IMDb > The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) More at IMDbPro »

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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) -- The feature adaptation of Roger Lewis' book about the actor best remembered as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) -- Virgin.net Movies - Trailer (WMP)

Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   7,166 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Stephen Hopkins
Writers (WGA):
Roger Lewis (book)
Christopher Markus (teleplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
26 August 2004 (Australia) more
Genre:
Biography | Drama more
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 more
User Comments:
Life imitating art imitating life imitating art imitating life more (120 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
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
122 min
Country:
USA | UK
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Geoffrey Rush initially turned down the film, feeling he didn't possess the mental capacity to play Peter Sellers. But after finishing _Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)_, Rush changed his mind and decided to do the film, feeling that the previous film had put him in the right mindset. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Sellers' father is in the hospital, his oxygen mask is initially on upside down. In subsequent shots, the mask is right side up. more
Quotes:
Peter Sellers: People ask me why do I keep compromising my artistic integrity by walking in front of Blake's cameras. Do you know what I tell them? Money. more
Movie Connections:
Features Being There (1979) more
Soundtrack:
Riding on a Crest of a Wave more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
74 out of 85 people found the following comment useful.
Life imitating art imitating life imitating art imitating life, 6 December 2004
8/10
Author: Rogue-32 from L A.

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."

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