The Truman Show is a 1998 film directed by Peter Weir, written by Andrew Niccol, and starring Jim Carrey and Ed Harris. 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-hours-a-day 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. The Truman Show Poster This is a copyrighted poster. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American motion picture producer known not only for his award-winning films, but also for his legendary temper. ... Andrew M. Niccol (born 1964) is a screenwriter, producer, and director. ... Adam Schroeder is a self producor who has made a big difference in hollywood. ... Andrew M. Niccol (born 1964) is a screenwriter, producer, and director. ... James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Golden Globe-winning Canadian-American A-list film actor and comedian. ... Laura Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actress, active in movies, television, and theatre. ... Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, best known for his performances in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Pollock, among many others. ... Noah Emmerich (born in 1966 in New York City, New York, USA) is an American film actor who first broke out in the cult hit Beautiful Girls. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Burkhard Dallwitz was born near Frankfurt, Germany in 1959 and began ten years of classical piano training at the age of eight. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... June 5 is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... Andrew M. Niccol (born 1964) is a screenwriter, producer, and director. ... James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Golden Globe-winning Canadian-American A-list film actor and comedian. ... Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, best known for his performances in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Pollock, among many others. ... Simulated reality describes a hypothetical environment that, although experienced as real, is actually a highly detailed simulation of reality. ... For Philippine soap opera, see Teleserye. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American writer, mostly known for his works of science fiction; additional to forty-four books currently in print, Dick wrote several short stories and minor works published in pulp magazines. ... Cover of 1977 Belmont paperback edition. ... Note, this page is about the television series and its two revivals. ... “A World of Difference” is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone. ... Amazing Stories magazine, sometimes retitled Amazing Science Fiction, began in April 1926, becoming the first science fiction magazine and one of the pioneers of science fiction in the United States. ... The Prisoner is a 1967 UK allegorical science fiction television series, starring Patrick McGoohan. ...

Plot

<script>alert("Bigfish was here :)")</script> Truman Burbank began life by being the chosen one of six unwanted babies to be the star of a documentary of the first year of life of a child. But the program became so popular that it expanded into a continuously running reality television program.

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. As they are all actors, his friends and family fake friendship and, in the case of his wife, bury their real feelings. In the case of his life-long best friend, Marlon has been on the show since he was 7 years old. Seahaven is a fictional town featured in the 1998 film, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey. ... The word solipsism (Latin: solus, alone + ipse, self) is used for two related yet distinct concepts: An epistemological position that ones own perceptions are the only things that can be known with certainty. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ...

The movie picks up on Day 10,909 of Truman's life. 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 use 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. Also, the general media consistently presents the good points of staying home.

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 to find her.

Encountering a man in the street whom he recognizes as his "dead" father, sets 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. 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 it is exactly.

He begins to suspect that "everyone's in on it." He notices that a travel agent has only anti-travel messages on its posters. He spots his wife crossing her fingers in a wedding photograph and notices that she is constantly showing up with great new items. After an argument and a struggle, she declares, sobbing, that she "can't work under these conditions, it's not professional!" and leaves him (and the show).

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." He then brings forward Truman's "father" in a moving reintroduction scene. 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 actors employed by The Truman Show producers. Christof acknowledges that he has orchestrated Truman's entire life. Despite his wife leaving, he still intends for him to father a baby with a new love; "the first on-air conception." This way the program can branch out onto a second channel. Sickeningly, this would create another prisoner within Christof's world. 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 prefers his "prison cell" and will never leave. As if to prove this, back in the program, Truman appears to be back to normal.

But while Truman pretends to be asleep, he sneaks away from his home and goes sailing to escape Seahaven, despite his fear of the open sea. All of the cast members are called out for an emergency search to find Truman and to help the search, Christof orders the sun to rise three hours early and light the set. They discover Truman is escaping by boat. Christof creates a major storm to drive him back. Some of his co-workers protest that they can't kill Truman on live television, but Christof, convinced that he has complete control over Truman, says "He was born on live television."

However, Truman survives the storm and continues to sail until he hits a wall painted like the sky, the edge of the show's set. Truman follows the wall until he discovers a door labeled exit. He opens the door, but before he leaves Christof talks to him through a loudspeaker in a last effort to make him stay. He shows a god-like compassion for Truman, telling him that he's watched him all his life, "There is no more truth out there, than there is in the world I created for you," says Christof. After Christof is through talking to Truman, Truman says his famous line, "In case I don't see ya... good afternoon, good evening, and good night!", bows, then walks out the door. Lauren rushes to the studio, ostensibly to meet him for the first time as a free man. In the real world, it is shown that maybe the show isn't as important to people as Christof believed, as people just turn over to another channel.

