Impostor (2001)

In the future, an alien race uses androids as bombs to attack Earth. A government weapons specialist is accused of being one such android and sets out to prove his innocence.

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writers:

Philip K. Dick (short story "The Impostor"), Scott Rosenberg (adaptation)

Stars:

Shane Brolly, Vincent D'Onofrio, Gary Sinise

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gary Sinise	...	Spencer Olham
Madeleine Stowe	...	Maya Olham
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Hathaway
Tony Shalhoub	...	Nelson Gittes
Tim Guinee	...	Dr. Carone
Mekhi Phifer	...	Cale
Gary Dourdan	...	Captain Burke
Lindsay Crouse	...	Chancellor
Elizabeth Peña	...	Midwife (as Elizabeth Pena)
Jason Beck	...	Gang Boy #2
Judy Jean Berns	...	Disgruntled Woman
Veena Bidasha	...	Frowning Nurse
Ellen Bradley	...	Nursing Mother
Shane Brolly	...	Lt. Burrows
Golden Brooks	...	Cale's Sister

Storyline

Originally a 30 minute portion for an anthology film, Impostor was retooled into a full length feature film. Based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name, it follows the lead character Spencer Olham's quest to regain his identity after being suspected as an alien android, in an future Earth at war with aliens that use the androids as bombs to destroy their enemies homeworlds.

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | android | alien | bomb | future | 

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Taglines:

In the Future, not everyone is who they seem to be.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Uljez

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,022,523, 6 January 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$6,114,237, 20 January 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Marty Katz Productions, Mojo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 102 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally intended to be Miramax's big Christmas movie for 2001, the film got delayed to January just days before it was set to open due to last-minute edits on Kate and Leopold (2001), which forced that film to take this film's original date.

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Goofs

When Captain Burke is explaining to Major Hathaway why they can't get a scan on the building, his lips don't match his words.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Spencer Olham: There wasn't always a war with the Centauri, but in my lifetime it's all I've ever known. By the year 2050, six years after the first attack, we'd lost so many things. We'd lost the sky to electromagnetic domes, to shield the Earth from frequent air raids increasing in intensity. We'd lost the uncovered cities that the government forgot. We'd lost democracy to global leadership. We didn't expect peace anymore with the Centauri, because we came to see that peace wasn't their goal. ...

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Connections

Referenced in Minority Report (2002)

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Soundtracks

Tribal Flight 1
by Richard Downing
Courtesy of Associated Production Music LLC

User Reviews

Much better than Minority Report...

I was surprised to see that IMDB users had rated this movie as low as they did. This movie really exemplifies the paranoia that is typical of the works of Philip K. Dick much better than the more expensive and more widely-seen "Minority Report". As much as that movie had going for it (great visuals and action, leavened by the right amount of humor), it let the viewer off the hook at the end by resolving the story with a tidy, happy, feel-good ending. "Impostor" is a much lower budget film and very grim but remains true to its Phildickian origin throughout, with the plot unfolding layer by layer until the end, which is both shocking and inevitable. It's the kind of stuff great "Twilight Zone" episodes were made of.