Taglines: Getting there is half the fun; being there is all of it!
Being There movie storyline. Chance is mentally challenged, those that know him who would probably call him simple. He doesn’t know how to read or write. For as long as he can remember, he has worked as the gardener for his long time employer Mr. Jennings, has never stepped off the property of Jennings’ brownstone in Washington DC, has only known Jennings and the only other household servant, a maid / cook named Louise who tends to all his meals, and has only had contact to the outside world indirectly via television, the channels on which he is frequently changing as he watches.
Conversely, no one but Jennings and Louise know that he lives there. He only fully understands the world of his garden, all else, including what he sees on TV, he not comprehending in their entirety. His wardrobe consists largely of Jennings’ discarded but well appointed clothes. After Jennings dies, Chance is sent “into the world” not truly understanding what his new situation means.
By chance, he eventually meets wealthy Eve Rand, who, out of circumstance, invites him to her and much older ill husband’s house. Her husband, Ben Rand, is a financier, who will probably imminently pass from his aplastic anemia. Not fully comprehending what Chance is truly saying, they believe his name to be Chauncey Gardner, and that he is a man of wealth and straightforward deep insight.
As such, they introduce him to their rich and powerful friends – some very rich and extremely powerful – who believe, largely because Ben Rand says so, that Chauncey is brilliant in a down home way, his brilliance which they state in public. The question then becomes whether anyone will notice that the emperor has no clothes (to use an old adage), even after background checks on “Chauncey Gardner” come up empty and especially if their public praise of him has gone too far to go back.
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosiński, it was adapted for the screen by Kosiński and the uncredited Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine, and features Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, and Richard Basehart.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Sellers was nominated for Best Actor.[4] The screenplay won the British Academy Film Award for Best Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay.
Principal filming occurred at the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in America, located in Asheville, North Carolina. Melvyn Douglas’s granddaughter, Illeana Douglas, visited the set and met Peter Sellers, who is her favorite actor. She has since credited the film for inspiring her to pursue a career in acting. According to Illeana, Sellers and Douglas had known each other since the 1940s, when they first met in Burma during World War II. They often reminisced about their war days while on the set.
Burt Lancaster was Ashby’s first choice for the role of Ben Rand. Laurence Olivier was also considered for the role, but he turned it down because of the masturbation scene. According to MacLaine, “(Peter) believed he was Chauncey. He never had lunch with me… He was Chauncey Gardiner the whole shoot, but believing he was having a love affair with me.”The making of the film is portrayed in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, a biographical film of Sellers’ life.
Incidental music is used very sparingly. What little original music is used was composed by Johnny Mandel, and primarily features two recurrent piano themes based on “Gnossiennes” No. 4 and No. 5 by Erik Satie. The other major piece of music used is the Eumir Deodato jazz/funk arrangement of the opening fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. Mandel was also assisted by his late cousin and fellow composer Miles Goodman with the orchestration of the film.
Being There (1980)
Directed by: Hal Ashby
Starring: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, Jack Warden, Richard Basehart, Than Wyenn, David Clennon, Fran Brill, Ruth Attaway, Denise DuBarry
Screenplay by: Jerzy Kosiński
Production Design by: Michael D. Haller
Cinematography by: Caleb Deschanel
Film Editing by: Don Zimmerman
Costume Design by: May Routh
Set Decoration by: Robert R. Benton
Art Direction by: James L. Schoppe
Music by: Johnny Mandel
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: February 8, 1980
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