The Lawnmower Man
Directed by	Brett Leonard
Produced by	Gimel Everett
Written by	Stephen King (incorporating some elements from his short story "The Lawnmower Man") Brett Leonard & Gimel Everett (screenplay)
Starring	Jeff Fahey Pierce Brosnan Jenny Wright Mark Bringelson Austin O'Brien Geoffrey Lewis Rosalee Mayeux
Music by	Dan Wyman
Cinematography	Russell Carpenter
Editing by	Alan Baumgarten Lisa Bromwell (director's cut)
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	March 6, 1992 (USA)
Running time	107 min.
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

The Lawnmower Man is a 1992 film which uses elements from Stephen King's short story "The Lawnmower Man". Image File history File links Lawnmower_Man. ... Brett Leonard is an American filmmaker specializing in computer-generated visual effects. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. ... Brett Leonard is an American filmmaker specializing in computer-generated visual effects. ... Jeff Fahey (born 1952-11-29 in Olean, New York) is an Irish-American actor who acts primarily in Horror films and television. ... Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE[1] (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish actor and producer best known for portraying James Bond in four films: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). ... Jenny Wright (born 23rd March 1962 in New York, USA) was a uniquely beautiful actress whose acting career began with an appearance in Pink Floyd The Wall in 1982, playing an American groupie. ... Austin OBrien is an actor. ... Geoffrey Lewis (born July 31, 1935) is a popular US character actor since the early 1970s, often featured in offbeat roles. ... Russell Carpenter is a celebrated cinematographer and native Southern Californian born 9 December 1950. ... New Line Cinema logo New Line Cinema, founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. ... The Lawnmower Man is a short story by Stephen King, first published in Cavalier in 1975. ...

The film's original script, written by director Brett Leonard and producer Gimel Everett, was titled Cyber God and had nothing to do with Stephen King. New Line held the film rights to Stephen King's short story, and decided to combine Cyber God with some very minor elements of King's story. The resulting film, originally titled Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man, differed so much from the source material that King sued the filmmakers to remove his name from the title. After two court rulings in King's favor, New Line still did not comply and initially released the home video version as Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man. A third ruling granted the author $10,000 per day in compensation and all profits derived from sales until his name was removed.^[1] On King's official web-page, it is not listed among the films based on his work. The film was released in Japan under the title Virtual Wars. Brett Leonard is an American filmmaker specializing in computer-generated visual effects. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. ...

An earlier short film, also titled The Lawnmower Man and a more faithful adaptation of the short story directed by Jim Gonis dates to 1987.^[2] 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Short story

Main article: The Lawnmower Man

In Stephen King's short story, Harold Parkette hires "Pastoral Greenery and Outdoor Services Inc." to cut his lawn. The serviceman who turns up to do the job turns out to have a machine that mows the lawn by itself while he crawls behind the mower naked, eating the grass. The serviceman himself is actually a satyr who works for the Greek god, Pan. When Parkette tries to call the police, the mower and its owner turn on him. The Lawnmower Man is a short story by Stephen King, first published in Cavalier in 1975. ... Ancient Greek Satyr statuette In Greek mythology, satyrs (in Greek, Σάτυροι — Sátyroi) are young humans, possibly with horse ears, that roamed the woods and mountains, and were the companions of Pan and Dionysus. ... Pan (Greek , genitive ) is the Greek god of nature who watches over shepherds and their flocks: paein means to pasture. ...

1992 film

Dr. Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) works for Virtual Space Industries. His part in "Project 5" involves increasing the intelligence of chimpanzees using drugs and virtual reality. One of the experiment's chimps escapes using the warfare technology he was being trained to use. Angelo is revealed as generally a pacifist, who would much rather explore the intelligence-enhancing potential of his research without having to apply it for military purposes. Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE[1] (born May 16, 1953) is an Irish actor and producer best known for portraying James Bond in four films: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). ... Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. ... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. ...

Jobe (Jeff Fahey), the "lawnmower man" of the title, suffers from a form of mental retardation; he lives in the garden shed owned by the local vicar, Father Francis McKeen. McKeen's brother, Terry, is a local landscape gardener and employs Jobe to help him with odd jobs. When Father McKeen finds insects around the church altar, he blames Jobe and beats him with a leather strap for forgetting his chores. Jeff Fahey (born 1952-11-29 in Olean, New York) is an Irish-American actor who acts primarily in Horror films and television. ...

While Dr. Angelo records audio notes about needing a human subject, Jobe is mowing his lawn. It turns out that Peter, the young son of Angelo's neighbors, is friends with Jobe. Angelo invites them to play some virtual reality games and persuades Jobe to participate in his experiments, telling him it will make him smarter. Jobe agrees and begins a program of accelerated learning, using psychotropic drugs, virtual reality input and cortex stimulation. Dr. Angelo makes it a special point to redesign all the intelligence-boosting treatments without the "aggression factors" used in the chimpanzee experiments. A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. ...

