Cecil B. Demented is a 2000 American
black comedy film written and directed by
John Waters. The film stars
Melanie Griffith as a snobby
A-list Hollywood actress who is kidnapped by a band of
terrorist filmmakers; they force her to star in their
underground film.
Stephen Dorff stars as the eponymous character and leader of the group, with
Alicia Witt,
Adrian Grenier,
Michael Shannon and
Maggie Gyllenhaal co-starring as the rest of his gang of filmmakers. Each of the filmmakers in the film bears tattoos of various independent directors' names, including
Otto Preminger,
Kenneth Anger,
Sam Peckinpah,
David Lynch,
Herschell Gordon Lewis,
Spike Lee,
Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
Pedro Almodóvar and
Andy Warhol.