The Truman Show


1h 42m 1998
The Truman Show

Brief Synopsis

The film that made critics sit up and take notice of Jim Carrey's dramatic chops, the legendary funnyman is Truman Burbank in "The Truman Show," director Peter Weir's satirical look at a man raised from infancy to adulthood in front of television cameras. Unbeknownst to him, Carrey lives in a bubble where actors have played his family and cameras have followed his every move since the day he was born. When the seams in this make-believe world begin to split and he realizes his whole life is a lie, it leads to a breakdown - and a famous breakout. The 1998 film - Oscar-nominated for Best Screenplay, Director and Supporting Actor -co-stars Laura Linney and Ed Harris. .

Film Details

Also Known As
Truman Show
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
1998
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures
Location
Seaside, Florida, USA

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 42m

Synopsis

The film that made critics sit up and take notice of Jim Carrey's dramatic chops, the legendary funnyman is Truman Burbank in "The Truman Show," director Peter Weir's satirical look at a man raised from infancy to adulthood in front of television cameras. Unbeknownst to him, Carrey lives in a bubble where actors have played his family and cameras have followed his every move since the day he was born. When the seams in this make-believe world begin to split and he realizes his whole life is a lie, it leads to a breakdown - and a famous breakout. The 1998 film - Oscar-nominated for Best Screenplay, Director and Supporting Actor -co-stars Laura Linney and Ed Harris. .

