(Big Brother clip)
Before reality TV exploded in the mainstream, this film predicted it.
Here’s everything you need to know about the film The Truman Show.
Andrew Niccol first came up with the idea for the film back in 1991.
He called it “The Malcolm Show,” and it was a pretty dark science fiction thriller, set in New York City, about a guy who was living in a reality TV show but did not know it.
After Niccol completed the script, producer Scott Rudin bought it for more than $1 million.
Paramount Pictures took it on, and hired Australian filmmaker Peter Weir to direct it.
Weir wanted the movie to be less dark and funnier, and so he and Niccol got together to re-work the script sixteen times.
They eventually called it The Truman Show.
In 1995, Paramount signed Jim Carrey to be the main star, the one to play Truman Burbank.
However, 1995 was a crazy year with him in movies like The Cable Guy and Liar Liar, so it’d be another year before he was available to film.
Because Weir felt Carrey was perfect for the role, he agreed to postpone production to wait for him.
Carrey took a huge pay cut for the role.
They decided on Seaside, Florida, as the primary location for filming.
Seaside is a “master-planned community” famous for being designed for walkable neighborhoods and its unique architecture.
It’s ridiculously picturesque, which is why the producers chose it, as they also relied on Norman Rockwell paintings, 1940s Sears and Roebuck catalogs, and 1960s postcards to influence set design.
Weir went all in with this one, even creating a novel about the show’s history.
He created backstories for the characters and told all the actors to create their own backstories as well.
Ed Harris was called in as a last minute replacement to play Christoff.
Originally his character was supposed to be played by Dennis Hopper.
Harris and Carrey never met each other on set as Carrey’s parts were filmed before Harris joined up.
The producers put a lot of emphasis on cinematography, led by cinematographer Peter Biziou.
They instructed the actors to lean into the cameras with their eyeballs wide open.
Everything was well-lit, with the idea that every product seen in every shot would be for sale.
Since much of the cameras in the film are supposed to be hidden, a wide variety of shots were used.
Some of the camera angles are just strange.
Whenever they filmed Truman Burbank, they often used an iris shot or a fish-eye lens to create the impression that every shot zoomed in on him was done in secret.
As Truman would discover more and more about his true nature throughout the film, less of these shots were used.
Philip Glass provided the minimalist piano-based soundtrack.
Producers filmed The Truman Show between December 1996 and April 1997.
Despite filming in Florida in paradise, some of those January and February filming dates were fairly cold.
Some of the filming also took place in Los Angeles.
They made it for $60 million, $20 million under budget.
Once completed, it took forever for Paramount to release it. Originally they wanted it out in August 1997, but it ultimately wasn’t released officially until June 5, 1998.
It was a box office hit, eventually making over $264 million.
It currently is certified 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and is one of the highest rated films of all time on IMDb.
It won a ton of awards, and was notably nominated for three Academy Awards.
Here is the basic storyline, and of course there are no major spoilers- I want you to watch it yourself if you haven’t already.
So Truman Burbank is the star of The Truman Show, a reality TV show, broadcast live around the world and around the clock.
Truman: Good morning
Neighbors: Good morning!
Truman: Oh, and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.
Truman is the star, yet he does not know it. Everyone else on the show, however, does.
They are all actors, and some of them have grown up or grown old on camera alongside Truman, pretending to be his mom, or his dad, or his best friend, or even his wife.
The town Truman lives in, Seahaven Island, is just a gigantic set, the largest the world has ever known. In fact, it's all enclosed in a giant dome in Hollywood.
Approximately 5,000 cameras constantly monitor Truman’s day-to-day behavior.
The producers of the Truman Show, in order to prevent Truman from ever leaving and realizing his whole reality is just a, you know, set, raised Truman to be afraid of the water, through the drowning death of his fake dad or even the use of propaganda.
So any time Truman talks about traveling far away, the actors in his life strongly try to talk him out of it.
Meryl: I thought we were going to try for a baby
Isn't that enough of an adventure?
Truman: That can wait. I wanna get away.
See some of the world. Explore.
The head producer of the show is a dude named Christof, played by Ed Harris, who sometimes feeds lines directly into some of the actors ears.
Christof kind of seems like Truman’s real dad, and explains later in the film how he was the first person to be legally adopted by a corporation.