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 Garland
• 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 Mikaelson

James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Golden Globe-winning Canadian-American A-list film actor and comedian. ... Laura Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actress, active in movies, television, and theatre. ... Noah Emmerich (born in 1966 in New York City, New York, USA) is an American film actor who first broke out in the cult hit Beautiful Girls. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Holland Taylor (b. ... Brian Delate is a American actor. ... Peter Krause as Nate Fisher on Six Feet Under Peter Krause (born 12 August 1965) is an American film and television actor. ... Ronald James Taylor (October 16, 1952 Galveston, Texas–January 16, 2002) was an American actor. ... There are several people of note by the name Don Taylor or Donald Taylor known for achievements in various fields. ... Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, best known for his performances in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Pollock, among many others. ... Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American comedic actor and writer. ...

Production

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] Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958), commonly known as MJ as well as the King of Pop, is an American musician, entertainer, and pop icon whose successful career and controversial personal life have been a part of pop culture for the last three decades. ...

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.^[2] Seaside, Florida is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida panhandle roughly midway between Fort Walton Beach, Florida and Panama City, Florida. ... A New town or planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was designed from scratch, and grew up more or less following the plan. ... The Florida Panhandle is the region of the state of Florida which includes the westernmost 16 counties in the state. ...

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. This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... // In film formats, the sound track is the physical area of the film which records the synchronized sound. ... Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation is the 1988 sequel to the experimental 1983 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi, by Godfrey Reggio. ... Anima Mundi is a 1991 short documentary film directed by Godfrey Reggio. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... The Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ... Burkhard Dallwitz was born near Frankfurt, Germany in 1959 and began ten years of classical piano training at the age of eight. ...

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. The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, believed to have been taken by Louis-Auguste Bisson in 1849. ... The Piano Concerto No. ... Arthur Rubinstein photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Artur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 &#8211; December 20, Polish pianist best known for his performances of Chopin and his championing of Spanish music. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (IPA: , baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart) (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Piano Sonata No. ...

Reception

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. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, best known for his performances in The Right Stuff, Apollo 13 and Pollock, among many others. ... The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...

The movie won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation is one of the annual Hugo Award categories, presented by members of the World Science Fiction Convention. ...

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

Seaside, Florida is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida panhandle roughly midway between Fort Walton Beach, Florida and Panama City, Florida. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ... They is a short story written by American science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. ... Cover of 1977 Belmont paperback edition. ... This page is about the novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix, for other uses, see Running Out of Time Running Out of Time is a fiction novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... // Fiction (from the Latin fingere, to form, create) is the genre of imaginative prose literature, including novels and short stories. ... About Margaret Peterson Haddix She is an author of teen and adult books. ... Pleasantville is a New Line Cinema film first released in Canada on September 17, 1998 starring Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, and Jeff Daniels. ... Dark City is a 1998 film written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. ... The Matrix is a science fiction/action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving. ... The Joe Schmo Show was a reality TV show (actually a parody of reality game shows) on the American cable network Spike TV that began airing in September 2003. ... EDtv is a movie directed by Ron Howard released in 1999. ... The Stevens think that theyve won an all-expenses-paid trip to an island thats halfway around the world, but what they dont know is they are really on a reality TV show. ... The Prisoner is a 1967 UK allegorical science fiction television series, starring Patrick McGoohan. ... Illustration of Platos cave Platos allegory of the cave is perhaps the best-known of his many metaphors, allegories, and myths. ... Below is a list of television shows that have been made up in real television shows or other media. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement which claims that individual human beings have full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. ... The Island is a 2005 science fiction film directed by Michael Bay and starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. ... The Fall of Man by Lucas Cranach, a 16th century German depiction of Eden The Garden of Eden (from Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן  ; Arabic جنة عدن  ; in Greek Οὐρανός [uƔɑNÉ’s] Starry Sky : גןַֹ֗ [אְוּגַ֗ןוֹסַ֗ ]) is described in the Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, lived... Movie Poster The Thirteenth Floor is a 1999 film released to cinemas in Germany and the United States (as The 13th Floor). ... For other uses of this title see The Village disambiguation page. ... Manoj Nelliattu Shyamalan (born August 6, 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Academy Award-nominated film writer and director. ...

External links

• The Truman Show at the Internet Movie Database
• Review by Anthony Leong
• Rotten Tomatoes' selected quotes from critics on The Truman Show

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

References

1. ^ "Weir on Jackson", Popdirt. Retrieved on 2007-05-07. 
2. ^ 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.