Gary Poster, with essential assists from Galyn Norwood, Phiroon Phihakendr, Jose Quijada, Pavandeep Kalra. The President dials Democrats to talk Lewinsky. This makes The Truman Show a quest movie. Our hero's need to know himself and his place in the universe gives the viewer a passionate rooting interest. But like any supple parable, the film allows for several plausible interpretations.
Most people think they have something to do with shaping their existence.
Finally, the film speaks to man's isolation from the world around him. Niccol says the only source material he needed for The Truman Show was his own paranoia. But as the '90s devolved into media spectacles of Bronco chases, freeway suicides and Jerry Springer grudge matches, the conceit of TV as worldwide psychodrama seemed prescient. And his warmth was a hedge against a movie that could have been on the cold side and needed someone with audience sympathy. The original script was set in New York City.