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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Release Date:
26 August 2004 (Australia)
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Tagline:
Never judge a man by his cover. more
Plot:
The feature adaptation of Roger Lewis' book about the actor best remembered as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 2 Golden Globes.
Another 17 wins
&
23 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(20 articles)
In a World Starved For Great Comedy, Why Not Revisit Some Stellar Sellers?
(From Huffington Post. 22 September 2009, 11:55 AM, PDT)
Ratings For Tony Awards Jump -- So Do NBA's
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 8 June 2009, 2:43 AM, PDT)
(From Huffington Post. 22 September 2009, 11:55 AM, PDT)
Ratings For Tony Awards Jump -- So Do NBA's
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 8 June 2009, 2:43 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Life imitating art imitating life imitating art imitating life
more (121 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Geoffrey Rush | ... | Peter Sellers | |
| Charlize Theron | ... | Britt Ekland | |
| Emily Watson | ... | Anne Sellers | |
| John Lithgow | ... | Blake Edwards | |
| Miriam Margolyes | ... | Peg Sellers | |
| Peter Vaughan | ... | Bill Sellers | |
| Sonia Aquino | ... | Sophia Loren | |
| Stanley Tucci | ... | Stanley Kubrick | |
| Stephen Fry | ... | Maurice Woodruff | |
| Henry Goodman | ... | Dennis Selinger | |
| Alison Steadman | ... | Casting Agent | |
| Peter Gevisser | ... | Ted Levy | |
| David Robb | ... | Dr. Lyle Wexler | |
| Edward Tudor-Pole | ... | Spike Milligan (as Edward Tudor Pole) | |
| Steve Pemberton | ... | Harry Secombe |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
122 min
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Argentina:13 |
Germany:12 |
Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) |
Iceland:L |
Portugal:M/12 |
Spain:13 |
Australia:M |
Canada:14A |
Czech Republic:12 |
Finland:K-11 |
Netherlands:12 |
Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) |
Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) |
UK:15 |
Singapore:M18
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Steve Coogan was at one point considered to play Peter Sellers.
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Goofs:
Anachronisms: When Sellers finds out (via the newspaper) that Britt Ekland is arriving in London it is the early 1960s, yet on the wall of his room at the start of the scene is the UK film poster for his film Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974).
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
References Where Does It Hurt? (1972)
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Soundtrack:
In the Midnight Hour
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (121 total)
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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers has to be one of the most creative, complex and revealing non-documentary movies ever made about an actual person, living or dead, and the inspired casting of Geoffrey Rush is spot on - he's magnificent in all the various and sundry Sellers guises, especially the ones from Dr. Strangelove and The Pink Panther's bumbling inspector. The rest of the casting is excellent too, particularly Charlize Theron as the second "B.E." in Seller's life, Britt Ekland.
The thing I liked most about this movie was how the script let us see how Sellers created his characters - how he was constantly "in character" or inbetween characters. He admits in the movie to being an empty vessel, with no personality of his own; this is what allowed him to be such an insufferably cruel bastard to all the people who were closest to him: he used his immersive, endlessly obsessive artistic process as a weapon and, ultimately, as a substitute for being human.
It's always brutally hard as an artist to find the balance - you have to be true to your work, naturally, and as an actor especially you're constantly redefining your inner reality, but you can't do it at the expense of the people who love you and whom you profess to love; there has to be emotional and mental discipline otherwise you become psychotically self-indulgent, as this film showed Sellers to be. The most poignant scene in the movie for me was when Sellers, in his typically childish and deranged state, tells his little daughter, "I'm an empty shell, there's nobody inside," words to that effect, and she answers, with a sad wisdom that no child should have to learn to possess, "Yes, daddy."