# Maps to the Stars
**Maps to the Stars** is a 2014 satirical drama film directed by [David Cronenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-cronenberg), written by [Bruce Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-wagner), about a dysfunctional Hollywood family chasing celebrity while haunted by the ghosts of its past. It competed for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where Julianne Moore won the Award for Best Actress for her role as the fading actress Havana Segrand.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | David Cronenberg; screenplay by Bruce Wagner[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) |
| Year / countries | 2014; Canada and Germany[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) |
| Runtime | 111 minutes (Cannes listing); 112 minutes on most streaming platforms[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars) |
| Main cast | Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Olivia Williams, Evan Bird, Sarah Gadon[2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars) |
| Cannes 2014 | In Competition; Award for Best Actress (Julianne Moore)[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) |
| Worldwide box office | $4,510,934, of which $350,741 (7.8%) domestic and $4,160,193 (92.2%) international[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2172584/) |
| Critical scores | Metascore 68 from 39 critic reviews; Rotten Tomatoes 62%; IMDb 6.2 from about 45,000 votes[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/maps-to-the-stars/) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars) |
| Age rating | R in the United States, for strong disturbing violence and sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some drug material[5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/maps-to-the-stars) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
The film follows several figures in the Hollywood area whose lives intersect. Havana Segrand ([Julianne Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/julianne-moore)) is a troubled actress desperate to land the leading role in a remake of the film that made her late mother a star, while being haunted by her mother's ghost, played by [Sarah Gadon](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarah-gadon) as Clarice Taggart.[6](https://time.com/3723577/maps-to-the-stars-shows-an-oscar-winners-untamed-side/) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars) The Weiss family anchors the story: Dr. Stafford Weiss ([John Cusack](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-cusack)) is a psychotherapist who has made a fortune from self-help books and counts Havana among his celebrity clients; his wife Cristina (Olivia Williams) manages the career of their son Benjie (Evan Bird), a thirteen-year-old child star just out of drug rehab.[7](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars) • [8](https://reelcanada.ca/film/maps-to-the-stars/)
The family's fragile equilibrium is disrupted by the arrival of Agatha Weiss ([Mia Wasikowska](https://www.edgepedia.org/mia-wasikowska)), Stafford and Cristina's scarred, estranged daughter, who leaves a psychiatric hospital and takes a job as Havana's assistant on the personal recommendation of her friend [Carrie Fisher](https://www.edgepedia.org/carrie-fisher), who appears as herself.[7](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars) • [9](https://dafilms.com/film/11424-maps-to-the-stars) Agatha befriends Jerome Fontana ([Robert Pattinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-pattinson)), a limo driver and aspiring actor, and the connections among the characters lead to murder and suicide as buried secrets surface.[5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/maps-to-the-stars) • [10](https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/351529850/FULL_TEXT.PDF) Benjie, meanwhile, scrambles to re-establish himself with a sequel to his franchise film, "Bad Babysitter."[11](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/david-cronenbergs-horror-portrait-of-hollywood)
The Film Society of Lincoln Center described the film as Cronenberg taking Wagner's "pitch-black Hollywood satire," chilling it down and giving it a near-tragic spin, with the loneliness of narcissism afflicting every character; his visual strategy physically isolates the characters so that their occasional violent connections carry greater force.[12](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/maps-to-the-stars/)
## Production
The screenplay by Bruce Wagner, a writer known for corrosive portrayals of Los Angeles, languished in pre-production for six years before Cronenberg could raise the funds, because no Hollywood producer wanted to back a work that portrayed Hollywood so harshly.[13](https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/soiled-sinema.pdf) The film was produced with the support of Telefilm Canada, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Harold Greenberg Fund.[14](https://www.screendaily.com/production/cronenberg-starts-maps-shoot/5058318.article)
**A Cronenberg first.** Although Cronenberg had been making features since 1969 and working with Hollywood stars since the late 1970s, Maps to the Stars was the first film he shot partly within the United States. He spent only five days directing in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, with the rest of the film shot in his native Toronto.[13](https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/soiled-sinema.pdf) • [6](https://time.com/3723577/maps-to-the-stars-shows-an-oscar-winners-untamed-side/) Cronenberg, then 71, had spent his career outside the Hollywood system, living in Toronto his entire life; he told Time that in Canada "you're not in the flood. You're in a creek coming off the flood."[6](https://time.com/3723577/maps-to-the-stars-shows-an-oscar-winners-untamed-side/)
The film reunited Cronenberg with his regular collaborators: cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, composer [Howard Shore](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-shore), editor Ronald Sanders, and production designer Carol Spier.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) Robert Pattinson had previously worked with Cronenberg on Cosmopolis (2012).[14](https://www.screendaily.com/production/cronenberg-starts-maps-shoot/5058318.article)