Crew

Larz Anderson

Special Effects

William Anderson

Editor

Ted Andre

Visual Effects

Bunny Andrews

Music Editor

Mike Arbogast

Special Effects

Chad Baalbergen

Special Effects

Pat Banta

Stunt Coordinator

Bob Baron

Adr Mixer

Craig Barron

Visual Effects Supervisor

Travis Baumann

Visual Effects

Richard A Benoit

Visual Effects

Kathleen Berkeley

Makeup Artist

Ron Berkeley

Makeup Artist

David Bernstein

Assistant Director

Peter Biziou

Director Of Photography

Tammy Blackburn

Animal Trainer

Stella Bogh

Visual Effects

Marc Bolan

Song

Johannes Brahms

Song

Bruce Bullock

Visual Effects

Susan L Carpenter

Assistant Director

Dylan Carter

Visual Effects

Hazel Catmull

Hair Stylist

Peter Chesney

Special Effects

Frederic Chopin

Music

Neil Clark

Other

Blaine Converse

Other

Alan B. Curtiss

Assistant Director

Burkhard Dallwitz

Music

Burkhard Dallwitz

Song Performer

Burkhard Dallwitz

Song

Jackie Davis

Song Performer

Rosemary Dority

Post-Production Supervisor

Mary Doumany

Other

Stephanie Eastburn

Makeup Artist

Ricky Edwards

Music Conductor

Christopher Evans

Visual Effects

Edward Feldman

Producer

Howard Feuer

Casting

Jim Fredburg

Special Effects

David Fuhrer

Visual Effects

Wilma Garscadden-gahret

Script Supervisor

Dennis Gassner

Production Designer

Lewis E. Gensler

Song

Philip Glass

Song

Philip Glass

Music

Philip Glass

Song Performer

David John Golia

Camera Operator

Caroleen Green

Visual Effects

Lowell Greer

Soloist

Joseph F Griffith

Storyboard Artist

Nancy Haigh

Set Decorator

Laura Hanigan

Visual Effects

Barbara Harris

Voice Casting

Cheyrl Harris

Animal Trainer

Phil Heywood

Rerecording

David Hirschfelder

Song Performer

David Hirschfelder

Song

Robert Huberman

Assistant Director

Bette Iverson

Hair Stylist

Ellen Jacoby

Location Casting

Richard L Johnson

Art Director

Tim Jordan

Dialogue Editor

Joseph P Kane

Unit Production Manager

Phil Kingry

Other

Gokhan Kisacikoglu

Cgi Artist

Thomas Kittle

Special Effects

Karen Klein

Rotoscope Animator

Richard Klein

Cgi Artist

Kazimierz Kord

Music Conductor

Brad Kuehn

Visual Effects Supervisor

Roger Kupelian

Matte Painter

Robert Labonge

Camera Operator

Mary C. Lane

Costume Supervisor

Gail Laskowski

Art Department Coordinator

Elizabeth F Lavallee

Hair Stylist

Michael J Leeson

Screenplay

Mark Lewis

Rotoscope Animator

Patrick Lin

Motion Control

Ariana Lingenfelser

Visual Effects

David Lingenfelser

Visual Effects

Kevin Lingenfelser

Digital Effects Supervisor

Rick Lisle

Editor

Roland Walter Loew

Special Effects

Marilyn Matthews

Costume Designer

Martin Matzinger

Visual Effects

Michael J Mcalister

Visual Effects Supervisor

Dana Mcfadden

Casting Associate

Nicholas Mcgegan

Music Conductor

Thomas Minton

Set Designer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Music

Kurt Munkacsi

Music Producer

Jill Musser

Assistant Director

Jay Nefcy

Camera Operator

Andrew Niccol

Screenplay

Andrew Niccol

Producer

Brett Northcutt

Visual Effects

Odin R Oldenburg

Set Designer

Martin Oswin

Rerecording

Joe Pasquale

Digital Effects Supervisor

Julie Pearce

Foley Recordist

Eric Pender

Cgi Artist

Andrew Plain

Dialogue Editor

Lynn Pleshette

Executive Producer

Judy Pritchard

Production Coordinator

Don Reddy

Camera Operator

Christopher Regan

Visual Effects

Leo Robin

Song

Arthur Rochester

Sound

Eric Rosenberg

Graphic Designer

Kevin D Ross

Editing

Richard Luke Rothschild

Unit Production Manager

Tommy Rowe

Camera Operator

Scott Rudin

Producer

Adam Schroeder

Producer

Roland Scott

Hair Stylist

Jim Sevin

Foley Editor

Todd Siechen

3-D Models

Eduardo Silva

Cgi Artist

John Simpson

Foley

Janek Sirrs

Visual Effects

Lee Smith

Editor

Lee Smith

Sound Designer

Todd R Smith

Visual Effects

Randa Squillacote

Hair Stylist

Philip Steuer

Production Supervisor

Wendy Stites

Consultant

Mike Thomas

Camera Operator

Peter Townsend

Editor

Christopher W Trott

Location Manager

Morgan Trotter

3-D Models

Meredith Tucker

Casting Associate

Durk Tyndall

Special Effects

Andrew Ullman

Location Manager

Tom Ward

Special Effects

Jason Wardle

Cgi Artist

Jonathan M. Watson

Assistant Director

Eric W. Weinschenk

Visual Effects

Rick Whitfield

Video

Karin Whittington

Adr Editor

Brad Wilder

Makeup Artist

Juliette Yager

Visual Effects

Janet Yale

Visual Effects

Mieko Yoshida

Cgi Artist

Film Details

Also Known As
Truman Show
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
1998
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures
Location
Seaside, Florida, USA

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 42m

Award Nominations

Best Director

1998
Peter Weir

Best Original Screenplay

1998

Best Supporting Actor

1998

Articles

The Truman Show (1998)


The Truman Show anticipated reality TV a year before Big Brother debuted in England and launched the TV genre as we know it. The film, produced in 1997 and released in 1998, is set in a near future where the first child legally adopted by a corporation is raised to adulthood in the biggest studio set ever built, essentially a self-contained world, for a 24/7 TV series. Surrounded by actors playing the parts of friends, family members, and coworkers, everyone except for Truman knows that it is all artificial and his life is being broadcast into homes all around the world.

