Sphere (1998 film)

Last updated

Sphere
Spheremovieposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Barry Levinson
Screenplay by
Adaptation by Kurt Wimmer
Based on Sphere
by Michael Crichton
Produced by
  • Barry Levinson
  • Michael Crichton
  • Andrew Wald
Starring
Cinematography Adam Greenberg
Edited by Stu Linder
Music by Elliot Goldenthal
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • February 14, 1998 (1998-02-14)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$73–80 million [1] [2]
Box office$73.4 million [3]

Sphere is a 1998 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed and produced by Barry Levinson, adapted by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson. It is based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. The film was released in the United States on February 14, 1998.

Contents

Plot

A spacecraft presumed to be of alien origin is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, estimated to have been there for nearly 300 years. A team of experts, including marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin, mathematician Dr. Harry Adams, astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding, psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman, and U.S. Navy Captain Harold Barnes, is assembled and taken to the Habitat, a state-of-the-art underwater living environment located near the spacecraft.

Examining the spacecraft, they are perplexed to learn it is not alien at all, but rather American in origin. However, its technology far surpasses any in the present day. The ship's computer logs cryptically suggest a mission that originated either in the distant past or future, but the team deduces that the long-dead crew was tasked with collecting an item of scientific importance.

Norman and Beth discover the ship's logs, with the last entry noting an "unknown event". A holographic reenactment of the event reveals that hundreds of years in the future, the ship encountered a black hole, which apparently led to a crash landing in the ocean, back in the 1700s. Soon after, Norman and the others stumble on a large, yet perfect sphere hovering in the cargo bay. They cannot find any way to probe the inside of the sphere, as the fluid surface seems to be impenetrable. On observation, Norman ominously notes that the sphere reflects everything in the room, except them.

When they return to the Habitat, Harry hypothesizes that everyone on this team is fated to die. Harry notes that the black hole is referred to as an "unknown event" in the future logs. However, here in the present, they have knowledge of the historic event, yet it is unable to be explained later on. During the night, Harry returns to the spacecraft and is able to enter the sphere. Norman follows Harry, where he finds him unconscious next to the sphere, and returns him to the Habitat.

The next day, the crew discovers a series of numerically encoded messages appearing on the computer screens. The crew is able to decipher them, and comes to believe they are speaking to "Jerry", an alien intelligence from the sphere. They find that Jerry is able to see and hear everything that happens on the Habitat.

A powerful typhoon strikes the surface, and the Habitat crew is forced to stay in the Habitat several more days. During that time, a series of tragedies strikes the crew, including attacks from aggressive jellyfish and a giant squid, and equipment failures in the base that kill Ted and the team's support staff. The survivors, Beth, Harry and Norman, believe Jerry is responsible. Norman discovers that they had misinterpreted the initial messages from Jerry, and that the entity speaking to them through the computers is actually Harry himself, transmitted from his mind while he is asleep. Norman and Beth eventually realize that when Harry entered the sphere, he gained the ability to make anything he imagines a reality, and they conclude that all the horrors that have befallen the Habitat were manifestations of Harry's fears.

Norman and Beth sedate Harry with enough sleeping drugs to put him into a dreamless sleep, to prevent him from doing any further damage. However, when Norman is attacked by a snake, Beth realizes that Harry alone could not have been responsible for everything that had happened on the Habitat, and she confronts Norman, accusing him of entering the sphere when he went to retrieve Harry. Beth's suspicions prove to be correct, but after experiencing her own nightmarish vision, she confesses to Norman that she too entered the sphere.

When rejoined by Harry, the three of them realize that the crew of the ship must have also entered the sphere, and they ended up killing each other after being driven mad by their fears. Under the stress of the situation, Beth has suicidal thoughts, which causes the detonation mechanisms on a store of explosives to engage, threatening to destroy the base and the spacecraft. They race to the Habitat's mini-sub, but their combined fears cause them to reappear back in the spacecraft. As a psychologist, Norman is able to see through the illusion. He triggers the mini-sub's undocking process, and overrides the others' fears that they will not escape the destruction of the Habitat and spacecraft. The sphere is untouched by the explosions.

The mini-sub makes it to the surface as the surface ships return. As Beth, Harry and Norman begin safe decompression, they realize that they will be debriefed and their newfound powers discovered. They agree to erase their memories of the event using their powers, ensuring the "unknown event" paradox is resolved. The sphere rises from the ocean and accelerates into space.

