"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is the latest release on DVD of a movie from a Charlie Kaufman script which takes a public figure and runs right into the world of make-believe.
Following on "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation", "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is the autobiography of Chuck Barris, pop song writer, game show teevee producer ("The Dating Game", "The Newlywed Game", "The Gong Show") and, as he claimed in his "unauthorized" autobiography an assassin for the CIA.
As with his two previous scripts, Kauffman starts off with public figures and verifiable events, and veers off into an exploration of persona, tall tales and an examination of what is reality, especially when it comes to us through teevee and movies. One perverse twist in this highly fictionalized story is the confirmation of an urban legend. On The Newlywed Game, a contest responded to the question about "the most unusual place you've ever made whoopie" with the answer "in the ass", and you see the video of the show.
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is both the debut in a starring role for Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris and as director for George Clooney. The commentary by Clooney and the visual style and pace of the movie show he learned direction by observing and letting people exercise their competence. While he doesn't mention Steven Soderbergh as an influence, he touches on several similarities (such as "All The President's Men" which Soderbergh has said is one of his most influential movies). The commentary is very focused and enlightening on the process of making a movie. As often as possible, the scenes were done without digital fx, instead using traditional one take camera effects and film stocks.
Clooney called in a number of favours to get stars to appear for scale or in cameos, including Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore, plus bachelors Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.
The DVD includes deleted scenes, "making of" and commentary. Well worth watching if you enjoyed "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich" or hated "The Gong Show Movie".
Chuck Barris: I came up with a new game-show idea recently. It's called The Old Game. You got three old guys with loaded guns onstage. They look back at their lives, see who they were, what they accomplished, how close they came to realizing their dreams. The winner is the one who doesn't blow his brains out. He wins a refrigerator.
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