Directed by Maria Torres, The Biggest Fan is the kind of film where you cannot understand what the motive was behind making it. Though The Biggest Fan is a comedy, it tries too hard to make the narrative socially conscious, just to make the film feel more relevant. I believe that is its biggest mistake. Either the makers should have dealt with the contemporary issues they showcased in a much more mature manner, or they shouldn’t have touched it at all. That said, you should watch the film and form your own opinion about it.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Lana get “cancelled” in Hollywood?
Lana, for the past 30 years, had been a known face in Hollywood, which is why when she was boycotted on social media, she couldn’t understand how it could have happened. Lana had been working on the sets of a show named Special Crimes, of which she had been a part for the last seven seasons. Now the director, Paul, wanted an action sequence to be shot in a certain way, but Lana wasn’t satisfied till the very end. She did 60 takes, but she wanted to do more (yeah, she was foolishly laborious). She had an argument with the director, but then she controlled her temper when she saw her fans waiting to get just a glimpse of her. One of the fans came rushing towards her to take a picture, and by mistake, Lana turned back and slapped her. It was merely a reflex action, but before she could apologize or give any sort of explanation; the incident blew out of proportion, and “#ihatelanacruz” started trending on social media. Carmen, Lana’s manager, tried to control the issue, but it spread like a wildfire. Lana was fired from her show, and for the next year, she didn’t get any sort of opportunity. No big production or A-lister wanted to work with her. Lana realized how fickle the fans could be and how uncertain the life of an artist was. One moment, she was the most loved actress in Hollywood, and in the very next she was hated by the entire nation.
What issues did Lana face on the set of the new film?
After a year, Carmen got a call from a production house that wanted to take Lana on as the lead in their project. The film was titled “Tremulous,” and it was directed by a man named Aristoteles Orozco. Now, this man was considered to be a prolific artist, though he had never made a film in the past. He had only shot 15 minutes of “Tremulous” back in the day, after which he had to stop production due to some tragedy. But after seeing those 15 minutes, the critics and the entire film fraternity believed that, had the project been completed, it would have been the perfect film. So the production started once again, and since Lana didn’t have any other projects lined up, she decided to give it a shot. Lana flew to a small village in Mexico, and she was clearly not happy with the kind of facilities she had been given there. But still, she decided to set these issues aside and focus on the film. But dealing with Aristoteles was not such an easy task. The man burned her script and told her that that was not how he went about things. Lana was briefed about her scenes just 10 minutes before they started shooting every day, and she had a hard time comprehending the scene and understanding what needed to be done. One time, Lana was 6 minutes late, and Aristoteles walked away from the set as he got mad at her. Somehow, the production had a lot of faith in Aristoteles’ abilities, and they tried to make Lana understand that he was the only one who could do justice to the subject matter of the film. Aristoteles treated the film set as a temple, and he wanted others to do the same. He had his own way of working, but this time he did go a bit extra. He was not a guy who was easy to work with, and Lana probably would have walked off the set had her career not needed a boost. But fortunately, Lana did no such thing, and somehow she managed to bear with all the eccentricities of Aristoteles that at times she found extremely foolish.
How did Polly and Lana become friends?
Lana hired a woman named Polly as her assistant, who also happened to be her biggest fan. Polly did odd jobs to sustain herself, and she met Lana for the first time when she was cleaning the pool of the facility where Lana was staying. Polly was a die-hard Lana Cruz fan, and she was ready to do whatever the woman asked of her. Polly was a slow learner, and moreover, she had never been on a film set in her life. Lana had a similar moment with Polly as she had with that anonymous fan, after which she got canceled. Polly brought some beverages for Lana, and the latter accidentally spilled it on her. Lana was already dealing with a weird man who didn’t give her any time to prepare for her role, and she had to babysit Polly all the time on top of that. By that point, Polly had been able to improve Lana’s public image and post positive content about her on social media. Polly overheard Lana speaking all sorts of bad things about her, and it almost left her in tears. She idolized Lana, whereas the latter just wanted to fire her and never see her face again. Polly was ultimately fired by the production, and after that, from being Lana’s biggest fan, she turned into her biggest hater. But things did get better between them eventually. Lana didn’t feel that she had done the right thing by getting her fired. She felt guilty, and she wanted to go and apologize to her. Polly and Lana ended up bonding with each other. Polly told Lana how she and her mother used to watch Lana’s films and shows back in the day. She said that after her illness, her mother wasn’t able to move around much, and it was Lana’s show that brought happiness into their lives. Lana, on the other hand, told Polly how strict her mother was with her. Lana had sacrificed a lot for her career, only to be canceled by her own fans. Lana said that she had sacrificed her time with her daughter to go and do stupid advertisements; she hadn’t eaten her favorite food for almost 3 decades, and yet at the end, it felt that it all amounted to nothing. Polly understood Lana’s plight, and she decided to seize the moment and call for a round of shots. Lana didn’t want to drink much, as she knew that she had to be there on the set quite early in the morning. But the inevitable happened, and Lana and Polly woke up the next day in the middle of the desert, not knowing how they had ended up there.
Was Lana Able To Revive Her Career?
The entire crew, and especially Aristoteles, was stressed out as they felt that the film would have to be shelved once again. Aristoteles tried filming the scenes just with the male protagonist, Roberto, but he just didn’t feel right about it. He knew that Lana’s presence was needed on set, and he didn’t just want to make a substandard product. Things had just started to feel right, and Aristoteles had started to appreciate Lana’s craft. She was happy too that finally they were able to understand each other.
In The Biggest Fan’s ending, Lana somehow managed to reach the set on a boat. She didn’t know how to put the brakes on, and so the boat rammed onto the pier on the shoreline and then flew into the air as if it were some kind of action sequence. But luckily, neither Lana nor Polly got hurt. Aristoteles was able to complete the film, and as expected, it was a huge success. The film did its rounds in the international film festivals, and it got applauded by critics and audience alike. All thanks to Polly and her efforts, and also Aristoteles’ conviction, Lana revived her career, and once again she became one of the most loved actresses. She was also able to mend her relationship with her daughter. Though the bad days were behind her, the tragedy taught Lana a huge lesson. She realized that she could give so much weight to what others thought. She realized that she needed to prioritize things that mattered to her so that in the end she was not left with regrets. She knew she hadn’t dedicated enough time to her daughter, Greta, and she probably would change that in the future. As for Polly, I believe she would always stay the biggest and the most loyal fan of Lana Cruzand make sure that she stood alongside her through thick and thin.
