Stan Grossman (character)

Stan Grossman is a small but pivotal fictional character who has appeared in two Oscar-winning films, Fargo (1996) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006). Though played by different actors and not connected by story, the character of Stan Grossman is thematically connected to both films.

In each movie, Grossman is the go-to guy and a beacon of opportunism. In Fargo, Jerry Lundegaard devises an improbable scheme to kidnap his wife and pay the kidnappers the ransom by both bribing AND constructing a sound business deal with his wealthy father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell).

Wade's right-hand man is Stan Grossman, here played by Larry Brandenburg. Grossman isn't simply Wade's "assistant," but more of his business partner, the guy who orchestrates the transactions behind the scenes while Wade acts as the mouthpiece of the operation. Wade is almost never seen without Grossman at his side (one early scene in the film, with Wade at dinner, is one of few exceptions).

"We're not a bank, Jerry!" Grossman says after Lundegaard tries to get a $750,000 loan on a parking lot deal. Realizing the strong business potential of the deal, Gustafson and Grossman move forward without Lundegaard's involvement.

When Gustafson finds out his wife has been kidnapped, he treats the personal matter as a business transaction, with Grossman at his side. Sensing the opportunism, Grossman agrees with Lundegaard's proposal to deal with the kidnapping: stay away from the police and give into the demands of the kidnappers.

In "Little Miss Sunshine," the character is slicker and hipper and even more business savvy.

Similarities

Both "Fargo" and "Little Miss Sunshine" received Oscars for best original screenplay and were nominated in the supporting actor categories, with Fargo losing the best supporting actor race and Sunshine winning it. Both movies were directed by two people and both movies revolve around a pathetic father figure who throws his family into an improbable mess of his own creation. Both men are stuck in seemingly unhappy marriages, are distant fathers and put themselves first. And both men absolutely cannot function without Stan Grossman.

In the end of both films, Grossman emerges unscathed from the calamity around him. In Fargo, Jerry is captured by the police and Wade, Grossman's business partner, is brutally murdered, but we are left to presume that Grossman will take over the business and prosper financially. In Sunshine, Grossman orchestrates the scheme that Richard fully buys into, putting his own business self-interest ahead of the game.