It’s soon revealed in the film that part of Truman’s desire to leave Seahaven is driven by his quest to find a girl he fancied but who mysteriously and abruptly left town.
Despite being married to Meryl,he secretly fantasizes about Sylvia, this mysterious girl who disappeared, to be a point where he attempts to recreate her face in secret using old magazine clippings.
In secret? Yeah, ain’t nothing Truman does is in secret in this film.
And that’s where I’ll leave it. The film is mostly about Truman’s discovery about what his life truly is, and what he does in response to that discovery.
The Truman Show is classified as a drama with slight dark comedic elements.
It’s often referred to as a satirical dystopia, even lumped in the science fiction genre.
However, as reality TV has become such a popular genre since the film’s release, its premise has become less far-fetched than it used to be.
Today, many people have acknowledged or even accepted the surveillance state- that either corporations like Google or Facebook or the federal government are watching every move we make.
The Truman Show predicted that would be possible.
It also shows us the power of mass media.
As much as everyone complains about the media, we cannot escape it, and we are constantly drawn to it.
I mean, you’re watching this video, aren’t you? I am the evil media who has caught your attention. Mwhahahaha
Anyway, some interpret the film as a religious analogy, with Christoff as the Antichrist figure,
and others interpret the film using psychoanalysis and human development.
Truman being the stunted, teenager at the beginning of the film afraid to leave the comforts of home who becomes a man by the end of the film, becoming self-aware and confident enough to leave his roots behind.
The most important interpretation, in my humble opinion, is that Truman’s world represents most of our own worlds that we remain trapped in.
On a day to day basis, the vast majority of us conform.
We like to think we make independent choices, that we have free will, but ultimately we are trapped in an environment in which nearly every day is identical and the choices are predetermined.
Meryl: Honey, are you ok?
Truman: Get in.
Meryl: Truman?
Truman: Look
I predict, that in just a moment
we will see a lady on a red bike
followed by a man with flowers
and a Volkswagon Beetle, with a dented fender
Meryl: Truman, please Truman: Look!
Lady
Flowers
and
Meryl: Truman, this is silly
Truman: There it is! There it is! There's the dented Beetle. Yes!
Only when we break free from the environment are we able to better understand ourselves, yet the breaking free part is the uh, hardest part.
So, on the more superficial level, the film is a critique of consumerism and the overall effect mass media has on us.
In particular, the negative parts of reality TV such as the living vicariously and voyeurism at the expense of real people getting hurt parts and also people’s desperate need for attention.
On a more deeper level, I think Truman actually represents the viewer who has not tapped into her or his unrealized potential, who is trapped in a cage, or in Truman’s case, a huge dome.
The Truman Show today is known as a great story that almost came true, that sort of did come true, and in some ways still could come true.
It hits a little too close to home, and if the film wasn’t executed so well, I could easily see it being major flop, like EdTV, a similar movie which came out the year after.
The film has been so influential that a delusion has been named after it.
Psychiatrist Joel Gold coined the term “The Truman Show Delusion” in 2008.
It’s basically a symptom of schizophrenia, a delusion in which the patient thinks their whole life has been a reality TV show.
But it’s not all dark and negative. The Truman Show is an incredibly uplifting film.
Seriously, for such sobering subject matter, it still holds up as an optimistic film.
The acting is flawless, and I’m even talking about the intentional bad acting the Truman Show co-stars all put on.
Regarding the one “real” person in the show, it’s certainly one of Jim Carrey’s best performances in his long and illustrious career.
20 years later, The Truman Show holds up as a film that easily entertains yet gets the viewer thinking deeply about the nature and purpose of reality.
How did we get here? Why are we here? Are we really HERE?
Seemingly random events might just be designed. A world that we designed might be what we need to escape our own designed world.
And we may be constantly watched, but it takes us awhile to realize it, or even care that we’re being watched.
Yep, 20 years later, I think we all might just be Truman.
What else is on? Yeah, let's see what else is on. Where's the TV Guide?
June 5 is the 20th anniversary of the Truman Show. And yes, I have to admit, this is my favorite film of all time.
I’d love to know your thoughts and interpretations of it below.
Also, what other film would you like to see explained in a similar fashion? I always love to see those comments.
Let me know, and thank you so much for watching everybody.