Man on the Moon: A Convincing Biopic

Man on the Moon (1999), directed by Milos Foreman, is a biopic which uses pivotal events in the life of comedian Andy Kaufman to create a feature length narrative. Adapting the life of a real person into a screenplay presents a far different set of challenges than adapting a book or play. Accuracy is far more important in biopics than in adaptations because to misrepresent the person you are portraying not only does him or her great disservice but also obliterates the credibility of the film. Man on the Moon, while by no means a groundbreaking film, makes a noticeable effort towards an accurate portrayal of Kaufman and the people he worked with.

The comparison between film and reality begins with the actor portraying the personality. In Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey stars as Kaufman with Paul Giamatti as Kaufman’s co-writer, Bob Zmuda and Danny Devito as his agent George Shapiro. Physically, Carrey does not look much like Kaufman but costume design and speech pattern imitation goes a long way towards a believable impression. Carrey uses Kaufman’s distinctive haircut and sideburns, along with a 1970’s style of dress to appear as Kaufman. The next step he takes is to imitate the way Kaufman spoke, quickly and flustered-sounding, punctuated by long pauses. This combination of image and voice works to create a believable impression of the man being featured.

Dramatizing someone’s life requires the task of selecting which events are worthy of being dramatized. The life must be cut and pasted into an engaging narrative. Man on the Moon focuses solely on Kaufman’s career, giving us very little sight into his personal life. His childhood is depicted at the beginning of the film for about two minutes and then it goes straight into a scene of him performing as adult at the start of his comedy career. The choice to focus on Kaufman’s professional life is in itself part of the struggle for accuracy. Kaufman was a very private man and represented himself in public through his characters, almost like a method actor. Even in scenes where he is not performing, he is still putting on a show for those around him, be it his agent, friends, or parents. This directorial choice is meant to have Carrey’s role more accurately represent the way Kaufman interacted with people and it is effective.

Man on the Moon is successful as a biopic because it uses multiple facets of its subject’s reality to shape its portrayal. Rather than simply acting out several of Kaufman’s life events, the film makes a convincing effort to replicate the image of his reality. The characters look and sound like the people they are based on to a believable degree. The credulity provided by these directorial choices allows the audience to more effectively experience the story of Andy Kaufman’s rise to fame.