MAN ON THE MOON
US, 1999, 118 minutes, Colour.
Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito?, Paul Giammati, Courtney Love.
As themselves: David Letterman, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Conaway, Lorne Michaels.
Directed by Milos Forman.
Man on the Moon, for those who do not know the comedian Andy Kaufman whose life this is, will be a strange experience. He was a love him or hate him personality. Those who loved him appreciated his role in over a hundred episodes of the television series Taxi (the stars of which reassemble here for some sequences to recreate the making of Taxi). Others liked his strange style of comedy – performance art as it is now called. Those who hated him, did not understand his performance art, his focus on himself, his playing with the heads of his audience – as well as his inter-gender wrestling. This is all in the film.
The film opens with Jim Carrey as Kaufman and the final credits – and then the introduction to Kaufman’s early life in Long Island, his acting for his sister (actually played by one of Kaufman’s granddaughters). The film then makes the transition to his work in clubs, his improvisations with comedy and singing (and silence). He became involved in transcendental meditation. Agent George Shapiro (played by Danny DeVito? who also appeared in Taxi) fosters his career and enables him to appear in Taxi. However, Kaufman is more interested in his performance art and offending people, especially by his character Tony Clifton. He was aided and abetted in all this by his good friend Bob Zmuda (who also appears in this film). Zmuda is played very well by Paul Giammati. Courtney Love portrays Kaufman’s girlfriend.
Much is made of the wrestling sequences and Jeff Lawler as the champion – who, it was later revealed, joined in rigging some of the stunts with Kaufman. There is a re-creation of a quarrel on the David Letterman Show.
Kaufman developed cancer and was dead by the age of thirty-five. Many thought this was a hoax as well – but, his memory lived on with Taxi as well as this film study and tribute. Several groups wrote songs about him, including REM who wrote ‘Man on the Moon’.
The film was directed by Czech director Milos Forman who made idiosyncratic Czech films during the 1960s but then moved to the west and directed some very archetypal American films including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hair, Ragtime, The People vs Larry Flynt. Forman won Oscars as best director for Cuckoo’s Nest as well as Amadeus. He also did period dramas like Belmont and Goya’s Ghosts. Jim Carrey won a Golden Globe for this performance (soon after he won a Golden Globe for his breakthrough dramatic appearance in The Truman Show).
1.A showbiz story, the 20th century, stand-up comedy, tough comedy, performance art, concerts, television?
2.Audience knowledge of Andy Kaufman, Taxi? If no knowledge, what was the impact of this film for Kaufman as a person, a comedian, his style of comedy?
3.The title, the song, the tributes to Kaufman?
4.The introduction, Kaufman and his look at the audience, his speaking, his autobiography, the final credits, his playing the record? The joke? His reappearing at the end credits? Establishing his persona and relationship with the audience? Playing with them?
5.The 1970s and 80s? America, ordinary, New York State, his home, family background? The contrast with Los Angeles and Hollywood? University campuses? The south and the wrestling world? TV offices and studios? An authentic feel?
6.Andy as a boy, his father wanting him outdoors, telling him he had to have an audience, his parents and his later career, watching him on television, present at his performances, the wrestling? Their puzzle about him? Their grief at his illness?
7.The adult Kaufman? The song of the animals in the club, his manager letting him go? Improvisation, his use of his Lithuanian voice, the Elvis impersonation? Shapiro watching? The audience, their reaction? Meeting Shapiro and revealing his real self?
8.Andy Kaufman’s life, his friendship with Bob Zmuda, his writer, his co-participant in practical jokes? The style of his humour, getting at the audience, the touch of cruelty, entertaining Bob and himself rather than an audience? His reaction towards sitcoms? Acting? His impersonation with Tony Clifton? The contract for Taxi, the conditions, meditation (and the advice of the Maharishi to use silence and the way that he used it for comedy)? Tony Clifton appearing in Taxi, the agreement of the bosses?
9.Tony Clifton, his appearance, performance, his being off-key, loud and offensive, people in the restaurant? Shapiro watching? The revelation about Bob Zmuda, their discussions at the restaurant? Bob and his friendship, writing, supporting Andy? Shapiro wanting Andy to relax? Bob taking him to the brothel, the prostitutes and the revelation that he went there frequently?
10.Taxi, the cast, his introduction, his work? His popularity and style? Tony Clifton and the exasperation of the cast, the bosses? His being voted off Taxi? The funeral and the cast turning up?
11.The variety of gigs, going to the university, their wanting his Taxi character, his resentment, reading The Great Gatsby in an English voice, the reaction, the walkout?
12.The wrestling, inter-gender, anti-women, Lyn and her challenge, the fight, the attraction? Her participating in the set-up? His using Lyn? The challenge to Lawler, the attack, the fights, the injuries? The television commentators, the crowds? The Letterman Show and the interaction, the revelation that there was a set-up?
13.Lyn, with Andy, living with him, the truth about his illness, her support?
14.The visit to the doctor, the treatment, the response of friends, family, people thinking it was a hoax, going to the Philippines for treatment, his death?
15.The funeral, his film, the song and asking people to join in, everybody present? The recapitulation of his life?
16.The postscript and the Tony Clifton jokes – and Bob Zmuda paying tribute?
17.A particularly American film, particular style of comedy – its appeal or not?
