The Truman Show

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The Truman Show

Directed by	Peter Weir
Produced by	Edward S. Feldman, Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Adam Schroeder
Written by	Andrew Niccol
Starring	Jim Carrey Laura Linney Ed Harris Noah Emmerich Natascha McElhone Holland Taylor
Music by	Burkhard Dallwitz, Philip Glass
Editing by	William Anderson
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 5, 1998
Running time	103 min.
Language	English
Budget	$60,000,000
IMDb profile

The Truman Show is a 1998 movie directed by Peter Weir, written by Andrew Niccol, and starring Jim Carrey.

An exposition on freedom, free will and the human desire to experience these states even at the sacrifice of security, the film chronicles the life of a man who does not know that his entire life is a constructed reality soap opera, televised 24-hour to millions across the globe. The plot takes many ideas from Philip K. Dick's 1959 novel Time Out of Joint, as well as the 1960 Twilight Zone episode A World of Difference, and the 1968 feature The Secret Cinema (later remade as an Amazing Stories episode in 1986). Fans of the cult British 1960s television series The Prisoner have also noted a number of similarities.

Niccol was due to direct the film until Carrey was signed. It was felt that Carrey's $12 million salary was too great an investment to leave in the hands of a second-time film director, and Weir was drafted.

In October, 2002, Peter Weir revealed that real life prototype for Truman is entertainer Michael Jackson: "You watch The Truman Show and, I mean, Jim Carrey did a fantastic job, but Michael Jackson is Truman. He's who I based him on and he is the nearest thing to Truman." [1]

1 Cast
2 Synopsis
3 Soundtrack
4 Awards
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Cast

Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank
Laura Linney as Meryl, Truman's "wife"
Noah Emmerich as Marlon, Truman's "best friend"
Natascha McElhone as Lauren/Sylvia
Holland Taylor as Truman's "mother"
Brian Delate as Truman's "father"
Blair Slater as Young Truman
Peter Krause as Lawrence, Truman's "boss"
Heidi Schanz as Vivien
Ron Taylor as Ron
Don Taylor as Don
Ted Raymond as Spencer
Ed Harris as Christof, the creator of the show
Paul Giamatti as Control room director
Adam Tomei as Control room director
Harry Shearer as Mike Michaelson

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Truman Burbank begins his life by being the chosen one of five unwanted babies to be the star of a continuously running reality television program called The Truman Show. Contained within a completely artificial town called Seahaven, itself contained within a gigantic dome, Truman grows up as the only person in the town unaware that he lives in an almost solipsistic constructed reality for the entertainment of those outside. His friends, wife, and family fake friendship with Truman and, in the case of his "wife," bury their real feelings of disgust.

The movie picks up on Day 10,909 of Truman's life (a little less than two months before his 30th birthday). It starts in the style of a television program, with opening credits and interviews of three main characters: Christof (the program's creator), Meryl (Truman Burbank's wife), and Marlon (Truman's best friend). Throughout the film, footage of Truman is interspersed with scenes of people in the real world watching The Truman Channel. The movie depicts many instances of Truman's need for safety and security — his job as a life insurance agent, his fear of water and sailing, his avoidance of flying. However, throughout his life, Truman has also indicated a conflicting wish to "explore the world," to travel, and to leave Seahaven. Attempts to keep him on the island (and thus unable to discover the truth of his TV-show existence) include the staged drowning death of his "father", the imposition of an intimidating and threatening dog in his path while attempting to explore the island, and others' explicit discouragement of his wishes to "be an explorer."

Despite the producers' wishes, Truman makes several choices that confound their efforts to control him and his world. He falls in love with a movie extra named "Lauren," who is subsequently whisked away by the TV producers. Truman is told that she and her family are moving to Fiji, thus provoking a lifelong wish in Truman to travel to Fiji and find her. He encounters a man in the street whom he recognizes to be his "dead" father, setting off an emotional crisis for Truman and his growing sense that he is the center of the world (which, in fact, he is). His friends and family focus their efforts to control his growing unrest and questions about his life. Magazine and news articles, TV shows, and radio programs all begin to carry the theme of "staying home," representative of the producers' efforts to contain Truman. Truman begins to piece events together that increasingly indicate to him that there is some kind of plot involving his entire life, though he is unable to verbalize what exactly it is. He begins to suspect "everyone's in on it." He and his "wife" separate, after he accuses her of "being part of this." His friend Marlon, being coached by the TV producer through an earpiece, insists on his loyalty and honesty, claiming "you're the closest thing I have to a brother" and, ironically, "the last thing I would ever do is lie to you."

