Pleasantville

Pleasantville (1998)

Timing: 2:4 (124 min)

7.254/10
1619

7.806/10
69515

7.5/10
142000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 30

Actors and characters

Release date

1998-09-17

Country

United States

Production

New Line Cinema, Larger Than Life Productions, Juno Pix

Genre

Fantasy, Comedy, Drama

Budget

$60 000 000

Revenue

$49 805 462

Website

Director

Gary Ross

Actors

Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, J.T. Walsh, Paul Walker, Don Knotts, Marley Shelton, Jane Kaczmarek
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Steven Soderbergh, Jon Kilik, Gary Ross, Michael De Luca, Mary Parent

Operator

John Lindley

Composer

Randy Newman

Artist

Audition

Debra Zane, Ellen Lewis

Editing

William Goldenberg
All team (48)

• Gary Ross's directorial debut.
• Tobey Maguire's character retells the teenagers the books "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain, 1884) and "The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger, 1951). These works consistently top the lists of banned literature in most educational institutions in the USA.
• Upon entering Pleasantville, Jennifer becomes a Mary Sue. This is the name given to a character that the author endows with exaggerated, unrealistic virtues, abilities, and luck. It is believed that the author identifies with their Mary Sue (Marty Stu for male characters) and embodies their complexes from real life.
• The film is dedicated to the director Gary Ross's mother, actor J.T. Walsh (1943-1998), and camera assistant Brent Lon Hershman, who died in a car accident during the filming of "Pleasantville".
• The book "World of Art" by Edward Bissell, which David Wagner brings to Mr. Johnson, never existed. It is a prop created solely for the film.
• Mr. Johnson’s music machine is a 1952 Seeburg M100C, known among collectors as the “Happy Days” machine. This exact model appears in the opening and closing shots of episodes of the ABC-TV television series.
• The film's promotional campaign included a contest in which winners were promised a trip to Pleasantville, Iowa (the smallest town with that name in the United States).
• In the bowling alley scene, the cinematographer employs a technique known as a “Dutch angle.” It was very popular during the black-and-white film era and was used, for example, by Alfred Hitchcock. The technique is used to convey a character’s emotional turmoil or tense state – the camera looks up at them, while the horizon is tilted to the side.
• Filming took place in California from March 1 to July 2, 1997.
• The character played by Tobey Maguire retells teenagers stories from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain, 1884) and "The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger, 1951). These are precisely the works that top the lists of banned literature in most educational institutions in the United States.
• The film is dedicated to the mother of director Gary Ross, actor J.T. Walsh (1943-1998), and camera assistant Brent Lon Hershman, who died in a car accident during the filming of "Pleasantville."
• The book "The World of Art" by Edward Bissel, which David Wagner brings to Mr. Johnson, never existed. It is a prop created solely for the film.
• In the bowling alley scene, the operator uses a technique known as the “Dutch angle.” It was very popular in the era of black and white cinema and was used, for example, by Alfred Hitchcock. The technique is used to convey a character’s emotional turmoil or tense state – the camera looks up at them from below, while the horizon is tilted to one side.