The Works of William H. Macy Trivia Quiz

Answer: State and Main

In this film, Macy plays Walt Prince, the director of a movie called "The Old Mill", whose film crew comes to shoot in the small town of Waterford, Vermont. The film has to do with all the different chaotic considerations that the director and producer have to deal with in order to get the movie made.

Answer: The Cooler

This was a critically acclaimed film, with Macy playing Bernie Lootz, a man with the unfortunate distinction of being the unluckiest man in Las Vegas. Baldwin plays a casino director named Shelly, who employs Bernie as a "cooler", a man whose extraordinary bad luck is thought to be contagious, and whose mere presence can cause the hot streaks of casino patrons to suddenly turn very cold.

Answer: Fargo

Another highly praised film, "Fargo" was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Writing for Ethan and Joel Coen. It was also listed as #84 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movies of all time. Macy plays Jerry Lundegaard, an inept used car salesman whose tragically flawed plan to extort his father-in-law of $1,000,000 goes horribly wrong.

This is the film that really put William H. Macy on the map.

Answer: Shadows and Fog

Macy had a very small role in this Woody Allen comedy. The film concerns Allen's character, Kleinman, who is awakened in the middle of the night by a number of his neighbors that are forming a citizen's vigilante group to track down a murderer stalking their neighborhood.

Answer: The Client

"The Client" stars Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon, and concerns a young boy named Mark, played by Brad Renfro, who witnesses the suicide of a mafia lawyer. The lawyer passes on sensitive information regarding the case of his current client, a mafia hit man. Mark's younger brother, Ricky, witnessed the suicide as well and went into a state of shock. Macy played the doctor that cared for him in the hospital.

Answer: Everyone's Hero

"Everyone's Hero" is a heart-warming computer animated film, detailing the thousand-mile journey of a 10 year-old baseball fan named Yankee Irving, voiced by Jake T. Austin, to retrieve Babe Ruth's famous bat, Darlin', which had been stolen from Yankee Stadium. Macy plays Lefty Maginnis, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs that stole the bat in order to induce Ruth into a hitting slump.

Answer: False

Macy was nominated in this category in 2000, but he did not win. John Malkovich won for "Being John Malkovich". In "Happy, Texas", Macy played Cappy Dent, the sheriff of the town of Happy, whose inhabitants are lead to believe that two escaped convicts, played by Jeremy Northam and Steve Zahn, are actually beauty pageant experts.

Answer: False

Macy was nominated in this category as well in 1999, also losing, this time to Bill Murray for "Rushmore". "Pleasantville" concerns two present-day teens named David and Jennifer, played by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon respectively, that are magically transported into the fictional world of "Pleasantville", a 1950's black and white sitcom akin to "Leave it to Beaver". Macy plays George Parker, the patriarch of the family at the center of the show. David and Jennifer are thrown into the roles of Bud and Mary-Sue, the Parker children.

It becomes apparent, though, that they are not playing roles and that the inhabitants of this world really believe it to be reality. David and Jennifer's 1990's sensibility begins to profoundly influence the wholesome innocence and naïveté of the citizens of Pleasantville.

Answer: Panic

This was an intriguing film, with Macy playing Alex, as a depressed and downtrodden hitman. In a therapy session, Alex confides to his therapist that he is a hitman, that he wants to quit, and is also attracted to a young woman, a 23 year-old played by Neve Campbell, that he met in the therapist's waiting room. Donald Sutherland plays Alex's father, Michael, who is also Alex's boss and doesn't want him to quit the family business.

Answer: Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman

This is the first installment in an interactive DVD series, in which the viewer uses their DVD remote control to make a choice every few minutes to determine what happens in the story, much as you would in reading the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series.

The movie concerns Benjamin, Crista, and Marco North, three siblings voiced by Frankie Muniz, Lacey Chabert, and Daryl Sabara, respectively, on a quest to rescue their uncle, Rudyard, voiced by Macy, in the Himalayan region of Nepal.

Answer: All of them

These are three of several projects Macy has co-written with Steven Schachter. Schachter and Macy were founding members of St. Nicholas Theater in Chicago, along with David Mamet. In "The Wool Cap", Macy plays Charlie Gigot, a mute superintendent in a New York apartment that becomes the reluctant guardian of a young girl named Lou. "Just a Walk in the Park" is a romantic comedy starring George Eads as Adam Willingford, a dog walker who agrees to house-sit a rich client's penthouse, and while there meets an attractive neighbor, played by Jane Krakowski.

The problem is that the neighbor believes Adam to be rich, and he isn't too anxious to correct that impression. "Door to Door" is the inspirational true story of Bill Porter, played by Macy, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy, but manages to persevere through adversity to become a sucessful door-to-door salesman.

Answer: Thank You For Smoking

"Thank You For Smoking" is an intelligent and biting satire, starring Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, the spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a tobacco lobby group whose ostensible purpose is to find a link between smoking cigarettes and health. Nick's job is to inform the public of his group's findings (funded by big tobacco, no links are ever found), and to defend smoker's rights. Macy's Senator Finistirre is the chief architect of a congressional bill that proposes adding a skull and crossbones to all cigarette packaging, and Nick goes to Washington to appear before the Senate to argue against the bill on behalf of big tobacco.

Answer: Cellular

This is a thriller starring Kim Basinger as Jennifer Martin, a woman who is kidnapped by unknown assailants and held captive in an attic. Before Jennifer is able to use a phone she finds in the attic to call for help, the main kidnapper (Jason Statham) smashes it to pieces.

She's able to tinker with the wires and components of the broken phone enough to make a call to a random number, which goes a young surfer named Ryan, played by Chris Evans, who tries to help save her. Macy plays Mooney, a police desk sergeant that takes Ryan's statement when he comes in to report the crime, and then ends up helping Ryan find Jennifer, once he's convinced his story is not a hoax.

Answer: Wag the Dog

Macy had a small part in this satire directed by Barry Levinson, playing a CIA agent named Charles Young. He appeared in one amusing scene opposite Robert De Niro's Conrad Brean, a Washington spin doctor trying to talk his way out of a tight spot with Macy's CIA agent.

Answer: Seabiscuit

Macy played Tick Tock McGlaughlin, the horse racing announcer in this true story of Seabiscuit, the undersized racehorse that persevered through the rehabilitation from a critical injury to his left leg to go on to win the Pimlico Special in 1938, as well as U.S. Horse of the Year that same year. Macy also starred in "Pleasantville", which was directed by Gary Ross as well.