A Brief History of Time (1991)

Director:

Errol Morris

Writer:

Stephen Hawking (book)

Release Date:

16 October 1992 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

Where did the universe come from? Will time ever come to an end? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Plot:

A film about the life and work of the cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, who despite his near total paralysis, is one of the great minds of all time.

Plot Keywords:

Physics | Paralysis | Cosmology | Astronomy | Professor

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Isobel Hawking	...	Herself - Stephen Hawking's Mother
Stephen Hawking	...	Himself
Janet Humphrey	...	Herself - Stephen Hawking's Aunt
Mary Hawking	...	Herself - Stephen Hawking's Sister
Basil King	...	Himself - Hawking Family Neighbor
Derek Powney	...	Himself - Hawking Classmate at Oxford
Norman Dix	...	Himself - Hawking Classmate at Oxford
Robert Berman	...	Himself - Hawking Tutor at Oxford
Gordon Berry	...	Himself - Hawking Classmate at Oxford
Roger Penrose	...	Himself - Professor at Cambridge
Dennis Sciama	...	Himself - Professor at Cambridge
John Wheeler	...	Himself - Astrophysicist
Brandon Carter	...	Himself - Astrophysicist
John Taylor	...	Himself - Astrophysicist
Kip Thorne	...	Himself - Research Scientist at Cambridge
Don Page	...	Himself - Hawking Student
Christopher Isham	...	Himself - Astrophysicist
Brian Whitt	...	Himself - Hawking Student
Raymond Laflamme	...	Himself - Hawking Student

Directed by
Errol Morris

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stephen Hawking		book

Produced by
Jan Euden	....	assistant producer
Colin Ewing	....	executive producer: Anglia Television
Gordon Freedman	....	executive producer
David Hickman	....	producer
Steven Seidenberg	....	assistant producer
Kathleen Kennedy	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Steven Spielberg	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Philip Glass

Cinematography by
John Bailey
Stefan Czapsky

Film Editing by
Brad Fuller

Production Design by
Ted Bafaloukos

Art Direction by
David Lee

Makeup Department
Suzie Zamit	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Barney Reisz	....	production supervisor
Paul Sparrow	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nick Heckstall-Smith	....	first assistant director

Art Department
John Bastin	....	carpenter
Robert Betts	....	painter
Alan Chesters	....	construction manager
Bob Cox	....	construction manager
Terry Dunne	....	props: UK
Jenny Dyer	....	property buyer
Jenny Dyer	....	set dresser
Jim Foran	....	carpenter
Tommy Gray	....	stagehand
Mark Hedges	....	props: UK
Paul Hedges	....	property master
Michael Hersey	....	painter
Rebekah Ingalls	....	props: USA
David Ned Kelly	....	carpenter (as Ned Kelly)
Pat Lynch	....	painter
Richard Maris	....	props: UK
Alan Pearson	....	painter
Brian Webb	....	stagehand
Michael Webb	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Ed Barteski	....	assistant sound editor
Tony Bell	....	boom operator (as Antony Bell)
Dante Desole	....	assistant sound engineer
Angela Dryden	....	sound engineer
Bob Edwards	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bradford L. Hohle	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Scott Hollingsworth	....	assistant sound engineer
Julie Lindner	....	assistant sound editor
Eliza Paley	....	sound editor
Ira Spiegel	....	sound editor
Randy Thom	....	sound effects
Randy Thom	....	supervising sound re-recording mixer
Bruce White	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Dennis Bartlett	....	blue screen supervisor
Aung Min	....	digital effects artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Kevin Bryan	....	electrician
Peter Butler	....	grip
Philippe Carr-Forster	....	camera operator (as Philip Carr-Forster)
Steve Davis	....	rigger
Dave Everall	....	rigger
John Foster	....	clapper loader
Bill Geddes	....	grip
Sunil Gupta	....	still photographer
Ian Hills	....	rigger
Ed Joyce	....	animation camera operator
Bill Keenan	....	rigger
Brian Kemp	....	gaffer
Steve Kitchen	....	electrician
Eddie Matthews	....	electrician
Stephen Morley	....	still photographer: production stills
Bob Olley	....	electrician
Steve Parker	....	focus puller
John Payne	....	grip
Tony Sankey	....	grip
Chris Schwarz	....	still photographer
Ed Searles	....	animation camera operator
Peter Toley	....	electrician
George C. Webb	....	electrician
Gary Willis	....	gaffer