Jobe soon becomes smarter, and Dr. Angelo starts taking Jobe to his lab at work to use the technology there. Jobe begins having sex with a young rich widow, Marnie, during his daytime job; he learns Latin in an hour and a half at the lab at night (due to a script gaffe, Angelo compares this with the year that it took him to learn just the Latin alphabet). Jobe starts to have telepathic and hallucinatory experiences, but continues with the experiment at the lab, until an accident makes Angelo call a halt. The project director, employed by a mysterious agency known as "The Shop", keeps a secret watch on the progress of the experiment, and soon swaps Angelo's new medications for the old Project 5 "aggression factors". Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Jobe acquires telekinetic powers and takes Marnie to the lab to have virtual reality sex with her; but something goes wrong in the system and Marine starts to panic, the experience is so traumatic that she is permanently brain damaged. Jobe's powers and abilities continue to grow, although the treatments seem to be affecting his mental stability, and soon he takes revenge on those who abused him when he was 'dumb'; Father McKeen is engulfed in flames, and a young man named Jake is tortured by a 'lawnmower man' continually mowing his brain. Jobe directs a real lawnmower to run down Peter's abusive father in his third and most brutal act, and makes the investigating police officers attribute it all to "bizarre accidents". Image File history File links Lawnmower_Man_A.jpg Summary screenshot from televised screening of Lawnmower Man Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Jobe believes his final stage of evolution will be to become "pure energy" in the VSI computer mainframe. He plans to enter the VSI computer and from there reach into all the systems of the world, and he promises his "birth" will be signaled by every telephone on the planet ringing simultaneously. The Shop sends a team to capture Jobe, but they are ineffective against Jobe's abilities. Jobe returns to VSI, where he creates millions of virtual insects to attack the guards, and drives straight in. He confronts the director of the project and tortures him before using the lab equipment to enter the mainframe computer. With the network connections disabled, Jobe is trapped in the mainframe and looks for an escape route. Angelo primes bombs to destroy the building and joins Jobe in virtual reality to talk with him. Jobe easily overpowers Angelo and proceeds to crucify him, then continues to search for a network connection. Peter runs into the building; Jobe allows Angelo to go free in order to rescue him. Jobe finally finds access through a maintenance line as the building is destroyed in multiple explosions. Crucifixion of St. ...

Back at home with Peter, Angelo and Peter's mother (who has implicitly become a romantic interest) are about to leave when their telephone rings, followed by the noise of a second, and then hundreds.

Tagline: God made him simple. Science made him a god.

Other Inspirations

The movie has several elements in common with the novel Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, which also deals with a retarded man whose intelligence is technologically boosted to genius levels. Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction story written by Daniel Keyes. ... Daniel Keyes (born August 9, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York) is an American author, primarily of science fiction. ...

Director's cut

An unrated director's cut contains an additional 32 minutes of footage, and is often considered to be an improvement over the theatrical release. The director's cut has been available on VHS in the North America for several years, but the DVD is only available in Europe.

Sequel

The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace was released in 1996, and was retitled Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War for the video release. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Comic book writer Grant Morrison said in an interview [1] that he was contacted by the owners of the Lawnmower Man franchise in 1995 and asked to write treatments for Lawnmower Man 2 and Lawnmower Man 3. Morrison claims he was asked to "bend the Lawnmower Man series in an X-Men superhero-type direction." Neither of Morrison's script treatments were used and Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace was produced without his involvement. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Grant Morrison in 2006. ... The X-Men are a group of comic book superheroes featured in Marvel Comics. ...

1987 adaptation

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled The Lawnmower Man (1987 film). (Discuss)

Much more faithful to Stephen King's short story than the 1992 film, this twelve-minute Dollar Baby short film was written by future professional screenwriter and New Line production executive Michael De Luca (In the Mouth of Madness) and directed by Jim Gonis. The film was shot in 1985 while Gonis was a junior at New York University. Originally budgeted at $800, the final film (finished in 1987) wound up costing nearly $5,000. Image File history File links Splitsection. ... The Dollar Baby (also sometimes referred to as the Dollar Deal) is a term coined by best-selling author Stephen King in reference to a select group of student and aspiring filmmakers for whom he has granted permission to adapt one of his short stories for the sole consideration of... Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less. ... In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness) is a 1995 horror film (originally intended for a 1994 release) directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael de Luca, who was at the time in charge of New Line Cinema. ...

The film has become a favorite among the King fans fortunate to have seen it as a much more faithful adaptation of King's original short story.

The film has screened at the NYU Film Festival, Horrorfest in 1989, a screening of King films at the Stanley Hotel (the hotel that inspired King's novel The Shining), a New York film festival of Greek-American filmmakers in 1991 and at the 1st Annual Dollar Baby festival in Orono, Maine in 2004. The Shining (1977) is a horror novel by American author Stephen King. ...

Reference

1. ^ "Creepshows the Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide" Jones, Stephen Titan Books 2001 pp. 75
2. ^ http://www.stephen-king.tk/index.htm?http://www.stephen-king.tk/lawnmowerman.htm

External links

• The Lawnmower Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Stephen King Short Movies
• The Lawnmower Man — a film by Jim Gonis