Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The VR hotel room scene – Tom sneaking in to get files, Demi Moore's 3D avatar jump scare, and Tom almost falling off the VR cliff. 'It becomes a Star Trek movie for 5 minutes.'
• Van: The sex/harassment scene in Meredith's office – 'the hottest non-nude sex scene ever.'
• Other contenders: Dennis Miller on the double date blowing Douglas's cover, the wife confrontation, both sexual harassment depositions, the escalator scene, the stockholder meeting showdown.

• Dennis Miller's comedic performance – Michael Crichton wrote the role specifically for him.
• Wosny: The corporate culture portrayal, particularly Dylan Baker's Philip Blackburn as the soulless corporate automaton.
• Van: The consent conversation – 'verbatim the conversations we ended up having' during Me Too.
• The movie's prediction of white male angst and identitarian politics – Tom yelling 'I'm that evil white straight male' predicts current cultural discourse.
• Demi Moore's entrances, especially the elevator scene ('Going down').

• CD-ROMs being a crucial plot point.
• The Donald Sutherland trying-to-kiss-Tom nightmare dream sequence.
• The full-circle moment at the end where the assistant slaps Douglas on the butt.
• 'A. Friend' being the secret ally reveal (Arthur Friend).
• The Sonics reference (bittersweet for Seattle).

• Bill: Michael Douglas wins it multiple times.
• Wosny: Donald Sutherland – the scene where he talks about crushing Tom.
• Van: Dylan Baker – 'so smarmy from the moment he steps into frame.'

• Bill: The escalator scene – they have the tape, riding up, and Demi Moore senses something is wrong.
• Wosny: Meredith's first appearance – just a shot of her shoes, then Michael Douglas looking down, then she's revealed.

• Bill: The sexual harassment plot being unnecessary to the corporate intrigue – could have just blamed him for the CD-ROMs from the start.
• Van: The wife character – doesn't add enough, vacillates, not in Demi Moore's league.

• Bill: Demi Moore's two best roles ever are 'St. Elmo's Fire' and this movie.
• Wosny: Michael Douglas, not Frank Sinatra, is actually the coolest man who's ever lived.
• Van: Douglas is 'a stone cold freak in real life' – that's why he's so convincing in these roles.

• Annette Bening was set to play Meredith but got pregnant and dropped out.
• Demi Moore got the part over Geena Davis and Michelle Pfeiffer.
• Milos Forman was originally attached to direct.

• Bill: David Fincher – 'in Fincher's hands this movie is one of the great 90s movies.' The Game was only 3 years later.
• Wosny: Brian De Palma – would have been freakier, more sex.

• Dylan Baker as Phil Blackburn.
• Bill: Dennis Miller – not quite in it enough, but every time he appears he's 'throwing sliders.'

• Demi Moore: Debated – could be this (peak bankability, leads to record $12M salary for Striptease), or 'Indecent Proposal', or Ghost.
• Sexual harassment movies: Yes.
• Dennis Miller as actor: Yes (this plus The Net).
• 1991 Pahlmeyer wine: Definitely.
• Seattle as a city: Strong candidate – Singles, Sonics with Kemp and GP, Ken Griffey Jr., Starbucks starting.

• Meredith would not have failed to make sure the phone was hung up.
• The legal proceedings start in 24 hours with a lawyer and judge ready to roll; the entire case adjudicated in one week.
• Both parties still working in the same office during the case.
• The settlement offer of $100,000 + his job back seems absurdly low – Bill: 'I'm going for like 5-6 million.'

Van and Bill: Demi Moore. Wosny: Barry Levinson – admires his boldness in tackling 5-6 weighty topics at once.

• Van: Don't give your boss a shoulder rub; nothing good can come of the 7 PM glass of wine.
• Wosny: Dennis Miller's line – '10 years from now you're going to need a forklift to get a hard-on.'

• Bill: The Net (1995) – 'here's what we thought the Internet was going to be like in 1994.'
• Wosny: 'Enemy of the State'. Van: The Game.