By the end of the 1970s, Martin had acquired the kind of following normally reserved for
rock stars, with his tour appearances typically occurring at sold-out
arenas filled with tens of thousands of screaming fans. But unknown to his audience, stand-up comedy was "just an accident" for him. His real goal was to get into film. Martin's first film was a
short, The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977). The seven-minute long film, also featuring
Buck Henry and
Teri Garr, was written by and starred Martin. The film was nominated for an
Academy Award as
Best Short Film, Live Action. His first feature film appearance was in the musical
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where he sang
The Beatles' "
Maxwell's Silver Hammer". In 1979, Martin wrote and starred in his first full-length movie,
The Jerk, directed by
Carl Reiner. The movie was a huge success, grossing over $73 million on a budget of far less than that amount.
The success of
The Jerk opened more doors for Martin.
Stanley Kubrick met with him to discuss the possibility of Martin starring in a screwball comedy version of
Traumnovelle (Kubrick later changed his approach to the material, the result of which was 1999's
Eyes Wide Shut). Martin was
executive producer for
Domestic Life, a prime-time
television series starring
Martin Mull, and a late-night series called
Twilight Theater. It emboldened Martin to try his hand at his first serious film,
Pennies From Heaven, a movie he was anxious to do because of the desire to avoid being
typecast. To prepare for that film, Martin took acting lessons from director
Herbert Ross, and spent months learning how to
tap dance. The film was a financial failure; Martin's comment at the time was "I don't know what to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy."
Martin was in three more Reiner-directed comedies after
The Jerk:
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982,
The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and
All of Me in 1984. In 1986, Martin joined fellow
Saturday Night Live veterans
Martin Short and
Chevy Chase in
¡Three Amigos!, directed by
John Landis, and written by Martin,
Lorne Michaels, and
Randy Newman. It was originally entitled
The Three Caballeros and Martin was to be teamed with
Dan Aykroyd and
John Belushi. In 1986, Martin was in the musical
film version of the hit
off-Broadway play
Little Shop of Horrors (based on a famous
B-movie), as a
sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film also marked the first of three films teaming Martin with actor
Rick Moranis. In 1987, Martin joined comedian
John Candy in the
John Hughes movie
Planes, Trains & Automobiles. That same year, the
Cyrano de Bergerac adaptation
Roxanne, a film Martin co-wrote, won him a
Writers Guild of America award and more importantly, the recognition from
Hollywood and the public that he was more than a comedian. In 1988, he performed in the
Frank Oz comedy
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels alongside
Michael Caine.
Martin starred in the
Ron Howard film
Parenthood, with Moranis in 1989. He later met with Moranis to make the
Mafia comedy
My Blue Heaven in 1990. In 1991, Martin starred in and wrote
L.A. Story and was a member of the ensemble
existentialist tragedy
Grand Canyon that were both about life in
Los Angeles. In a serious role, Martin played a tightly wound
Hollywood film producer trying to recover from a traumatic robbery that left him injured. In contrast to the serious tone of
Grand Canyon, Martin also appeared in a remake of the comedy
Father of the Bride in 1991 (followed by a
sequel in 1995).
In
David Mamet's 1997
thriller, The Spanish Prisoner, Martin played a darker role as a wealthy stranger who takes a suspicious interest in the work of a young businessman (
Campbell Scott). In 1999, Martin and
Goldie Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970
Neil Simon comedy,
The Out-of-Towners. By 2003, Martin ranked 4th on the box office stars list, after co-starring in
Bringing Down The House and starring in
Cheaper By The Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. Both were family comedies.
In 2005, Martin wrote and starred in
Shopgirl, based on his own
novella. Martin played a wealthy businessman who strikes up a romance with a
Saks Fifth Avenue counter girl (
Claire Danes). He also starred in
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 that year. Martin's last work to date was the 2006 installment of
The Pink Panther, attempting to stand in
Peter Sellers' shoes as the bumbling
Inspector Clouseau. In 2007, he announced on his website that he would likely be starting work on the sequel later in the year.