Andrew Niccol wrote the original treatment in the early 1990s and his first screenplays were dark and satirical, the portrait of a miserable man in a broken world whose daily ordeal is recorded for all to see. Producer Scott Rudin bought the film for Paramount a day after reading the script. Such filmmakers as Brian De Palma, Tim Burton, and Terry Gilliam were sought out before Australian director Peter Weir read the script. After a successful career directing such critical and popular successes as Witness (1985) and Dead Poets Society (1989), the filmmaker took a break after the box-office failure Fearless in 1993 and was looking for something interesting for his return. The sophistication of The Truman Show excited him and he flew to Los Angeles to meet with Niccol and actor Jim Carrey. A major star for such cartoonish comedies as The Mask (1994) and Dumb and Dumber (1994), Carrey was looking for a more serious role. Weir thought he was perfect for the lead role of Truman Burbank. "I couldn’t see any other star…. It had to be someone different from us, someone who had lived his life in some extreme place."

Weir chose to wait a year for Carrey, who was already committed to make The Cable Guy (1996) and Liar, Liar (1997), to become available and spent the time working with Niccol to reshape the script. "I think once Jim came on board he almost dictated the tone of it and Peter had his own sensibilities," Niccol reflected in a 2018 interview. Weir's concerns were practical: "Why would millions tune in 24/7 to something grim and depressing?" he thought. He imagined a sunnier, funnier film with a likable central character and Niccol agreed to work on Weir's vision, turning out over a dozen drafts to fine tune all the details. Once production began, Weir invited Carrey to contribute his own ideas, many of which were incorporated, including Truman's signature greeting: "In case I don’t see ya… good afternoon, good evening, and good night." Carrey said it was inspired by his father. "He was just a very affable, beautiful soul. I wanted it to be a tribute to him."

The setting was relocated from the urban crush of New York to a sunny small island town called Seahaven. Weir found his location in the master-planned community of Seaside, Florida. The entire town became a movie set and the cast members actually lived in the town during shooting. Visual effects were added to add floors to some buildings and shape the outer contours of the town in long shots but most of the special effects were designed not to look real but slightly unreal and distorted, to enhance the artificiality of Truman's world, from the too-big moon to the perfect sunsets to the blur on the horizon.

Dennis Hopper was originally cast in the role of Christof, the God-like series creator and director who cues the sun and feeds lines to the actors in Truman's world from a control center high above the town. When Hopper proved to be a bad fit, producer Rudin went looking for a last-minute replacement. Ed Harris agreed to the role days before he began shooting his scenes.

Jim Carrey performed his own stunts in the dramatic finale, featuring Truman on a sailboat in a studio-created storm, and he almost drowned while filming the scene in a studio tank. Despite safety precautions, including divers under the water ready to pull the actor out, they failed to recognize Carrey's signals that he was in trouble. "I just barely made it to the edge of the wall where the sky is, and hung on the edge of the wall gasping for air, looking back at the storm that was raging still," Carrey recalled years later. Director Weir only realized what happened after calling cut. "Needless to say, we made changes to our safety procedures following this near accident," confirmed Weir, "and, despite what had happened, Jim was up for more takes."

The film opened in the summer of 1998, in a season generally relegated to action spectacles and escapist fare. Audiences responded. It was a commercial hit and earned solid reviews. New York Times critic Bernard Weinraub called it "the most subversive studio film of the summer." The film was nominated for three major Academy Awards, for Peter Weir's direction, Andrew Niccol's original screenplay, and for supporting actor Ed Harris. Harris and Jim Carrey won Golden Globe awards for their performances and Niccol won a BAFTA, just a few of the many awards the film won.

In hindsight, the film was remarkably prescient. Hundreds of reality shows fill cable channels and streaming services today, individuals stream their lives on YouTube channels, and millions of people send personal videos over Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and other social media platforms. "I certainly didn’t foresee the onslaught of so-called reality television," Niccol joked in 2018. "I doubt the film had much to do with it. If it did, I apologize.”

