Bruce Robinson

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Writer-director Bruce Robinson and star Richard E. Grant, the cracked comic geniuses behind the cult favorite Withnail and I, reteamed for this diabolically dark satire of runaway capitalism in Margaret Thatcher–era England. Grant gives a virtuosically crazed performance as an ambitious advertising exec whose latest assignment—devising a campaign for a pimple cream—has him on the edge of a nervous breakdown. When he sprouts an enormous boil on his shoulder—one that not only talks but has evil ambitions of its own—a twisted battle of wills ensues. With fantastically fleshy body-horror effects and flourishes of gonzo surrealism, this tour de force of verbal jousting and physical comedy is a caustic Jekyll-and-Hyde tale for the greed-is-good 1980s.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1989
  • 94 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #120

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Peter Hannan, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New documentary featuring interviews with writer-director Bruce Robinson and actor Richard E. Grant
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns

    New illustration by Jaxon Northon

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Peter Hannan, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • New documentary featuring interviews with writer-director Bruce Robinson and actor Richard E. Grant
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns

    New illustration by Jaxon Northon
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Cast
Richard E. Grant
Bagley
Rachel Ward
Julia
Richard Wilson
Bristol
Jacqueline Tong
Penny Wheelstock
John Shrapnel
Psychiatrist
Susan Wooldridge
Monica
Credits
Director
Bruce Robinson
Written by
Bruce Robinson
Produced by
David Wimbury
Executive producer
George Harrison
Executive producer
Denis O’Brien
Coproducer
Ray Cooper
Photographed by
Peter Hannan
Original music by
David Dundas
Original music by
Rick Wentworth
Editor
Alan Strachan
Camera operator
Bob Smith
Production designer
Michael Pickwoad

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