A Prairie Home Companion (film)

A Prairie Home Companion is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Robert Altman and is his final film. The film is a fictional representation of behindthescenes activities at the longrunning public radio show of the same name. The film received mostly positive reviews and was a moderate box office success on its small budget.

A longrunning live radio show is in danger of being canceled by new owners of the company that holds both radio station WLT and the theater where the show is broadcast. The film takes place on the night of the shows last performance. The show has two visitors an angel calling herself Asphodel Virginia Madsen comes to comfort the people who work on the show and to escort one of them to the afterlife, while the Axeman Tommy Lee Jones, a representative of the new owners, arrives to judge whether the show should be canceled. He makes it clear that the show is not what he considers modern popular programming, and though he too is escorted by the angel, the show is shut down anyway. In an epilogue at the end of the film the former cast members are reunited at Mickeys Diner. Their conversation pauses as they are joined by Asphodel.To receive insurance for the shoot, Robert Altman had to hire Paul Thomas Anderson as a backup director to observe filming at all times and be prepared to take over for Altman in case of his incapacity. Using the working title The Last Show, principal photography for the film began on June 29, 2005, at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota the usual venue for the radio show. Filming ended on July 28, 2005. The film was the second major picture after North Country, starring Charlize Theron and Harrelson to be filmed in Minnesota in 2005. ........

Source: Wikipedia