Sources:

"An interview with Peter Weir," Dan Lybarger. Pitch Weekly, June 4-10, 1998.

"Twenty Years Later, Everything Is The Truman Show," Julie Miller. Vanity Fair, June 5, 2018.

"How we made The Truman Show – 20th anniversary," Lou Thomas. BFI, May 31, 2018.

"Director Tries a Fantasy As He Questions Reality," Bernard Weinraub. The New York Times, May 21, 1998.

How's It Going to End? The Making of The Truman Show, documentary produced by Jon Mefford. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.

Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of The Truman Show, documentary produced by Jon Mefford. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.

IMDb

The Truman Show (1998)

The Truman Show (1998)

The Truman Show anticipated reality TV a year before Big Brother debuted in England and launched the TV genre as we know it. The film, produced in 1997 and released in 1998, is set in a near future where the first child legally adopted by a corporation is raised to adulthood in the biggest studio set ever built, essentially a self-contained world, for a 24/7 TV series. Surrounded by actors playing the parts of friends, family members, and coworkers, everyone except for Truman knows that it is all artificial and his life is being broadcast into homes all around the world.Andrew Niccol wrote the original treatment in the early 1990s and his first screenplays were dark and satirical, the portrait of a miserable man in a broken world whose daily ordeal is recorded for all to see. Producer Scott Rudin bought the film for Paramount a day after reading the script. Such filmmakers as Brian De Palma, Tim Burton, and Terry Gilliam were sought out before Australian director Peter Weir read the script. After a successful career directing such critical and popular successes as Witness (1985) and Dead Poets Society (1989), the filmmaker took a break after the box-office failure Fearless in 1993 and was looking for something interesting for his return. The sophistication of The Truman Show excited him and he flew to Los Angeles to meet with Niccol and actor Jim Carrey. A major star for such cartoonish comedies as The Mask (1994) and Dumb and Dumber (1994), Carrey was looking for a more serious role. Weir thought he was perfect for the lead role of Truman Burbank. "I couldn’t see any other star…. It had to be someone different from us, someone who had lived his life in some extreme place."Weir chose to wait a year for Carrey, who was already committed to make The Cable Guy (1996) and Liar, Liar (1997), to become available and spent the time working with Niccol to reshape the script. "I think once Jim came on board he almost dictated the tone of it and Peter had his own sensibilities," Niccol reflected in a 2018 interview. Weir's concerns were practical: "Why would millions tune in 24/7 to something grim and depressing?" he thought. He imagined a sunnier, funnier film with a likable central character and Niccol agreed to work on Weir's vision, turning out over a dozen drafts to fine tune all the details. Once production began, Weir invited Carrey to contribute his own ideas, many of which were incorporated, including Truman's signature greeting: "In case I don’t see ya… good afternoon, good evening, and good night." Carrey said it was inspired by his father. "He was just a very affable, beautiful soul. I wanted it to be a tribute to him."The setting was relocated from the urban crush of New York to a sunny small island town called Seahaven. Weir found his location in the master-planned community of Seaside, Florida. The entire town became a movie set and the cast members actually lived in the town during shooting. Visual effects were added to add floors to some buildings and shape the outer contours of the town in long shots but most of the special effects were designed not to look real but slightly unreal and distorted, to enhance the artificiality of Truman's world, from the too-big moon to the perfect sunsets to the blur on the horizon.Dennis Hopper was originally cast in the role of Christof, the God-like series creator and director who cues the sun and feeds lines to the actors in Truman's world from a control center high above the town. When Hopper proved to be a bad fit, producer Rudin went looking for a last-minute replacement. Ed Harris agreed to the role days before he began shooting his scenes.Jim Carrey performed his own stunts in the dramatic finale, featuring Truman on a sailboat in a studio-created storm, and he almost drowned while filming the scene in a studio tank. Despite safety precautions, including divers under the water ready to pull the actor out, they failed to recognize Carrey's signals that he was in trouble. "I just barely made it to the edge of the wall where the sky is, and hung on the edge of the wall gasping for air, looking back at the storm that was raging still," Carrey recalled years later. Director Weir only realized what happened after calling cut. "Needless to say, we made changes to our safety procedures following this near accident," confirmed Weir, "and, despite what had happened, Jim was up for more takes."The film opened in the summer of 1998, in a season generally relegated to action spectacles and escapist fare. Audiences responded. It was a commercial hit and earned solid reviews. New York Times critic Bernard Weinraub called it "the most subversive studio film of the summer." The film was nominated for three major Academy Awards, for Peter Weir's direction, Andrew Niccol's original screenplay, and for supporting actor Ed Harris. Harris and Jim Carrey won Golden Globe awards for their performances and Niccol won a BAFTA, just a few of the many awards the film won.In hindsight, the film was remarkably prescient. Hundreds of reality shows fill cable channels and streaming services today, individuals stream their lives on YouTube channels, and millions of people send personal videos over Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and other social media platforms. "I certainly didn’t foresee the onslaught of so-called reality television," Niccol joked in 2018. "I doubt the film had much to do with it. If it did, I apologize.”Sources:"An interview with Peter Weir," Dan Lybarger. Pitch Weekly, June 4-10, 1998."Twenty Years Later, Everything Is The Truman Show," Julie Miller. Vanity Fair, June 5, 2018."How we made The Truman Show – 20th anniversary," Lou Thomas. BFI, May 31, 2018."Director Tries a Fantasy As He Questions Reality," Bernard Weinraub. The New York Times, May 21, 1998.How's It Going to End? The Making of The Truman Show, documentary produced by Jon Mefford. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of The Truman Show, documentary produced by Jon Mefford. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.IMDb

