EPMC#3: The Truman Show

[Heradel]

The Truman Show

The Truman Show is a 1998 fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone. The film chronicles the life of a man who does not know that he is living in a constructed reality soap opera, televised 24/7 to billions across the globe.
The genesis of The Truman Show started out as a spec script by Niccol. The original draft was more in tone of a science fiction thriller, with the story set in New York City. Scott Rudin purchased the script, and instantly set the project up at Paramount Pictures. Brian de Palma was in contention to direct before Weir took over, managing to make the film for $60 million against the estimated $80 million budget. Niccol rewrote the script simultaneously as the filmmakers were waiting for Carrey's schedule to be open for filming. The majority of filming took place at Seaside, Florida, a master-planned community located in the Florida Panhandle.
The film was a financial and critical success, and Paramount's marketing approach for the film was similar to Forrest Gump. The Truman Show earned numerous nominations at the 71st Academy Awards, 56th Golden Globe Awards, 52nd British Academy Film Awards and The Saturn Awards. The Truman Show has been analyzed as a thesis on Christianity, simulated reality and existentialism. Many have noted the film predicted the rise of reality television.
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show

Links:
Amazon:$8 (Collector's edition)
Netflix
IMDB

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For next week (Thread goes up Monday the 21st):
Children of Men
"Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian science fiction film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. It was loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men by Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton with help from David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. It stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Caine." — Wikipedia.
Links:
Amazon:$6 (Widescreen edition)
Netflix
IMDB

[stePH]

IMO this is when Jim Carrey started to be in good movies (I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is his best yet.)

Truman's wife is technically a prostitute.  I wonder how her friends and family see it?

[Heradel]

With this movie I've always wondered how true it's gotten. Reality TV hasn't gone to that level yet, probably because they can't legally and watching the kid grow up would get boring fast, but then I look at the Hollywood rags when I'm passing through the supermarket/newsstands and I see those celebrity kids and I wonder how different it really is. Sure, you don't see absolutely everything, but you're getting a lot of the major plot points.

IMO this is when Jim Carrey started to be in good movies (I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is his best yet.)

Agreed, it was his first good movie.

Truman's wife is technically a prostitute.  I wonder how her friends and family see it?

I'm not sure she had a family or friends. At least with the other characters they were guaranteed to get time off, but the wife pretty much always needed to be there. It seems like a role one would only take if one was lonely and desperate.

[stePH]

With this movie I've always wondered how true it's gotten. Reality TV hasn't gone to that level yet, probably because they can't legally and watching the kid grow up would get boring fast, but then I look at the Hollywood rags when I'm passing through the supermarket/newsstands and I see those celebrity kids and I wonder how different it really is. Sure, you don't see absolutely everything, but you're getting a lot of the major plot points.

It's not so far-fetched now.  I've actually watched Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List, and Paula Abdul, Anna Nicole Smith, the Kardashian sisters, the Gastineau women and others have had their own shows chronicling their day-to day life.  The only real difference from Truman is that they know they're on camera, and the coverage isn't 24/7.


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[Heradel]

It's not so far-fetched now.  I've actually watched Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List, and Paula Abdul, Anna Nicole Smith, the Kardashian sisters, the Gastineau women and others have had their own shows chronicling their day-to day life.  The only real difference from Truman is that they know they're on camera, and the coverage isn't 24/7.

I'd argue that the fact they're aware and have some element of content control makes all the difference. The tabloids will publish anything and their victims don't have control except maybe if they can allege libel or slander, but even then it gets out. I'm sure that Kathy Griffin et al have some sort of final approval of episodes, or at least the ability to break the contract, which makes it stylized reality instead of true reality.

Truman wasn't acting. The people on these reality shows know they're on camera, so they do act differently than they normally would except possibly in high-stress situations.

[sirana]

I always thought that the Truman Show is much to lighthearted to really deal with the issues it raises. Also I don't like Jim Carey even in films that I otherwise like (e.g. Eternal Sunshine).

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I remember really liking this one when it was in theaters, but haven't had time to re-view it.

Heck, I haven't had time for Metropolis yet, and it's sitting in the living room waiting. 

[Heradel]

I remember really liking this one when it was in theaters, but haven't had time to re-view it.

Heck, I haven't had time for Metropolis yet, and it's sitting in the living room waiting. 

Well, the threads will live on in perpetuity, so get to them when you get to them. I myself am about half-way through Metropolis, hopefully I'll get to it in a few days, but the last two weeks have been the kind of weeks where I barely found time to watch Galactica, so~

[Russell Nash]

Heck, I haven't had time for Metropolis yet, and it's sitting in the living room waiting. 

Same here.  It's in the little Netflix envelope staring at me.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Heck, I haven't had time for Metropolis yet, and it's sitting in the living room waiting. 

Same here.  It's in the little Netflix envelope staring at me.

Whew... update: seen it.  (I'd link to the thread, but if you care, you're probably watching it anyway.)

[Russell Nash]

I always found Jim Carrey over-rated.  Unfortunately like Tom Cruise, he got offered many scripts before they would be offered to better actors.  This means that if it's a good story, they could claim it before someone I like even got a chance to see it. 

I thought The Truman Show was an interesting idea, but he blew it for me.  With a different actor I could have really gotten into it.  As it is, I found it OK, but it's not going on my Netflix list anytime in the near future. 

[Bdoomed]

aww i love Jim Carrey!  especially in Ace Ventura

The Truman Show was a great movie, I haven't seen it in quite a while, so i should probably re-view it before posting, but, what the hell...

This movie was beautiful, pure and simple.  Especially the last scene, of course.  I gotta say the only problem I had with this movie was that it was, to begin with, vaguely plausible (disregarding laws, human rights, etc etc) but when they show his flashbacks?  How do they know what he is thinking?  it has allways bugged me...