Edtv (1999)

Video store clerk Ed agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a tv network.

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Émile Gaudreault (screenplay), Sylvie Bouchard (screenplay),

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew McConaughey	...	Ed 'Eddie' Pekurny
Jenna Elfman	...	Shari
Woody Harrelson	...	Ray Pekurny
Sally Kirkland	...	Jeanette
Martin Landau	...	Al
Ellen DeGeneres	...	Cynthia Topping
Rob Reiner	...	Mr. Whitaker
Dennis Hopper	...	Henry 'Hank' Pekurny
Elizabeth Hurley	...	Jill
Adam Goldberg	...	John
Viveka Davis	...	Marcia
Clint Howard	...	Ken
Geoffrey Blake	...	Keith
Gail Boggs	...	Wife
Jenna Byrne	...	Felicia

Storyline

A comedy about a video store clerk Ed whose life is thrown into chaos when he agrees to let an executive of a television studio film him for 24 hours.

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Plot Keywords:

television | video store | producer | broadcast | father son relationship | 

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Taglines:

The story of a nobody everybody is watching

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related situations, partial nudity and crude language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 March 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ed TV

Filming Locations:

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument - One S. Castillo Drive, St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£290,984 (UK) (19 November 1999)

Gross:

ESP 104,113,741 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imagine Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first sponsor shown on Edtv is the video store Ed works in.

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Goofs

Ed's feet change position between shots when he is sitting in the bathroom on the hamper and talking to Cynthia. The hamper also changes position in the overhead shot.

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Quotes

Bill Maher: Okay, since we have Ray Pekurny on the panel today, we thought we'd talk to him about his new book. It's called "My Brother Pissed On Me." Is that a metaphor or did he really piss on you?
Ray Pekurny: It's all in the book, right there.
Bill Maher: Okay, then. Well, I'll be honest, I haven't read it, because, frankly, it sounds kind of stupid.

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Connections

References Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Bareback Rider"
Written by Dave Anderson
Courtesy of Zomba Music Services

User Reviews

Nearly nothing like the Truman Show.

It's a shame that due to the timing of when Edtv was released, it was automatically deemed a pitiful copy of the Truman Show, a movie that won our hearts the previous year. Now, I love the Truman Show too, very much, and I'll admit that I was was very uninterested in ever seeing a copy-cat version of it. It was until just a few weeks ago that I actually watched Edtv (even with the expectation that I would most likely not like it too much) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

Not only was Edtv funny and entertaining, but it was nearly nothing at all like the Truman Show. I mean, the ONLY similarity is the idea of a live TV show about an "ordinary" guy. But Truman didn't even know he was on TV. He was just living what he thought was an ordinary life. All the cameras and microphones were completely hidden and he lived in a town that was entirely fabricated from his wife and life-long best friend, to the rain and even the sun. His is a story of a man searching for an escape from his everyday life, which little by little he is realizing may not be what it seems. Ed on the other hand was a nobody who was chosen to have a camera crew actually follow him around all day while he went on about his life. His life, and in turn the show, became more about instant celebrity as viewers became enchanted in watching this loser become a mega-star over night. People flocked around him just as much to meet him as to be on TV themselves and he endured some major struggles in keeping his life and relationships normal, which was impossible with his celebrity status and on-camera life.

Both movies had a theme of America's fixation with TV, and more specifically Reality TV, but have different plots and overall themes altogether. I think Edtv was a very enjoyable movie and Mathew McConaughey and Jenna Elfman delivered fantastic performances. Not to mention the mind boggling, and I think underrated, job of editing such an enormous amount of footage. Considering that while the film cameras were rolling, the video cameras were rolling too, and just about all of the video footage you see was actually shot when you see it being shot, I think that Ron Howard did a great job of keeping track of it all and actually making it work. So when someone says, "Well, it was no Truman Show" they are absolutely right. I think it is a great movie that stands on it's own and should stand proud.