make a film on a small budget with a star who does not know that he is in the movie. It was written by Steve Martin, who also stars alongside Eddie Murphy in two roles, and Heather Graham as an ambitious would-be starlet. Bowfinger was released in the United States on August 13, 1999, to largely positive reviews, and grossed $98 million. The film is considered by many as one of Eddie Murphy's best and most underappreciated films. Plot B movie film producer Bobby Bowfinger has been saving up to direct a movie since he was ten years old—he now has $2,184 to pay for production costs. He has a script ("Chubby Rain") penned by an accountant, Afrim, and a camera operator, Dave, with access to studio-owned equipment. Bowfinger then lines up several actors who are hungry for work, along with a crowd of illegal Mexican immigrants for a camera crew; the only other thing he needs is access to a studio in order to distribute his masterwork. He extracts a promise from a high-ranking Universal Pictures executive, Jerry Renfro, that Universal will distribute the film if it includes currently-hot action star Kit Ramsey. Ramsey—a pompous, neurotic, and paranoid actor—refuses, so Bowfinger constructs a plan to covertly film all of Ramsey's scenes without his knowledge. The actors, told that Ramsey is method acting and will not be interacting with them outside of their scenes, walk up to Ramsey in public and recite their lines while hidden cameras catch Ramsey's confused reactions. The plan goes well at first: Ramsey (who is a member of an organization called MindHead) swallows the movie's alien invasion premise and believes he is genuinely being stalked by aliens, resulting in an exceptionally genuine and intense performance. However, the strain on his already-precarious mental state leads him to go into hiding in order to maintain his sanity, stalling the film's production. Bowfinger resorts to hiring a Ramsey lookalike named Jiff. Jiff is unassuming, amiable and very naive. For a shot, Bowfinger persuades him to run across a busy freeway by assuring him the many cars racing by are all "stunt drivers". During a chat with the other cast members, Jiff reveals that he is Kit's twin brother, explaining the likeness. Using this new knowledge,