Poster from TMDB
Film · TMDB
7.6A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.
Cast
- Peter Sellers as Chance
- Shirley MacLaine as Eve Rand
- Melvyn Douglas as Benjamin Rand
- Jack Warden as President 'Bobby'
- Richard Dysart as Dr. Robert Allenby
- Richard Basehart as Vladimir Skrapinov
Themes
- usa president
- washington dc, usa
- based on novel or book
- identity
- autism
- impotence
- botanist
- philosophical
- ambivalent
- baffled
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Key facts
- Directed by
- Hal Ashby
- Screenplay by
- Jerzy Kosiński
- Based on
- Being There , 1970 novel, by Jerzy Kosiński
- Produced by
- Andrew Braunsberg
- Starring
- Peter Sellers Shirley MacLaine Melvyn Douglas Jack Warden Richard Dysart Richard Basehart
- Cinematography
- Caleb Deschanel
- Edited by
- Don Zimmerman
- Music by
- Johnny Mandel
- Production company
- Lorimar Productions
- Distributed by
- United Artists
- Release date
- December 19, 1979 ( 1979-12-19 )
- Running time
- 130 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $30.2 million (US)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Duration
- 130
- FilmAffinity ID
- 953252
Show 3 more facts
- publication date
- 1980-09-19
- title
- Being There
- review score
- 95%
Sources (13)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Article
Being There is a 1979 American satirical comedy-drama film starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, and Melvyn Douglas. Directed by Hal Ashby, it is based on the 1970 novel Being There by Jerzy Kosiński, and adapted for the screen by Kosiński and the uncredited Robert C. Jones. Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, and Richard Basehart are featured in support. The film concerns a simple-minded and heavily sheltered gardener who explores the outside world after his wealthy employer dies and is mistaken for a brilliant political pundit.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Sellers was nominated for Best Actor. The screenplay won the British Academy Film Award for Best Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected Being There for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It has since developed a strong cult following and is a favorite among many filmmakers.