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Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
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Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 American film based on the "unauthorized autobiography" by Chuck Barris, the American creator and producer of television game shows, who claimed to have also worked as an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1960s and the 1970s.
Plot
The film tells the life story of Chuck Barris, who was a game show host and, according to Barris's autobiography, a CIA hitman. Barris was largely responsible for the creation of several television game shows, including The Dating Game, The Gong Show, and The Newlywed Game. The film portrays Barris's career as a television producer and host, along with his supposed life as an assassin who uses his visits to Europe as a chaperone for Dating Game prize winners as a cover for his murderous deeds. The film includes interviews with a number of Barris's real-life friends and colleagues. Chuck Barris makes a brief non-speaking appearance at the end of the film.
Background
- George Clooney's father Nick Clooney was the host of the game show The Money Maze which ran on the ABC Network from 1974 to 1975. Clooney said this was one of the reasons he became interested in the project.[1]
- Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Johnny Depp and John Cusack were at one time or another contenders for the role of Chuck Barris.
- George Clooney thought of Sam Rockwell for the role of Chuck Barris after working with him in Welcome to Collinwood.[2]
- The project was set to start shooting with Johnny Depp in the lead, George Clooney as Jim Byrd and Bryan Singer directing, but the project fell apart despite a heavy pre-production phase; sets were broken down in Canada, where the film was set to start shooting. Clooney took over and cast Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris. Clooney initially had trouble getting the project off the ground with Miramax's approval, since Rockwell wasn't yet well known. Clooney pointed out that he had a strong cast, including not only Rockwell and himself, but also Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts.
- George Clooney changed the screenplay, which screenwriter Charlie Kaufman was unhappy about. In an interview for the May 2004 issue of Arena magazine Kaufman said: "I was upset by the fact that he took the movie from me and then cut me out after that. I’m unhappy with the end result. And I’m unhappy with George Clooney. I had a movie that I wrote and that isn’t it." Kaufman claimed he was not involved in the production of the film. "I've always been involved in the process with Spike and Michel. If there's any rewriting to do, I do it. But with Clooney it was different…even the end of the movie is different. I mean, Clooney went on forever about how my Confessions…screenplay was one of the greatest scripts he’d read. But if someone truthfully felt that way they’d want the person who wrote it to be onboard offering their thoughts and criticisms. But Clooney didn’t. And I think it’s a silly way to be a director."[3]. In a later interview for the BBC, Kaufman said about his experience with the film: "I've moved on and I don't have any animosity towards Clooney, but it's a movie I don't really relate to."[4]
- The film was shot from 14 January 2002 to April 2002.
- Matt Damon and Brad Pitt make a cameo appearance as two game show contestants on the Dating Game.
Cast
Reception
The film was generally well received by critics, with Clooney's direction and Rockwell's lead performance widely praised. However, as Clooney himself stated, the film "bombed" at the box office, raking in a lackluster U.S. total gross of roughly $16 million, about half the cost of production. The film did better overseas, bringing the combined domestic and foreign total to $33 million.
References
External links
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