Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Timing: 2:15 (135 min)

6.595/10
1400

7.212/10
18552

6.7/10
114000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 22

Actors and characters

Release date

1997-08-08

Country

United States

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures, Silver Pictures, Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, Warner Bros.

Genre

Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Budget

$75 000 000

Revenue

$136 982 834

Website

Director

Richard Donner

Actors

Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart, Cylk Cozart, Steve Kahan, Terry Alexander, Alex McArthur, Rod McLachlan, Michael Potts, Jim Sterling
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Brian Helgeland

Producer

Joel Silver, Richard Donner, Jim Van Wyck

Operator

John Schwartzman

Composer

Carter Burwell

Artist

Audition

Marion Dougherty

Editing

Frank J. Urioste, Kevin Stitt
All team (94)

• The film has a moment where the protagonist, while fleeing a chase, ends up in a cinema where another film by Richard Donner, "Lady Hawk" (1985), is being shown: Rutger Hauer appears in the episode.
• It was released in Russia under the title "The Mystery of the Conspiracy".
• The secret CIA program codenamed MK-ULTRA did indeed exist. It was carried out between 1953 and 1973, when the then-Director of the CIA ordered the program to be shut down and all documentation destroyed. Part of the documentation (around 20,000 items) survived and was made public in 1977.
• The scene in which his character – a taxi driver – tells his passengers about a conspiracy theory was conceived by Mel Gibson himself.
• Richard Donner (1930-2021) met the screenwriter Brian Helgeland at the gates of Warner Brothers studio, where he was holding a one-man picket with a sign that read “Ready to write scripts for money.” Donner asked what this meant, heard in response that Helgeland wrote scripts but was currently unemployed, and decided to take a chance and give him an opportunity.
• Filming took place from October 14, 1996, to February 7, 1997.
• The film features a scene where the protagonist, while escaping pursuit, finds himself in a movie theater showing another film by Richard Donner, “Lady Hawk” (1985): the scene includes Rutger Hauer.