Editorial Department
William A. Anderson	....	additional editor
Eliza Johnston	....	assistant editor
Julian Rodd	....	associate editor
Lisa Schechter	....	associate editor
Maura E. Shea	....	apprentice editor (as Maura Shea)
Charlie Silver	....	consulting editor
Mary Skinner	....	editorial assistant
Carolyn Stark	....	apprentice editor

Music Department
Suki Buchman	....	music editor
Michael Riesman	....	conductor

Transportation Department
Ronnie Nanson	....	unit driver
John Orsler	....	driver: props
Bill Wright	....	unit driver

Other crew
Brook Adams	....	runner
Ted Bafaloukos	....	master drawings
Alex Baxter	....	radiology advisor
Jacob Beckenstein	....	archive photographs
Robert Berman	....	archive photographs
Colin Bevan	....	publicist
David Bulbeck	....	stand-in: Stephen Hawking
Suzanna Bunting	....	production assistant
Sidney Coleman	....	science advisor
Becky Crane	....	production secretary
Donna Davis	....	research assistant
Fiona Eldridge	....	publicist
Buck Ewing	....	transcriptions
Philip Gaze	....	runner
Karen Gordon	....	production secretary
David Hohmann	....	graphics coordinator
Alan John	....	financial controller
Raymond Laflamme	....	time reverse calculations
Linda Levy	....	unit publicist
Sharon Mansfield	....	runner
David Mason	....	wheelchair/computer consultant
Rachel McCallister	....	publicist
Carolyn Moore	....	production assistant
Rosemary Nicholls	....	chicken wrangler
Don Page	....	archive photographs
Keir Pearson	....	research assistant
Nick Powers	....	back projection supervisor
Ana Ransom	....	transcriptions
Christine A. Sacani	....	production coordinator: USA
David Schisgall	....	assistant: Errol Morris
Paul Sowerbutts	....	production associate
Kip Thorne	....	archive photographs

Production Companies

• Amblin Entertainment
• Anglia Television
• Channel Four Films
• Cineplex Odeon Films
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
• Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)

Distributors

• Triton Pictures (1992) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cineplex Odeon Films (1992) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Cineplex-Odeon Home Video (1993) (Canada) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• MCA (1993) (Canada) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (1993) (USA) (video)

Special Effects

• Balsmeyer and Everett (visual effects photography)

Other Companies

• Balsmeyer and Everett  motion control
• Balsmeyer and Everett  title design
• Cavalier Transport  construction transport
• D. H. A. Lighting  back projection slides
• Effects House, The  opticals
• Hamish Bell Movie Transport  prop transport
• J.G. Films  negative cutting
• Looking Glass Studios  music recording and mixing
• Rhythm and Hues  computer animation
• Skywalker Sound  sound effects recording
• Sound One Corporation  re-recording facilities
• Words Plus Inc. Livermore, California, USA  Prof. Hawking's computerized communication system

Also Known As:

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

UK | Japan | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Sweden:Btl | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

Appearances to the contrary, all interviews were filmed on sets built for the movie.

Quotes:

Stephen Hawking:I wanted to understand how the universe began.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'A Brief History of Time' (1992) (TV)

Could have been much better.

As a physicist, talk about blackholes and cosmology gets my heart racing. However I found this presentation too slow and not packed with enough information for the interested layman (who is most likely to see it). If you have more than a passing curiosity in this sort of stuff, go to the library and check out some books. You will find they explain current scientific cosmologies with far more detail while at the same time filling you with more of a sense of wonder than this movie does. Also to set the record straight: Hawking is NOT considered the "greatest mind" or the world's "smartest person" as commonly asserted even among the user reviews here at the IMDb. Hawking himself has commented that "It is rubbish. It is just media hype. They needed somebody to fill the role model of disabled genius. At least I'm disabled." To be fair, he is probably a genius but among history's greatest scientists, people like Einstein, Newton, Gauss, and many others easily are even more highly regarded. This is not to disrespect Hawking who is a undoubtedly a great scientist but rather not to disrespect others who have done even more than he has. Anyhow, see the movie if you are truly into science. But if not, I think it would be boring for you.