The Truman Show Interview
Interview with director Peter Weir.
Weir discusses how the idea for the Truman show came to him, why he chose the actors he did and why he decided to add certain details.
UK, December 10, 2010
By Ben Briggs
Evening Telegraph interviewer Ben Briggs recently took up the opportunity to talk to Weir about the film.
The Truman Show was featured in TIME magazine one of the biggest magazines in America who gave it an extremely positive review; it also received nominations in a range of categories for the Oscars also Weir himself won a BAFTA for the film. Weir has directed 16 films to date including a TV mini series and to straight-to-TV movies, all of which have been quite successful.
Interviewer: So Mr Weir you must be proud of your creation, I mean, you clearly started something huge with the era of reality TV. You were a true pioneer.
Weir: Yes, I don’t take all the credit though as it was George Orwell’s novel 1984 that gave me the first idea. It is a story about people who are watched the whole time, it was after reading this that I thought instead of people just being watched what if it was just one person and they were being broadcasted to the world on the TV without them knowing. We could also use camera techniques to show that they are trapped it this environment and use pan shots to show there is nowhere they can go that is unwatched, this made it all the more shocking when Truman disappeared.
My attention was then brought to Andrew Niccol’s screenplay titled “The Malcolm Show”. The original draft was more in the tone of a science fiction thriller, with the story set in New York City. He made a great statement that spurred on ideas for the film; ‘ I think everyone questions their lives at different points. It’s like when children ask if they are adopted’. I thought about how I could turn it from a thriller into a more light hearted, social reality film. This ended working well because I decided that where Niccol had made it serious I had to make
Weir discusses how the idea for the Truman show came to him, why he chose the actors he did and why he decided to add certain details.
UK, December 10, 2010
By Ben Briggs
Evening Telegraph interviewer Ben Briggs recently took up the opportunity to talk to Weir about the film.
The Truman Show was featured in TIME magazine one of the biggest magazines in America who gave it an extremely positive review; it also received nominations in a range of categories for the Oscars also Weir himself won a BAFTA for the film. Weir has directed 16 films to date including a TV mini series and to straight-to-TV movies, all of which have been quite successful.
Interviewer: So Mr Weir you must be proud of your creation, I mean, you clearly started something huge with the era of reality TV. You were a true pioneer.
Weir: Yes, I don’t take all the credit though as it was George Orwell’s novel 1984 that gave me the first idea. It is a story about people who are watched the whole time, it was after reading this that I thought instead of people just being watched what if it was just one person and they were being broadcasted to the world on the TV without them knowing. We could also use camera techniques to show that they are trapped it this environment and use pan shots to show there is nowhere they can go that is unwatched, this made it all the more shocking when Truman disappeared.
My attention was then brought to Andrew Niccol’s screenplay titled “The Malcolm Show”. The original draft was more in the tone of a science fiction thriller, with the story set in New York City. He made a great statement that spurred on ideas for the film; ‘ I think everyone questions their lives at different points. It’s like when children ask if they are adopted’. I thought about how I could turn it from a thriller into a more light hearted, social reality film. This ended working well because I decided that where Niccol had made it serious I had to make