Monster in a Box | |
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Directed by | Nick Broomfield |
Written by | Spalding Gray |
Produced by | Jon Blair Norman I. Cohen Renée Shafransky |
Starring | Spalding Gray |
Cinematography | Michael Coulter |
Music by | Laurie Anderson |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $311,245 |
Monster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield. [1]
A follow-up to Gray's earlier work, Swimming to Cambodia , the work consists of a long-form monologue by Gray detailing the trials and tribulations he encountered while writing his first novel, Impossible Vacation (the titular "monster"). He also relates the sudden fame afforded him after the release of Swimming to Cambodia .
The soundtrack for the film was composed by Laurie Anderson.
An extended version of the monologue was published in book form prior to the release of the film.
This monologue – or at least its title – was parodied on Sesame Street in a 1993 instalment of "Monsterpiece Theater." The main actor (and writer) of the parody was a monster aptly called Spalding Monster in homage to Gray.
Spalding Gray was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for his film adaptations of these works, beginning in 1987. He wrote and starred in several, working with different directors.
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Jon Blair, CBE, is a South African-born British writer, film producer, and director of documentary films, drama, and comedy.
Swimming to Cambodia, also known as Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia, is a 1987 American concert film written by and starring Spalding Gray, and directed by Jonathan Demme. The performance film is of Gray's play and monologue, which centered on such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in the film The Killing Fields, the Cold War, Cambodia Year Zero, and his search for his "perfect moment". It was nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay at the 1988 Independent Spirit Awards.
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John Gunther Dean was an American diplomat. From 1974 to 1988, he served as the United States ambassador to five nations under four American presidents.
Gregory Mosher is an American director and producer of stage productions at the Lincoln Center and Goodman Theatres, on and off-Broadway, at the Royal National Theatre, and in the West End. He is also a film director and television director, producer, and writer. He currently serves as Senior Associate Dean for the Arts at Hunter College.
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And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of monologist Spalding Gray. It premiered on January 23, 2010 at the Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival and the 2010 Maryland Film Festival. Soderbergh had earlier directed Gray's filmed monologue, Gray's Anatomy.
Renée Shafransky is an American writer, independent film producer and director, and psychotherapist. She is known for her collaborations with writer/actor/monologist Spalding Gray, and as a founding member of the Collective for Living Cinema. Her novel Tips for Living was published in 2018.
In September 2021, AMC Theatres began airing a commercial starring actress Nicole Kidman in its theaters and on television. The ad, written by screenwriter Billy Ray, was intended to spur theater attendance following the COVID-19 pandemic by highlighting the "magic" of the movie theater experience. In the ad, Kidman enters and sits alone in an empty AMC theater while delivering a monologue describing in heightened language the pleasures of the moviegoing experience, such as the "indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim and we go somewhere we've never been before". The commercial became a surprise hit among audiences, who came to appreciate the unintentional campiness of its earnestly rhapsodic style and script, particularly the line "Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this". It has inspired internet memes, parodies, and in-theatre audience participation rituals.