A TV interview with the show's producer Christof reveals that Truman was in fact adopted at birth by the television corporation and raised in a constructed stage set built as the entire town in which he lives. He reveals that everyone Truman encounters — friends, family, acquaintances, and bystanders — are in fact movie actors employed by The Truman Show producers. Christof acknowledges that he has orchestrated Truman's entire life and now intends for him to father a baby — "the first on-air conception." He states that the reason Truman has never discovered the truth is simple: "We accept the world with which we're presented." He declares arrogantly that Truman simply does not want to discover the truth — that he enjoys his "prison cell" and will actually never leave unless he is truly determined to. These words foreshadow Truman's eventual triumph over the deceit and manipulation of his life.

Eventually, while Truman pretends to be asleep, he escapes from his home and goes sailing to escape from Seahaven, despite his fear of sailing. All of the cast is called out for an emergency: The directors unnaturally turn the night suddenly into day and create a major storm to keep Truman from escaping. He survives the storm and then hits a wall painted like the sky, the edge of the show's set. Truman follows the wall to a door, where Cristof, in a last attempt to keep Truman from leaving the synthetic world, tells him the truth about his life. Truman opens the door and stares into it while Cristof begs him not to leave. Truman turns around, smiles, and says to Cristof, "Well, in case I don't see you... Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" He bows, then turns and walks into the open door as the film ends. Lauren rushes to the studio, ostensibly to meet him for the first time as a free man.

[edit] Soundtrack

Philip Glass appears very briefly in the film as one of the in-studio composer/performers. The soundtrack for the scenes of freedom contain excerpts from his scores for Powaqqatsi and Anima Mundi, as well as some music composed specifically for The Truman Show. Glass shared a Golden Globe Award with Burkhard Dallwitz for the score.

The film also contains a Frédéric Chopin composition, 2nd Movement from Piano Concerto No. 1 in E, Op.11: Romance-Larghetto, which was performed by pianist Artur Rubinstein, and snatches of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Rondo alla Turca and Horn Concerto No. 1 in D Major.

[edit] Awards

The Truman Show was nominated for three Oscars (original screenplay, achievement in directing, and best supporting actor: Ed Harris) and six Golden Globes. It won three Golden Globes.

The movie won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

[edit] Trivia

Exterior shots of the town of Seahaven were filmed in Seaside, Florida, a master-planned community located in the Florida Panhandle. Members of the cast and crew lived in Seaside during filming.^[1]
After the lighting unit falls from the sky at the beginning of the movie, trailers featured Truman looking up and seeing a rip in the sky. These shots of the rip were not used in the movie itself and were replaced with a shot of a streetlamp.
A can of Vitamin D can be seen on the counter in Truman's house. Vitamin D is needed for those with no exposure to the "real" sun.
Many fans of the cult 1960s British series The Prisoner have noted a number of similarities between the The Truman Show and that series. The film also features Mini Mokes, which were used as taxis in The Prisoner, in an obvious nod to the series.
The film cuts to the special about Truman, and gives us our first view of the behind-the-scenes running of The Truman Show one hour, almost to the second, after the start of the film.
The motto on the double archway in the Seahaven town center is UNUS PRO OMNIBUS, OMNES PRO UNO: "One for all, all for one" in Latin, thus fitting the premise of the Truman Show.
Every streetname in Seahaven refers to a movie actor, e.g. "Lancaster Square" or "Barrymore Road."
Director Peter Weir filmed in the 1.66:1 ratio to make it feel more like a television show.

[edit] See also

Seaside, Florida
1984
They (short story)
Time out of Joint
Running Out Of Time, a 1995 fiction novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Pleasantville (film)
Dark City
The Matrix
The Joe Schmo Show
Edtv
The Even Stevens Movie
The Prisoner (television series)
Plato's allegory of the cave
List of fictional television shows
List of Films about Television
Simulated reality
Existentialism
The Island (2005 film)
Garden of Eden
The Thirteenth Floor
The Village, a 2004 film by M. Night Shyamalan

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Truman Show

[edit] References

^ Eric Young (Executive Producer). "How's It Going To End? The Making of The Truman Show, Part II" [DVD (Special Feature)]. Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.

Films Directed by Peter Weir