Cast

Production

Hoffman joined the cast because of Levinson's involvement. Hoffman and Levinson had collaborated on several prior projects, and Hoffman had faith that Levinson could raise the project beyond its script. [4]

Due to budgetary concerns, pre-production stopped in October 1996, and the script was revised. In the interim, Levinson directed Wag the Dog , which also starred Hoffman. [5]

Shooting on Sphere began in March 1997, with a budget that Variety estimates was $80 million. [6] Shooting took place at a naval base on Mare Island in Vallejo, California. [7] Principal photography ended in July 1997, after 68 days. [8]

Release

Sphere initially had a Christmas release date, but was moved forward to avoid competition. [9] Warner Bros. released the film theatrically in the U.S. February 13, 1998, where it debuted in third place and grossed $37 million in total. [2] Sphere did almost as well internationally, grossing $73.4 million worldwide. [3]

Reception

Sphere received mostly negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14%, based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 4/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Sphere features an A-level cast working with B-grade material, with a story seen previously in superior science-fiction films." [10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [11] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a "C−" on scale of A+ to F. [12]

Todd McCarthy of Variety said that it was derivative of classic science fiction films and devoid of suspense. [13]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "While this is no quick-witted treat on a par with Mr. Levinson's Wag the Dog , it's a solid thriller with showy scientific overtones." [14]

The Los Angeles Times characterized it as a flop. [15] [16] Kenneth Turan wrote: "The more the movie explains itself, the more ordinary it becomes." [17]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, and stated: "Sphere feels rushed. The screenplay uses lots of talk to conceal the fact that the story has never been grappled with." [18]

Soundtrack

Sphere
Soundtrack album by
Elliot Goldenthal
ReleasedFebruary 25, 1998
Genre Classical, avant-garde, modernist
Length35:36
Label Varèse Sarabande,
Cat. VSD-5913
Producer Elliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal chronology
The Butcher Boy
(1997)		Sphere
(1998)		 In Dreams
(1998)
Soundtrack
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg link
FilmtracksStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link

The score for Sphere was composed by Elliot Goldenthal.

Crew credits

Legacy

Barry Levinson said he had been inspired to write the basic plot line for his subsequent film, Liberty Heights , based on a review of Sphere for Entertainment Weekly . Its critic, Lisa Schwarzbaum, specified that Hoffman played "the empathetic Jewish psychologist. Okay, so he's not officially Jewish; he's only Hoffman, who arrives at the floating habitat and immediately announces, noodgey and menschlike, 'I'd like to call my family.' You do the math." [19] Levinson remarked:

If I do the math, I will discover what? That he is officially Jewish? What does that have to do with the movie? Do we need to know the math of Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise? Why would an actor in a sci-fi film be singled out as Jewish? For days it troubled me. Negative reviews are part of filmmaking, but what did this comment mean? Suddenly, I remembered my childhood impression that everyone in the world was Jewish, and the subsequent realization: Not only wasn't the world Jewish, but 99 percent of the world wasn't! And that led to memories of a time when Jews were denied access to a swim club, and not allowed to live in certain parts of Baltimore, just as blacks were excluded. School integration didn't happen until 1954. Finally, there was a reason to revisit Baltimore once again, not to indulge nostalgia, but to examine race, religion and class distinction. With the story of the friendship between a Jewish boy and a black girl who find themselves classmates in a newly integrated high school, I wanted to examine not the anger among Baltimore's different populations but the lack of understanding -- because with misunderstanding comes humor, humor from character. [16] [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Mamet</span> American playwright, filmmaker, and author

David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). He first gained critical acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway 1970s plays: The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. His plays Race and The Penitent, respectively, opened on Broadway in 2009 and previewed off-Broadway in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dustin Hoffman</span> American actor (born 1937)

Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Hoffman has received numerous honors, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Actor Robert De Niro has described him as "an actor with the everyman's face who embodied the heartbreakingly human".

<i>Heat</i> (1995 film) 1995 film by Michael Mann

Heat is a 1995 American crime film written and directed by Michael Mann. It features an ensemble cast led by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, with Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Wes Studi, Jon Voight, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, and Danny Trejo in supporting roles. The film follows the conflict between an LAPD detective and a career criminal while also depicting its effect on their professional relationships and personal lives.

<i>Wag the Dog</i> 1997 film by Barry Levinson

Wag the Dog is a 1997 American political satire black comedy film produced and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. The film centers on a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer who fabricates a war in Albania to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal. The screenplay by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet was loosely adapted from Larry Beinhart's 1993 novel, American Hero.

<i>Ordinary People</i> 1980 film by Robert Redford

Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his feature directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of a wealthy family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.

<i>Rain Man</i> 1988 film directed by Barry Levinson

Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive, selfish, young wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed virtually all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, an autistic savant of whose existence Charlie was unaware. Charlie is left with only his father's beloved vintage car and rosebushes. Valeria Golino also stars as Charlie's girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Columbus (filmmaker)</span> American filmmaker (born 1958)

Chris Joseph Columbus is an American filmmaker. Born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Columbus studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. After writing screenplays for several teen comedies in the mid-1980s, he made his directorial debut with a teen adventure, Adventures in Babysitting (1987). Columbus gained recognition soon after with the highly successful Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Levinson</span> American filmmaker

Barry Lee Levinson is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. His best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as Diner (1982), The Natural (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997). Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for Rain Man (1988). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and directed the first two episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Barkin</span> American actress (born 1954)

Ellen Rona Barkin is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film Diner, and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as Tender Mercies (1983), Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), The Big Easy (1986), Johnny Handsome, and Sea of Love.

