Man on the Moon

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For the R.E.M. song, see Man on the Moon (song).

Man on the Moon
Man on the Moon
Directed by	Miloš Forman
Produced by	Danny DeVito
Written by	Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski
Starring	Jim Carrey Danny DeVito Courtney Love Paul Giamatti Vincent Schiavelli
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	December 22, 1999
Running time	118 min
Language	English
Budget	$52,000,000
IMDb profile

Man on the Moon is a 1999 film based on the unusual life and career of comedian Andy Kaufman.

The movie, starring Jim Carrey and directed by Miloš Forman, begins at Kaufman's childhood, where he is seen performing imaginary television programs for stuffed animals. The story traces Kaufman's steps through the numerous comedy clubs, and television appearances that made him famous, including his memorable appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with David Letterman, Fridays, and his role as the loveable "Latka Gravas" on the television sitcom, Taxi. The film pays particular attention to the various inside jokes, scams and put-ons that Kaufman was famous for, most significantly his long-running "feud" with wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler.

[edit] Plot

As is often true with biopics, the film makes a few changes to Kaufman's story for the sake of narrative and artistic license. For example, the famous Carnegie Hall "milk and cookies" performance, portrayed in the film as one of his last performances after being diagnosed with cancer, had in fact occurred much earlier in his career. In addition, the film is deliberately ambiguous over whether it portrays his "death" as genuine, or the hoax that some fans believe it to be. After its release, the film attracted some criticism over various events in Kaufman's life that were left out. Significantly, these critics included Kaufman's own father Stanley, who was displeased that little of Andy's early life (before show business) was portrayed.<ref>http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/realmotm.htm</ref>

The film also stars Danny DeVito as Kaufman's manager George Shapiro (interestingly enough, De Vito as himself and his Taxi character Louie DePalma are never seen in the film), Courtney Love as girlfriend Lynne Marguiles, and Paul Giamatti as Bob Zmuda. Carrey and Giamatti both played Tony Clifton. Many of Kaufman's real life friends and co-stars also appear in the film (although not all as themselves), including Zmuda, Shapiro, Chad Whitson, Marguiles, David Letterman, professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, Budd Friedman, Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Carol Kane, Judd Hirsch, Christopher Lloyd, and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Michael Richards refused to reprise his role during the Fridays show skit; he is played by Norm MacDonald in the film.

Members of the current bands for The Late Show With David Letterman (including Paul Shaffer) and Saturday Night Live were used in their respective scenes, as were members of the current Rockettes. Kaufman's real-life granddaughter, meanwhile, portrays the younger version of his sister Carol in the scenes showing his early life.

The soundtrack for the film was written by rock band R.E.M., whose 1992 song "Man on the Moon" (originally written in honour of Kaufman) gave the movie its title. The soundtrack also included the Grammy-nominated song "The Great Beyond", which remains the band's highest-charting single in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Trivia

• Carrey and Giamatti both played Tony Clifton
• The final scene of the film contains what can be thought of as a sentimental tip of the hat, or perhaps just a continuity error. In the scene, we see Tony Clifton perform in front of a packed club in front of many of Kauffman's friends. The scene then pans over the crowd finally resting on a neon charicature of Andy on the clubs wall, however the last person who the camera passes is Bob Zmuda. Since this scene takes place a year after Andy's death it is assumed that it is Bob playing Cliffton on stage. This is most likely a nod towards the many theorys that Andy faked his death, and therefore was on stage with Zmuda watching from the crowd.

[edit] Cast

• Jim Carrey as Kaufman/Tony Clifton
• Danny DeVito as George Shapiro
• Courtney Love as Lynne Margulies
• Paul Giamatti as Bob Zmuda/Tony Clifton
• Vincent Schiavelli as Maynard Smith
• Gerry Becker as Stanley Kaufman
• Jerry Lawler as Himself
• Leslie Lyles as Janice Kaufman
• Peter Bonerz as Ed Weinberger
• George Shapiro as Mr. Besserman
• Tom Dreesen as Wiseass Comic
• Richard Belzer as Himself
• Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld as NBC Executive
• Gerry Robert Byrne as Taxi AD/Stage Manager
• Bob Zmuda as Jack Burns
• Jim Ross as Himself

[edit] Movie stills

Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey) performs a live show at Carnegie Hall, with members of the Rockettes dance troupe in the background.

In his Hollywood office, manager George Shapiro (Danny DeVito), left, attempts to convince Kaufman to join the cast of Taxi.

[edit] Notes

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[edit] External links

• Man on the Moon at the Internet Movie Database

es:Man on the moon fr:Man on the Moon it:Man on the Moon nl:Man on the Moon ja:マン・オン・ザ・ムーン no:Man on the Moon (film) ru:Человек на Луне (фильм) sl:Moški z Lune fi:Man on the Moon sv:Man on the Moon