Director Peter Weir is one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century. From his first feature films made in his home country of Australia i.e. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli to his more U.S.-based films that included Witness and Dead Poets Society he proved to be a deft storyteller, something seen in spades in the comedy-drama The Truman Show.
Like most of Weir’s films the 1998 release, The Truman Show has aged well. Indeed, it was already ahead of its time in its theme. Today it is still very watchable. Like someone recently said in the comments section of its trailer on YouTube: “Man it’s so trippy, like the Matrix meets Big Brother.”
When Wier first read the original script for The Truman Show in 1995, he was not sure he could make it.
“It was immediately apparent that it was full of tricky ingredients to balance. In fact, I found it very intriguing,” Weir told Spliced Wire back in 1998.
“What held me back from saying yes to the producer was that I wasn’t sure who could play Truman. It wasn’t just a matter of getting an actor who was a good actor,” he said.
“Then the producer said, ‘Do you know Jim Carrey?’ And I thought, ‘My God, what an interesting idea!’”
And the rest is history.
The movie would be Carrey’s first drama role after a string of blockbuster comedies and his depiction of insurance salesman Truman Burbank, who is the center of a reality TV show without knowing it, earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
The Truman Show also starred Laura Linney, and Ed Harris in what would become a forewarning tale about what was to soon come with reality TV and the fetish of everyday voyeurism.
Something that Linney reflected on years later in a 2018 interview for a Vanity Fair article.
“We would laugh about how unrealistic some of it seemed,” Linney said as she recalled conversations among cast and crew.
“We couldn’t quite believe that someone would want to tape themselves, so that people could tune in and watch what was considered at the time to be mundane, and see that as entertainment,” she said.
My how things change.
You can watch a 20-minute breakdown above by MakeBetterMedia that further explains why The Truman Show is so good by clicking on the play button at the left of the feature image. But if you’re short of time, you can watch the trailer for the film below.
Enjoy.