The film begins with homeless young man Toby Grace (Michael Pitt) wandering through New York City bumming for change and essentially seeking a way to subside profitably when he accidentally bumps into celebrity-wannabe-photographer Les Galantine (Steve Buscemi) waiting outside a building for recording star K'Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman) as she leaves. When Toby follows Les home and asks for a warm place to sleep for the night Les agrees partly because Toby proves himself to be an honest type and also because the homeless man suggests he can function as a lackey for the photographer. Toby has a seeming value as he repairs things within his grasp like the stationary bike in Les's apartment as well as the radiator. When Les takes Toby to a club to get pictures of K'Harma, Toby is smitten with the young female singer. Les learns that hot shot actor Chuck Sirloin (Jack Gwaltney) is getting surgery on his penis and manages to scoop the photos for a local tabloid magazine. When Les takes Toby to an STD Daytime Drama Benefit, influential casting director Dana (Gina Gershon) is immediately attracted to the purity of the young man and determines to boost his career for his attention. Because of his ability to get the shots of Chuck Sirloin Les is invited to the next K'Harma concert and by chance Toby gets pulled into K'Harma's party and ends up spending the night talking with her as she bonds with his sense of stability as compared to her own sense of homelessness. K'Harma invites Toby to a party with Elvis Costello and Toby brings Les along but when Les takes photos at the party K'Harma is upset and security ejects the two men. When Les sells the photos of K'Harma to an online news site Toby goes to live with Dana who casts the homeless young man in a reality show as a homeless man and his fame is immediate causing Les to plot a revenge against the man he believes he has helped without receiving what a sense of loyalty or adequate recompense.
Who gets cast in a reality show?
Toby