Call My Agent 1.5 - Typecasting

Call My Agent - Typecasting

Genre : Drama / Comedy / Satire
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer : Dominic Wilkins
Cast: Lesley Manville, Caroline Dhavernas, Rainn Wilson, Brian d'Arcy James, Gilles Marini and Elijah Wood

Plot: Right after they kicked out the bird woman out of the Jones Agency offices, the staff didn’t get the time to digest their tough meeting with their primary investor (revealed to be a loan-shark), that another client was already at their door. Andrea (Caroline Dhavernas) opens the door and welcomes Elijah Wood (Elijah Wood). Bob (Rainn Wilson) quickly turns around and starts to fanboy over Elijah Wood, who played iconic fantasy roles over the year. Bob starts to quote Lord of the Rings and Elijah plays along, clearly having fun. Wilson (Brian d’Arcy James) joins Bob in quoting The Hobbit and they both want to take pictures with him. Andrea shakes her head, disappointed that her two colleagues can’t remain professional in front of the star. Miranda (Lesley Manville) discretely taps on Miranda’s shoulder and she asks who the funny little man is. Bob heard her and he starts to scream at Miranda for calling Elijah Wood a “little man”. He’s much more than that, he’s the great Frodo Baggins who undertook the quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, so he’s not a little man. Elijah agrees, he’s much more than a little man. It looks like he wants to say something else, but he holds it off. 

Miranda replies that she doesn’t believe Elijah Wood is the star Bob and Wilson thinks she is and that she isn’t impressed by his body of work. She advices Bob to get better clients that pay better if he still wants to have a job next week. Andrea corrects Miranda and she says that Elijah is her client and that his career has brought a lot of recognition to the agency over the last few years. Bob adds that even if she doesn’t recognizes him because he doesn’t do romantic comedies, Elijah Wood is considered like a god in certain communities and he will always be Frodo Baggins in his heart. Miranda feels like she’s losing the argument and she grabs Wilson by the arm, to his obvious deception and locks herself in her office claiming that she has work to do. In confidence, she tells Wilson that she can’t even bother to think about losing an argument to Bob Hollis. Wilson asks Miranda if she feels superior and she simply answers that of course she’s superior to them, while looking down on Wilson.

Andrea says that it would be a great time for them to talk about business too, but Bob thinks otherwise and continues to have fun with Elijah Wood. Andrea talks over them and tells Elijah about the new role she got for him in the fantasy film Sweet Tooth, for Last Resort Films. She sees Elijah’s expression changes and he doesn’t have fun with Bob anymore. Bob continues to fan boy all over him just like every nerd’s dream and Elijah suddenly snaps. He says he’s tired of this, he’s tired of all this. Tired of fantasy, tired of the fanboys, tired of being typecasted, tired of being overlooked and he swears that he’s not going to make another fantasy… ever! Bob and Andrea look around, surprised and disoriented, until Wilson opens the door of Miranda’s office dramatically and climbing his desk. He, too, has a speech to make. Miranda quirks that the two little men are making big speeches. Wilson says he’s tired of being Miranda’s puppet, tired of her treating them like they’re inferior, tired of her selfish behavior, tired of her acting like a diva and tired of all them overlooking him and viewing him as a simple secretary when he’s been keeping this place running, for free, for the past few weeks and no one seemed to notice. Everyone just looks around, shocked. Elijah coughs a bit and says he’ll be leaving them now and he leaves the offices of the Jones Agency. 

Miranda took what Wilson said personally and she sends everyone home for the rest of the day. Bob asks her if she’ll be here when he comes back tomorrow and she doesn’t know. Bob offers his co-workers to go out and buy a drink, despite the fact that it’s around eleven in the morning and they accept. Bob says the tab is on him,  since he’s the only one to bring home a salary, apparently. During this time, Miranda, crying, calls her driver to come pick her up.

Andrea chose the closest bar to the office and it is the one Bob visits every night, when the others think he’s with family. The barman recognizes him, but Bob makes a sign, signaling that he doesn’t want to be bothered, but Andrea saw it, but she decides to not act or talk about it. They talk about the crazy day they just had, with the bird lady and with Elijah and… the speech. Bob wants to seriously thank Wilson for everything he does and it doesn’t get recognized enough. Andrea adds that they both have his back and of course he’s a part of the team, even if he’s not an agent. He thanks them for their honesty, but he’ll have to think about his future. He doesn’t think he wants to do this for the rest of his life, he’s thinking of pursuing other lines of work. Andrea says that’s understandable, but she doesn’t want him to leave, he’s the only one able to keep their head above water right now and the agency will close if he leaves and Bob agrees. They drink for the rest of the day before calling it a day. Andrea is seen staying at the bar to talk with the barman, asking him questions about Bob. The barman can swear on his mother’s grave that this man doesn’t have a family and he’s in here almost every night.

Back at her place, Andrea is awake, talking to her driver, François (Gilles Marini), now revealed to be her lover. She cries in his arms, saying she’s tired of them seeing her as their enemy. She just wants her inheritance and then she’ll be out of their lives. Francois says that this is her problem and she agrees.