THE OUTSIDER is Nicholas Jarecki's portrait of James Toback,
the notorious New York movie director. For structure,
Jarecki makes it his business to chronicle the production
of Toback's last thriller, "When Will I Be Loved," starring
Neve Campbell. But THE OUTSIDER is more than a
behind-the-scenes look at moviemaking; it's a
"behind-the-eyes" look at a forceful, magnetic personality
driven by keen intelligence, shaped by undeniable creativity,
forged by joyful narcissism, hammered by insatiable
compulsions and nurtured by many loyal, famous and
powerful friends. Like gambling on horses, ingesting
10,000 micrograms of LSD and indulging a voracious
sexual appetite, making movies is a compulsion for
Toback, something he simply must do. And it's
something he does like nobody else. Featuring
Robert Downey, Jr., Brooke Shields, Mike Tyson, Harvey Keitel,
Norman Mailer, Barry Levinson, Jim Browne, Robert Towne, Brett Ratner,
Roger Ebert, Bijou Phillips and perhaps the only on-set interview
Woody Allen has ever granted, THE OUTSIDER is far from hagiography.
But we imagine Jim's pretty happy with it.