Monster in a Box (1992)

This is the story of Spalding Gray and his attempt to write a novel. It is a first person account about writing and living, and dealing with success while trying to be successful.

Director:

Nick Broomfield

Writer:

Spalding Gray

Star:

Spalding Gray

Cast

Credited cast:
Spalding Gray	...	Himself

Storyline

This is the story of Spalding Gray and his attempt to write a novel. It is a first person account about writing and living, and dealing with success while trying to be successful.

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Plot Keywords:

writing | one man show | live performance | monologue | based on play | 

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Taglines:

He Survived "Swimming to Cambodia." Now The Adventure Continues.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1992 (USA)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$311,245

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, Jon Blair Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title refers to the enormously long autobiographical novel that Spalding Gray describes trying to finish, a manuscript of which he uses as a prop throughout the movie. The same year the film was released, this was published (apparently in edited form) as "Impossible Vacation".

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Quotes

Spalding Gray: [on travelling to Nicaragua] We sign up with thirty-six fact-finding American groups. Earnest! EARNEST! I felt like TRASH!

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Connections

References Splash (1984)

User Reviews

A man has to have an interesting persona, to get the audience interested

in his descriptions of CAA, platinum card lunches in Hollywood, psychoanalysis, a vacation in Provincetown he never took, and free trips to Nicaragua, financed by Columbia pictures.

It sounds narcissistic, but Spalding Gray (possibly because of his unusual personality) ropes the audience in, laughs at himself (perhaps because he did not take the Hollywood thing oh-so-seriously) and gets us to care.

This monologue is not just about "The Killing Fields", or "Swimming to Cambodia"; it is more a pastiche of events, as he sees them. Some of the lines are classic, as when Gray meets with the esteemed talent agents at CAA. The conference table is ..."full of them, tanned, healthy, fresh from drinking blue-green algae from an Oregon lake...there are no drugs now in Hollywood".

This was before the tragedy occurred. Many of us will miss his off-balance humor. 9/10.