As far as Hollywood satires go, 1994’s Swimming With Sharks ranks as one of the most savage. It’s the story of an idealistic wanna-be exec (Frank Whalley) who goes to work for an abrasive, cruel mogul (Kevin Spacey), only to snap and take the man hostage. For years, it’s been considered one of the great Hollywood cautionary tales. In the twenty-eight years since it came out, Hollywood has changed in many ways but also stayed the same in the way the young are often treated as disposable by those higher up the corporate ladder than them. It’s also the post #MeToo era, and now Roku’s Swimming With Sharks seeks to reimagine this tale by gender-swapping the leads, with Kiernan Shipka and Diane Kruger playing the roles once filled by Whalley and Spacey.
Helmed by Kathleen Robertson, a noted actress (with roles on Beverly Hills 90210, the underrated Boss and more), Swimming With Sharks examines how gender dynamics may have shifted, but power dynamics more or less stay the same. Kruger’s older exec is shown to have risen to the top in a pre-MeToo era, which involved being sexually exploited by her old school boss (Donald Sutherland), but in turn, is using her power to abuse those under her. These include Shipka’s wide-eyed new assistant, but in a twist on the original, she’s not as innocent as she seems.
Kruger and Shipka sat down with me for an interesting interview a few weeks ago, with Kruger going into detail on how she was often treated poorly by execs, both male and female, in her pre-fame days. She also goes into how she’s occasionally been pigeonholed, while films like the under-seen In the Cut prove the range she’s rarely been allowed to display. For her part, Shipka talks about how cruel the business can be to the young while also weighing in on the fact that she started working on this show only days after wrapping up work on Netflix’s Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Check it out!
Swimming With Sharks is now streaming on The Roku Channel.