The Truman Show

The Truman Show (1998)

Plot summary

(9 votes)

Truman Burbank lives happily in a small, peaceful and beautiful town called Seahaven. He has a quite good job, a nice wife, and basically a happy life until he starts to suspect that his life is fake.

The town Seahaven is really an extremely big film studio (the Great Wall of China and this dome are the only things that can be seen from space), full of cameras, in which the world's most famous reality show, The Truman Show is recorded and broadcasted to the entire world.

The main character is Truman, who doesn't know about that; everybody else is stunts and actors. Truman was adopted by the film company right after his birth, they raised him with false parents, and since Seahaven is surrounded by water and they don't want Truman to get off the island, they managed to make him hydrophobic by drowning his 'father'.

One day mysterious things start to happen - a big lamp falls from the sky; Truman hears on the radio that his actions are being reported; a total stranger calls him by his name; he sees actors change dresses in a bank etc. Then he desperately wants to break out from Seahaven, but he is very well guarded.

Factual error: When the bus breaks down, steam is shown coming out of the front of the bus. GMC buses have the engine and radiator in the rear.

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Truman Burbank: Good morning! And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

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Question: Just something that has interested me for a while. Did all the people in the town grow up with Truman (eg. his classmates) or are they all different actors? Also do all the actors live on set or do they have lives outside the show?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Clearly, in his media interviews, Truman's best friend, Marion, indicates that he did, indeed, grow up with Truman since they met in elementary school. One could extrapolate that his classmates did, as well. A sudden change of actor from one day to the next would be too much of tip-off to Truman. As actors leave the show, there is a story along with it. His father is presumed to have died, and returns later. I'm sure others move away. The main characters (Truman's wife, parents, close co-workers, and other key figures in his life) also appear to live "in world" and have devoted their entire lives to the Truman project. It is not made clear about the extras, though.

Michael Albert

It's kinda hard to believe though that a little boy (Marion) is faking it all so well for all these years since his childhood without raising any suspicion.

He probably didn't get to know it until a late age. In the bus, a little girl was confused and almost tell her mum that there was Truman, so a kid can't keep up the secret. I'm pretty sure they don't know it. But on the other hand, when he says he wants to be an explorer all the classmates freak out, as if they knew it would put in danger the show. So maybe the classmates and even the best friend had been selected after making sure they wouldn't mess up and reveal the secret.

Answer: In a deleted scene, "Marlon" explained that he didn't realise he was auditioning for the show. Only that his mother was the casting director and told him that he would be in this class with Truman and that he would be known as Marlon from then on. In regards to the classmates, they weren't freaking out, they were laughing at the prospect of Truman wanting to be an explorer. With the other actors, only his family, Marlon, and a few close friends/co-workers would live on set. If they want to have a break to visit their friends/family on the outside I'm sure they would have been allowed to. Just come up with a story of why you are leaving for X time and Truman would buy it.

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