THE HOAX

US, 2007, 116 minutes, Colour.
Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Stanley Tucci, Julie Delpy, Eli Wallach, Zeljko Ivanek.
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

Some older readers might remember the heady days of 1971-2 when Howard Hughes was one of the world’s richest men, wielding power, even though he had become an eccentric, dust-phobic recluse.

Novelist and art historian, especially with a book about an artist called The Fake, Clifford Irving, was not having the success he hoped for with the publication of a novel by Mc Graw Hill. Determined to find a topic that would sell, he lighted on the idea of an autobiography of Hughes. Since he was a recluse, could anyone really prove whether he had interviewed him or not! Sounded plausible and more than a touch daring, just the thing for an ambitious and risk-taking writer.

That is the gist of The Hoax, based on Irving’s story of the pitch, the writing and the denunciation of his gigantic literary confidence trick.

This version (with some inventions by writer William Wheeler who, with Swedish director Lasse Halstrom (My Life as a Dog, Gilbert Grape, Chocolat, Shipping News) thought that the story allowed him more than some poetic license) includes some dreams and imaginative interludes.

Richard Gere (a bit too old, unfortunately) plays Irving with an exuberance that carries the audience along. Particularly good is Alfred Molina as his friend Richard Susskind, nervous one minute and blurting out the truth the next. Marcia Gay Harden is Irving’s wife, Edith, who did the depositing of the publishing advances in a Swiss bank. The three of them ended up serving time in prison.

There are a lot of lines which remind us that people are more gullible than we often think (though hand writing experts and others confirmed the authenticity of the Hughes’ correspondence which Irving forged). The publishers eventually fall for the hoax in a big way. There are also some Nixon, Watergate, Hughes connections.

Actually, the film does reveal just how much pressure hoaxers must be under if they are to continue lying, having to improvise with their stories, remain consistent and cover their bases.

The Hoax is both interesting and entertaining.

1.An entertaining and interesting film? The hoax itself? Confidence tricks? Clifford Irving? The irony of the story?

2.Howard Hughes as an icon, his money, career, power, the eccentric recluse, the possibility of a biography to be published?

3.The atmosphere of the 70s, the period, publishing, homes, holidays? Authentic? Musical score?

4.The title, expectations? The story of a hoax? The writer and the director of the film imagining aspects of Clifford Irving’s life? Hoaxing Irving himself, hoaxing the audience?

5.The framework of the exposure, the flashback to the hoax itself? The final action and decisions?

6.The plausibility of the hoax? Clifford Irving, his career, writing, publications on the art hoax, his novels? Andrea and her support at Mc Graw- Hill? The readers? Life and the serialising of his stories? Irving and his hopes, celebration, his relationship with Edith, friendship with Dick? Extravagant? The background of his affair with Nina Van Pallandt? The party, the costumes, the extravagance? Discovering that he did not have the contract? The pressures on him, going to the Bahamas, the emptying of the hotel at Howard Hughes’s orders? The realisation of Hughes’s power?

7.Richard Gere as Irving, breezy, daring, relationship with Edith, fidelity and infidelity, the affair with Nina? His friendship with Dick, pressurising and controlling him? Finally manipulating him? Wracking his brains for a topic, the range of possibilities? The articles about Hughes? His decision?

8.Edith, her character, European background, her art, her marriage to Irving? Her exasperation with Nina and the relationship, the letters? Her collaborating with the hoax, the money, going to Zurich, the deposits? Her upset with Irving? The final divorce, her going to prison?

9.Dick Suskind, an author, his plans, his friendship with Irving, the research, his off-screen wife and her dominating his stances? His going with Irving each step of the way? The visits, the publishers, his compulsion to blurt out the truth, Irving covering for him? Controlling him? The prune story and the elaboration of Howard Hughes talking about the prune? The work itself, the research? Going to see Noah Dietrich, the pretence, Dietrich giving them the manuscript, Dick and his photocopying it, Irving and his finally saying it was unpublishable? Going to the libraries, getting the files? The assembling of the material, the writing and shaping of the material? The Nixon connection and the payoffs? The time of Watergate? The drinking, manipulating Dick, the prostitute, Dick’s sense of guilt? Dick and his finally going to prison? The final success as he autographed the books – and saw Irving?

10.Irving as a mercurial character, his relationships with women, the party, playing up to Andrea? The visit to Nina, his conscience? His upset about the cancelling of the contracts, the Bahamas, his decision, the plan, the ability to deceive, as the go-between with Hughes, the contracts, the advances, demanding more money, the messages, the forgeries, putting on the moustache, imitating Hughes’s manner of speaking, taping these? The changes in plan, the greater demands, the deposits in Zurich? The book, the executives and the arguments, the clashes with Shelton Fisher, the persuading of Harold Mc Graw? Andrea and her hopes? The Mc Graw- Hill bosses? The experts testing the handwriting? Irving and his performance with threats? Reflecting with Dick on how outrageous the claims were and people believing them? The helicopter, his manoeuvring the executives to think that Hughes had left? His ability to embroider stories like the prune? The visit to Noah Dietrich, the library?

11.The investigations, the Mc Graw- Hill authorities, the signatures? The investigations about Zurich? Dick and Irving in the building, hiding in the stairwell? The exposure?

12.Andrea, her work, her hopes? Shelton Fisher and his smugness? The bosses?

13.The glimpse of Nina Van Pallandt, her background, singing, her husband, the affair? The letters?

14.The exposure of the truth, Howard Hughes denouncing Irving, the admitting of the truth and the relief? The media response?

15.The prison sentences – the connection with the White House, Watergate, Nixon? Was Hughes trying to manipulate Nixon and have a hold over him? The aftermath for Nixon, the United States, for Irving and his friends?