Tiptoes

Tiptoes is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Bright, in what is, as of 2023, his last film. The film stars Gary Oldman, Kate Beckinsale, Patricia Arquette, and Matthew McConaughey. The film's plot revolves around an average-sized man (McConaughey) who struggles with revealing to his pregnant fiancée (Beckinsale) that his entire family are little people, as he worries that their unborn child may be born with dwarfism. The film attracted controversy for the casting of non-dwarf actor Gary Oldman as a dwarf. Oldman is also 11 years older than McConaughey, despite playing his twin brother. The film debuted in a 150-minute director's cut at Harry Knowles' Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival. Bright was fired from the film during post-production, and subsequently had his screenwriting credit removed, after the film was re-edited without his involvement. The 90 minute producers' cut screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where Bright criticized the film and the producers for re-editing it. The producers' cut went on to receive negative reviews, and in some reviews, it has been called one of the worst movies ever made. Premise Carol—a talented painter and independent woman—falls in love with Steven without knowing much about him other than he is the perfect man. But when Carol finds herself pregnant it forces Steven to expose his darkest secret—his family. Steven happens to be the only average-sized person in a family of dwarfs, including his twin brother Rolfe. Carol and Steven are then forced to come to terms with the fact that the baby she carries may be born a dwarf. This terrifies Steven, who does not want his child to suffer the same way Rolfe did. As Carol decides to carry the child, she and Steven grow further apart, and she begins to rely on Rolfe to teach her about life as a dwarf. Cast