Soapdish is a 1991 comedy film which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera. It stars Sally Field as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Cathy Moriarty, Garry Marshall, Kathy Najimy, and Carrie Fisher, as well as cameo appearances by TV personalities like Leeza Gibbons, John Tesh, and Ben Stein. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the film.

Soapdish was directed by Michael Hoffman, from a screenplay by Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman. The film was produced by Aaron Spelling and Field's then-husband Alan Greisman.

Plot

Celeste Talbert (Field), the longtime star of the popular daytime drama The Sun Also Sets, is targeted by costar Montana Moorehead (Moriarty); Montana connives to supplant Celeste as the show's star by promising sexual favors to its producer, David Seton Barnes (Downey). To make the audience hate Celeste's character, Montana and David come up with a last-minute plot change in which she will accidentally kill a young, destitute deaf-mute, played by the newly-cast Lori Craven (Shue). Despite the strong objections of Head Writer Rose Schwartz (Goldberg) and Celeste herself, the scene plays out, but is interrupted by Celeste's recognition of Lori as her real-life niece. Network honcho Edmund Edwards (Marshall) sees potential in the relationship and makes Lori a regular cast member, as Celeste tries to talk her niece out of an acting career.