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Nominated for the 1998 award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Andrew Niccol) from the Writers Guild of America.

Nominated for the 1998 Award for Excellence in Film Costume Design by the Costume Designers Guild.

Peter Weir was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in 1998 by the Directors Guild of America.

Winner of the 1998 award for Best Original Score (Burkhard Dallwitz) from the Chicago Film Critics Association. Nominated for a further four awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Weir), Best Screenplay (Andrew Niccol), and Best Actor (Jim Carrey).

Winner of the 1998 award for Best Original Screenplay from the Online Film Critics Society.

Winner of the 1998 award for Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris) from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

Winner of the 1998 Film Critics of Australia Award for Best Foreign Film.

Winner of the 1998 Golden Satellite award for Outstanding Art Direction (Dennis Gassner, Richard Johnson, Nancy Haigh) from the International Press Academy.

Released in United States Summer June 5, 1998

Released in United States on Video January 12, 1999

Released in United States 1998

Released in United States June 1998

Released in United States September 1998

Shown at Venice Film Festival (Nights and Stars) August 26 - September 8, 1998.

Shown at San Diego World Film Festival June 2-11, 1998.

Shown at Deauville Festival of American Film September 4-13, 1998.

Dennis Hopper was previously attached in a supporting role but exited due to creative differences.

Ed Harris replaced Dennis Hopper in April 1997.

Jim Carrey reportedly received $12,000,000 for this film.

Jim Carrey reportedly received $12,000,000 for this film.

Completed shooting April 21, 1997.

Began shooting December 9, 1996.

Released in United States Summer June 5, 1998

Released in United States on Video January 12, 1999

Released in United States 1998 (Shown at Venice Film Festival (Nights and Stars) August 26 - September 8, 1998.)

Released in United States 1998 (Film had its French premiere at the 1998 Deauville Festival of American Film.)

Released in United States June 1998 (Shown at San Diego World Film Festival June 2-11, 1998.)

Released in United States September 1998 (Shown at Deauville Festival of American Film September 4-13, 1998.)

Nominated for the 1998 award for Best Picture from the Broadcast Film Critics Association.