Man on the Moon (1999)

The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Stars:

Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Gerry Becker

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Carrey	...	Andy Kaufman (as Tony Clifton)
Gerry Becker	...	Stanley Kaufman - Andy's Father
Greyson Erik Pendry	...	Little Michael Kaufman (as Greyson Pendry)
Brittany Colonna	...	Baby Carol Kaufman
Leslie Lyles	...	Janice Kaufman - Andy's Mother
Bobby Boriello	...	Little Andy Kaufman
George Shapiro	...	Mr. Besserman
Danny DeVito	...	George Shapiro
Budd Friedman	...	Budd Friedman
Tom Dreesen	...	Wiseass Comic
Thomas Armbruster	...	Improv Piano Player
Pamela Abdy	...	Diane Barnett
Wendy Polland	...	Little Wendy
Cash Oshman	...	Yogi
Matt Price	...	Meditation Student

Storyline

A biographical film on the late comedian Andy Kaufman. Kaufman, along with his role on Taxi (1978), was famous for being the self-declared Intergender Wrestling Champion of the world. After beating women time and time again, Jerry Lawler (who plays himself in the movie), a professional wrestler, got tired of seeing all of this and decided to challenge Kaufman to a match. In most of the matches the two had, Lawler prevailed with the piledriver, which is a move by spiking an opponent head-first into the mat. One of the most famous moments in this feud was in the early 80s when Kaufman threw coffee on Lawler on Late Night with David Letterman (1982), got into fisticuffs with Lawler, and proceeded to sue NBC.

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Plot Keywords:

comedian | eccentric | wrestler | female frontal nudity | kissing while having sex | 

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Taglines:

"Hello, my name is Andy and this is my Bus" [Bus Poster]

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief sexuality/nudity

Details

Country:

UK Germany Japan USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Andy Kaufman

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$82,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,515,585, 26 December 1999

Gross USA:

$34,607,430

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$47,434,430

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Mutual Film Company, Jersey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A man impersonating Gary Oldman discussed the project with an unsuspecting Danny DeVito for months and even submitted an audition tape to Milos Forman. The real Gary Oldman had passed on the role of Andy Kaufman months earlier, and became aware of the scam after he found his name listed as one of the actors auditioning for the part.

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Goofs

There is an African American Rockette at Carnegie Hall. The Radio City Rockettes never had an African American member until 1988.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Andy Kaufman: Hello. I am Andy and I would like to thank you for coming to my movie. I wish it was *better*, you know, but... it is so stupid! It's terrible! I do not even like it. All of the most important things in my life are changed around and mixed up for dramatic purposes. So, I decided to cut out all of the baloney! Now the movie is much *shorter*.
[pause]
Andy Kaufman: In fact, this is the end of the movie. Thank you very much.

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Crazy Credits

Jim Carrey's head (as Kaufman) peeks back in during the end credits.

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Alternate Versions

Several scenes were shot but cut. These include:

• The cast of Taxi rehearsing with a stand-in substituting for Andy.
• Andy responding to fan mail from some attractive girls.
• Andy taking a girl out on a date and acting so weird she asks to go home.
• After the Tony Clifton fiasco on the Taxi set, Andy calling Ed Weinberger and thanking him for playing along so convincingly.
• A scene backstage after Andy "hurts" his neck at the wrestling match where his worried parents come to see if he is okay.
• A scene towards the end of the movie at the Improv Club where Andy resurrects his Foreign Man routine and is "heckled" by Zmuda posing as an audience member.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Man on the Moon/Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo/Cradle Will Rock/The Cider House Rules/The War Zone (1999)

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Soundtracks

Main and End Title from 'Lassie'
(1940)
Written by William Lava
Courtesy of Marlen Music

User Reviews

Fascinating Bio Of A Strange, Strange Man

Biographies of strange people have always fascinated me, and this is no exception. And "strange" doesn't really seem to adequately describe real-life comedian Andy Kauffman. He was REALLY different, many times very offensive, sometimes very unfunny....but always extremely interesting and certainly unique.

Jim Carrey shows us once again how comedians can be such good dramatic actors. Carrey is outstanding in this role, and perfect for it. The rest of the cast is good, too, from Danny DeVito to Paul Giamatti to Courtney Love.

Right from the beginning of this movie one sees how original it is, and how original Kaufman was as a comedian. His routines, antics and put-ons are so realistically done that no thinks they are just that. Unfortunately, his "jokes" don't always go over so well, aren't appreciated by most audiences and he is not always the most likable entertainer you will ever see. That means - be forewarned - that there are a number of unpleasant scenes in this film. You have to really appreciate Kauffman's absurd humor and to appreciate Carrey's great portrait of this man.

On multiple viewings (I've seen it four times) I liked this film even more than the first time, even though I knew the surprises. I don't know of any comedian - to this day - who deliberately tried to annoy his audience or truly liked it when his audience hated him. I cannot believe he had the nerve to do the things he did. In summary, this is a fascinating biography, to say the least.