<i>Sphere</i> (novel) 1987 novel by Michael Crichton

Sphere is a 1987 novel by Michael Crichton, his sixth novel under his own name and his sixteenth overall. It was adapted into the film Sphere in 1998.

<i>Diner</i> (1982 film) 1982 film directed by Barry Levinson

Diner is a 1982 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. It’s Levinson's screen-directing debut and the first of his "Baltimore Films" tetralogy, set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the other three films are Tin Men (1987), Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999). It stars Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Ellen Barkin and was released on March 5, 1982. The movie follows a close-knit circle of friends who reunite at a Baltimore diner when one of them prepares to get married.

<i>Liberty Heights</i> 1999 film

Liberty Heights is a 1999 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of his childhood growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s. The film portrays the racial injustices experienced both by the Jewish and African-American populations. Both of Nate Kurtzman's sons find women "prohibited" to them; for Van because he is Jewish and white, and for Ben because he is white. Their father goes to prison for running a burlesque show with Little Melvin, an African-American and known local drug dealer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot Goldenthal</span> American composer (born 1954)

Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2002 for his score to the motion picture Frida, directed by his longtime partner Julie Taymor.

"Relics" is the 130th episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the fourth episode of the sixth season.

<i>Homicide: Life on the Street</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of Homicide: Life on the Street, an American police procedural drama television series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between January 31 and March 31, 1993. The show was created by Paul Attanasio, with film director Barry Levinson and television writer and producer Tom Fontana serving as executive producers. Adapted from David Simon's 1991 non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, the season followed the fictional detectives of Baltimore Police Department homicide unit and the murder cases they investigate. The show was broadcast on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST, with the exception of the series premiere, which aired immediately after Super Bowl XXVII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hoffman (actor)</span> American actor and producer

Robert James Hoffman III is an American actor, producer, dancer, and choreographer.

William Theodore Link was an American film and television screenwriter and producer who often worked in collaboration with Richard Levinson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Levinson</span> American filmmaker and actor (born 1985)

Samuel Levinson is an American filmmaker and actor. He is the son of Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson. In 2010, he received his first writing credit as a co-writer for the action comedy film Operation: Endgame. The following year, he made his directorial film debut with Another Happy Day (2011), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He then received a writing credit on his father's HBO television film The Wizard of Lies (2017). He continued writing and directing for the feature films Assassination Nation (2018) and Malcolm & Marie (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gone for Goode</span> 1st episode of the 1st season of Homicide: Life on the Street

"Gone for Goode" is the first episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 31, 1993, immediately following Super Bowl XXVII. The episode was written by series creator Paul Attanasio and directed by executive producer Barry Levinson. "Gone for Goode" introduced regular cast members Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Wendy Hughes, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Jon Polito, and Kyle Secor.

<i>The Red Sea Diving Resort</i> 2019 Netflix film

The Red Sea Diving Resort is a 2019 spy thriller film written and directed by Gideon Raff. The film stars Chris Evans as an Israeli Mossad agent who runs a covert operation to rescue Ethiopian-Jewish refugees from Sudan to safe haven in Israel. Michael K. Williams, Haley Bennett, Alessandro Nivola, Michiel Huisman, Chris Chalk, Greg Kinnear, and Ben Kingsley are in supporting roles.

References

  1. ↑ "Sphere (1998)". The Numbers . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Sphere (1998)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved September 24, 2007.
  3. 1 2 Klady, Leonard (January 25, 1999). "The Top 125 Worldwide". Variety . p. 36.
  4. ↑ Harrison, Eric (February 14, 1999). "Hoffman vs. Hoffman". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ Fleming, Michael (December 2, 1996). "'Wag' snags Levinson in 'Sphere' time". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Ted (March 10, 1997). "WB clears 'Sphere' for production start". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ Archerd, Army (October 15, 1996). "Forman tells how film fest changed his life". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  8. ↑ Archerd, Army (July 2, 1997). "Smooth sailing for 'Sphere'". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ Karon, Paul (September 9, 1997). "WB spins 'Sphere' into Feb". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Sphere (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Sphere Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Sphere (1988)". CinemaScore . Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  13. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (February 10, 1998). "Review: 'Sphere'". Variety . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  14. ↑ Maslin, Janet (February 13, 1998). "Sphere (1998)". The New York Times . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ Goldstein, Patrick (February 13, 2001). "Levinson at War With DreamWorks Over 'Piece'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Hornaday, Ann (November 14, 1999). "He's Digging Deeper Into Home Turf". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ Turran, Kenneth (February 13, 1998). "20,000 Leitmotifs Under the Sea". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1998). "Sphere Movie Review & Film Summary (1998)". RogerEbert.com.
  19. ↑ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (February 20, 1998). "Sphere". EW.com.
  20. ↑ Levinson, Barry (November 14, 1999). "Barry Levinson: Baltimore, My Baltimore". The New York Times .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.