sex, lies and videotape
Directed by	Steven Soderbergh
Produced by	John Hardy, Robert Newmyer
Written by	Steven Soderbergh
Starring	James Spader Andie MacDowell Peter Gallagher Laura San Giacomo
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	August 18, 1989 8 September 1989
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$1,200,000 (est.)
IMDb profile

sex, lies, and videotape (the title is always given in lower case letters) is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple. Image File history File links Sex_Lies_and_Videotape. ... Steven Soderbergh on the set of Solaris. ... Robert F Newmyer (1956-12 December 2005) was an American producer of numerous films, from commercial to independent films. ... James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as sex, lies, and videotape (for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival), Stargate, and Secretary. ... Andie MacDowell Rosalie Anderson Andie MacDowell (born April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina) is an American actress and former model. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is an American actor. ... Laura San Giacomo (born November 14, 1962) is an Italian-American actress. ... Miramax Films was a Big Ten film motion picture distribution and production company headquartered in New York City before being bought out by The Walt Disney Company. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Minuscule, or lower case, is the smaller form (case) of letters (in the Roman alphabet: a, b, c, ...). Originally alphabets were written entirely in majuscule (capital) letters which were spaced between well-defined upper and lower bounds. ... // Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. ... An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Steven Soderbergh on the set of Solaris. ...

Synopsis

The film stars Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher as Anne and John Mullany, a troubled married couple in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. James Spader plays Graham Walton, an old college friend of John's and a seeming drifter who arrives as a guest of the Mullanys. The sexually repressed Ann, who is unaware that John is having an affair with her sister, Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo), becomes attached to the introverted and shy Graham, who admits to her that he is impotent. Graham's only form of gratification comes from videotaping and watching women discuss their sexual experiences and fantasies on camera; it becomes apparent that he had been deeply hurt in an earlier relationship with a college girlfriend and has returned to Baton Rouge years later in the forlorn hope of seeing her again. Anne and Cynthia, enthralled by the mysterious visitor, gradually come to reassess their own lives, even as they unravel them before the camera. Andie MacDowell Rosalie Anderson Andie MacDowell (born April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina) is an American actress and former model. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is an American actor. ... Capitol Building Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, a state of the United States of America. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as sex, lies, and videotape (for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival), Stargate, and Secretary. ... Drifter can mean: one who drifts, especially a person who moves aimlessly from place to place or from job to job. ... Laura San Giacomo (born November 14, 1962) is an Italian-American actress. ... Impotence or, more clinically, erectile dysfunction is the inability to maintain an erection of the penis for satisfactory sexual intercourse regardless of the capability of ejaculation. ...

Production

The film was written by Soderbergh in eight days on a yellow legal pad during a cross country trip (although, as Soderbergh points out in his DVD commentary track, he had been thinking about the film for a year). A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ...

Soderbergh's commentary also reveals that he had written Andie MacDowell's role with Elizabeth McGovern in mind, but McGovern's agent disliked the script so much that McGovern never even got to read it. Laura San Giacomo who was represented by the same agency had to threaten to leave that agency in order to be able to play Cynthia. Soderbergh was reluctant to audition MacDowell but she surprised him, getting the role after two extremely successful auditions. The role of John would have been played by Timothy Daly, but delays in completing the financing for the film led to Peter Gallagher getting the role instead. Elizabeth McGovern Elizabeth McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American movie and theater actress. ... Timothy Daly (born March 1, 1956, in New York) is an American screen and voice actor and producer. ...

Principal photography took thirty days in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Principal Photography refers to the phase of film production during which the movie is actually shot, as distinct from pre-production and post-production. ... Nickname: Red Stick Motto: Authentic Louisiana at every turn Coordinates: Country United States State Louisiana Parish East Baton Rouge Parish Founded 1699 Incorporated 16 January 1817 Mayor Melvin Kip Holden (D) Area    - City 204. ...

Awards

The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with Spader getting the Best Actor Award for that same festival. It also won an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Soderbergh was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay. The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This is a partial list of films that won awards at the Sundance Film Festival. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks alongside the Cannes, Moscow, Venice, Berlin, and Toronto festivals as one of the most prestigious in the world. ... The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ...

Significance

sex lies and videotape is important in film history; in his book Down and Dirty Pictures, Peter Biskind explains that the unprecedented international success of this low-budget film was instrumental in the beginning of the 1990s independent film boom. The film is also important for launching the career of Steven Soderbergh, who became an important director of both mainstream and arthouse film, and for launching or boosting the careers of its principal actors. Prior to this picture leading lady Andie MacDowell was principally known as a fashion model whose entire performance in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes had been dubbed over by Glenn Close. Origins of motion picture arts and sciences Any overview of the history of cinema would be remiss to fail to at least mention a long history of literature, storytelling, narrative drama, art, mythology, puppetry, shadow play, cave paintings and perhaps even dreams. ... Peter Biskind is a journalist and author famous for some of his entertaining and provocative portrayals of life in Hollywood in books like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film... Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. ... Andie MacDowell Rosalie Anderson Andie MacDowell (born April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina) is an American actress and former model. ... Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is a five time Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actress. ...

DVD

The DVD edition of the film includes a "director's dialogue" between Soderbergh and playwright/director Neil LaBute, recorded in 1998. LaBute presence leads to conversational tangents unrelated to the film, although most of the tangents are related to the question of what it means to be a director, and are intended, as Soderbergh summarizes at the end, to "demystify" the process of making a film. LaBute's presence prompts Soderbergh to talk about reverse zooms, dolly shots, how actors have varying expectations of their director, the difference between stealing from a film you admire and paying tribute to it, shooting out of sequence, how the role of a director changes as their success (and their budgets) grow, and other filmmaking topics. Neil LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... A Camera Dolly is a specialized piece of film equipment that looks like a little car. ...

Popular culture references

Hundreds of newspaper headlines, TV trailers and TV episode titles have played on the film's title, usually in the form sex, lies, and something else or something, something, and videotape. This phenomenon has taken on a life of its own – far beyond the impact of the film itself.

• Kanye West's song "Jesus Walks" and Coolio's song "Too Hot" mention sex, lies, and videotape.
• X-Men TAS had an episode entitled Weapon X, Lies & Videotape.
• Northern Exposure has an episode entitled Sex, Lies and Ed's Tape.

The Primal Scream track "Come Together" from the Screamadelica album features a sample of MacDowell saying "That's beautiful... That's really beautiful." Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is a six-time Grammy Award-winning American record producer and rapper. ... Coolio (born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. ... X-Men, an animated series, debuted on October 31, 1992 (the 1993–1994 season) on the Fox Network as part of Fox’s “Fox Kids” Saturday morning lineup, which featured cartoons such as X-Men, Bobby’s World, and Life with Louie, and live-action programming such as VR Troopers... Weapon X, Lies and Videotape is an episode from the Marvel Comics cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series. ... Northern Exposure was a quirky, surreal, character-driven American dramatic-comedy television series. ... Primal Scream (temporarily abbreviated to PRML SCRM for the XTRMNTR album) are a rock group formed in Glasgow, Scotland, headed by former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie. ... Screamadelica is a 1991 album by Primal Scream and was their first to be a commercial success. ...

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