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.
Michael O'Donoghue was an American writer and performer.
Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure is a 1987 filming of a monologue written and performed by Spalding Gray. The monologue is composed of material from the original stage performance Swimming to Cambodia that was not used in the 1987 film.
True Stories is a 1986 American satirical musical comedy film directed by David Byrne, who stars alongside John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. The majority of the film's music is supplied by Talking Heads. A soundtrack album, titled Sounds from True Stories, featured songs by Byrne, Talking Heads, Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band, and others. Around the same time, Talking Heads released an album titled True Stories, composed of studio recordings of songs featured in the film.
Daniel MacIvor is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom Twitch City.
The Killing Fields is a 1984 British biographical drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. It was directed by Roland Joffé and produced by David Puttnam for his company Goldcrest Films. Sam Waterston stars as Schanberg, Haing S. Ngor as Pran, and John Malkovich as Al Rockoff. The adaptation for the screen was written by Bruce Robinson; the musical score was written by Mike Oldfield and orchestrated by David Bedford.
Gray's Anatomy is an 80-minute concert film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 involving a dramatized monologue by actor/writer Spalding Gray. The title is taken from the classic human anatomy textbook, Gray's Anatomy, originally written by Henry Gray in 1858. It was shot in ten days in late January 1996 during a break Soderbergh had from post-production on his previous film, Schizopolis.
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.
What You Mean We? is a 1986 American made-for-television musical short film starring the performance artist Laurie Anderson, who also wrote and directed the piece.
Curse of the Fly is a 1965 American horror science-fiction film and a sequel to Return of the Fly (1959), as the third installment in The Fly film series. It was released in 1965, and unlike the other films in the series was produced in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Don Sharp and the screenplay was written by Harry Spalding.
Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His earliest films were released to film theaters, but his later works have predominantly been released through the cable or straight-to-video market. He often works under pseudonyms such as "Jay Andrews," "Arch Stanton," "H.R. Blueberry," "Tom Popatopolis," and "Noble Henry." His adult films often spoof popular horror movies: Cleavagefield, for example, parodies Cloverfield, The Bare Wench Project parodies The Blair Witch Project, and Para-Knockers Activity parodies Paranormal Activity.
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.
Scotch and Wry is a Scottish television comedy sketch show produced by BBC Scotland and starring Rikki Fulton and a revolving ensemble cast which over the years included Gregor Fisher, Tony Roper, Claire Nielson, Juliet Cadzow and John Bett.
Lian Amaris is an American writer, artist, and creative communicator working to connect real world experiences, performance events and the new media landscape. She is Artistic Director of Vector Art Ensemble and has authored five plays and performances that have been professionally produced at such venues as Nuyorican Poets Cafe, HERE Arts Center, The University of Chicago, P.S. 122, the Contemporary Arts Center and The University of Massachusetts. Her work also includes popular memes such as Silicon Valley Ryan Gosling and Things that cannot screen for breast cancer.
"Pandemic 2: The Startling" is the eleventh episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 178th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 29, 2008.
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.
