Breakfast of Champions

Another "food" film that has nothing to do with food:

Waitress: Breakfast of Champions!
Hoover: You said that the last time you brought me my martini.
Waitress: I say it every time I serve a martini, Mr. Hoover.
Hoover: Oh, that’s probably why God invented these little small towns, so people could keep saying the same stupid jokes over and over again.

Waitress: I just like to cheer people up, that’s all.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions has little if anything to do with breakfast or food of any type. It is an outrageous story about Dwayne Hoover (Willis), owner of a landmark car dealership, and his quest for the meaning of life. Simultaneously, it is the tale of Kilgore Trout (Finney), a washed up science-fiction novelist, and his search for an audience who appreciates his writing. Hoover and Trout collide in Midland City, where Trout provides Hoover with a reason to continue living, and Hoover provides Trout with a “leak” (mirror) into a younger, more beautiful existence.

Cook Lottie: Mr. Hoover! Breakfast of champions! (calling up to Hoover, who is about to “eat” a bullet for breakfast) Breakfast of champions, Mr. Hoover! (serving a plate of pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, tomatoes, and strawberries)

Hoover: Great news, people, today’s not the day.

Below: Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover and Glenne Headly as Francine Pefko.

Fun Facts
Kurt Vonnegut makes an appearance in the film as the director of the commercial for the car dealership. He also created the self-portrait hanging in Rosewater’s office and drew the illustrations featured in the opening credits and notes.

Below: Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover, with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (left) and Alan Rudolph (right).

Below: Albert Finney as Kilgore Trout.

Released (USA) May 15, 1999
Screenplay by Alan Rudolph; based on the book by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Directed by Alan Rudolph

Starring Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover, Albert Finney as Kilgore Trout, Nick Nolte as Harry Le Sabre, Barbara Hershey as Celia Hoover, Glenne Headly as Francine Pefko, Lukas Haas as George “Bunny” Hoover, Omar Epps as Wayne Hoobler, Vicki Lewis as Grace Le Sabre, Buck Henry as Fred T. Barry, Ken Hudson Campbell as Eliot Rosewater, Jake Johannsen as Bill Bailey, Will Patton as Moe the Truck Driver, Chip Zien as Andy Wojeckowzski, Owen Wilson as Monte Rapid, Alison Eastwood as Maria Maritimo, Michael Clarke Duncan as Eli, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as Commercial Director