## Release and box office
The film premiered in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2014 and screened at the Toronto and New York film festivals later that year.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/) • [7](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars) Its earliest commercial release was in France, Italy, and the wider EMEA region on May 21, 2014, followed by Germany (September 11), the United Kingdom (September 26), and a United States theatrical release on February 27, 2015, through the domestic distributor Focus World.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2172584/)
The film earned $4,510,934 worldwide, with 92.2 percent of that total coming from international markets; France was the strongest territory at $1,679,206, while the domestic gross was $350,741 from an opening weekend of $143,422.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2172584/) In Spain it sold 44,792 admissions and grossed about 262,689 euros.[15](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=158814)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed to favorable. The film holds a Metascore of 68 ("generally favorable") based on 39 critic reviews, a Rotten Tomatoes score of 62 percent, and an IMDb rating of 6.2 from about 45,000 users.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/maps-to-the-stars/) • [2](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars) Total Film called it "a script written in venom, Cronenberg on bullish form and a cast on full power," while The Guardian praised it as "positively vivisectional in its sadism and scorn"; [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter), by contrast, found it came off "like a prank more than a coherent take on 21st century Hollywood."[16](https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/maps-to-the-stars/) Richard Brody in [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker) judged it an inside-Hollywood shock drama drawn from familiar revelations about the film business.[11](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/david-cronenbergs-horror-portrait-of-hollywood)
**Awards.** Beyond Moore's Cannes Best Actress award, the film won ten awards including two [Canadian Screen Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-screen-awards) and two prizes at Cannes, and received twenty other nominations internationally.[8](https://reelcanada.ca/film/maps-to-the-stars/) Moore was also nominated for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy at the 2015 Golden Globes.[7](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars) Time noted that Moore's performance, a manic turn as a perpetually panicked actor, contrasted with her controlled Oscar-winning role in [Still Alice](https://www.edgepedia.org/still-alice) released the same season, and quoted Cronenberg on the precarity of actresses past 40 in mainstream cinema: "After the age of 40, they're gone. The phone stops ringing."[6](https://time.com/3723577/maps-to-the-stars-shows-an-oscar-winners-untamed-side/)
## Themes and place in Cronenberg's work
The film continues Cronenberg's interest in how social systems produce pathologies. Following his indictment of capitalism in Cosmopolis, he turned to celebrity culture and its "venomous symptoms," blending satire with ghost-story elements and dark family secrets.[7](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars) A Film Comment review described the film as having the insular, airless quality of Hollywood devouring itself, while noting the Oedipal themes radiating from the intertwined fates of the disfigured Agatha and the petulant child star Benjie.[17](https://www.filmcomment.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2010s2014VOLUME-50-NUMBER-05-SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER-2014.pdf) An academic study characterizes it as a Hollywood film that renders uncanny generic expectations without becoming parodic, using framing and editing that give it an off-kilter, disturbing affect.[10](https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/351529850/FULL_TEXT.PDF) Emanuel Levy, reviewing at Cannes, observed that unlike classic films about Hollywood it was made from the outside, with no single positive or sympathetic figure in the entire text.[18](https://emanuellevy.com/review/featured-review/maps-to-the-stars-dark-hollywood-satire-one-of-cronenbergs-weakest-films/)
## References
1. [Maps to the Stars, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/maps-to-the-stars/)
2. [Maps to the Stars streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/maps-to-the-stars)
3. [Maps to the Stars, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2172584/)
4. [Maps to the Stars Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/maps-to-the-stars/)
5. [Maps to the Stars, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/maps-to-the-stars)
6. [Maps to the Stars Shows an Oscar Winner's Untamed Side, Time](https://time.com/3723577/maps-to-the-stars-shows-an-oscar-winners-untamed-side/)
7. [Maps to the Stars (2014), MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/maps-to-the-stars)
8. [Maps to the Stars, REEL CANADA](https://reelcanada.ca/film/maps-to-the-stars/)
9. [Maps to the Stars, dafilms.com](https://dafilms.com/film/11424-maps-to-the-stars)
10. [Film that distorts the expectations these actors, University of Manchester repository](https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/351529850/FULL_TEXT.PDF)
11. [David Cronenberg's Horror Portrait of Hollywood, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/david-cronenbergs-horror-portrait-of-hollywood)
12. [Maps to the Stars, Film Society of Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/maps-to-the-stars/)
13. [Maps to the Stars, Soiled Sinema (Chadnet wiki file)](https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/soiled-sinema.pdf)
14. [David Cronenberg starts Maps To The Stars shoot, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/production/cronenberg-starts-maps-shoot/5058318.article)
15. [Maps to the Stars, ICAA Film Database](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=158814)
16. [Maps to the Stars, Flicks UK (review quotes)](https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/maps-to-the-stars/)
17. [Review by Nathan L, Film Comment, September-October 2014](https://www.filmcomment.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2010s2014VOLUME-50-NUMBER-05-SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER-2014.pdf)
18. [Maps to the Stars: Dark Hollywood Satire, Emanuel Levy](https://emanuellevy.com/review/featured-review/maps-to-the-stars-dark-hollywood-satire-one-of-cronenbergs-weakest-films/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Black comedy and satire films › Released 1998 to 2024*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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