Two friends named Gerry become lost in the desert after taking a wrong turn. Their attempts to find their way home only lead them into further trouble.

What's left behind the scenes

The desert scene was filmed directly on the salt surface of the Great Salt Lake.
The script was burned by Van Sant and actors Matt Damon and Casey Affleck on the eve of the first day of filming, and all the dialogue was ultimately improvised.
In this film, director Gus Van Sant began shooting long takes out of love for the films of Hungarian director Béla Tarr.
Some scenes were deliberately shot out of focus. With each copy of the film sent to theaters, the studio included a note stating that this was intentional and that they should not look for defects in the projector or blame the copyists.

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