[OT, but fantasy-related] Have you seen the film The Whole Wide World?

[johnsemlak]

I've wanted to do this thread for a while.

I was wondering how many people had seen the film The Whole Wide World. It's a docudrama about Robert E. Howard and the relationship he had with Novella Price (the film is based on her memoirs).

I stumbled upon it while searching the Internet Movie Database a year ago and bought it later on. A truly great film. It came out in 1996, but it wasn't a big hollywood picture, though, so I was wondering how many people have seen it.

If you haven't seen it, I really recommend it.

You can read about it here.

 

[Drew]

Sure, I've seen it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I have a friend who is a big indy movie buff, so he rented it and brought it over shortly after its original VHS release.

 

[Replicant]

I saw The Whole Wide World and I absolutely loved it.

I can't remember the actor's name (Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket), but he was dead-on, I thought, in portraying Howard's passion -- nay, obsession -- with writing and with Conan in particular.

I believe it was Howard that said he didn't create the Conan stories, they simply emerged, fully formed, from his subconscious. Howard was simply retelling tales that really happened in some some pre-cataclysmic era. This movie makes you believe it.

Oh, and Renee Zellwieger is a babe, too.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

It's a great movie, a good date flick, and a tragic story. I enjoyed it much more than "A Beautiful Mind", which wasn't as true to Nash as "Whole Wide World" was to Howard.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I recently learned that when Howard's mother was ill, she was brought to a hospital in my hometown. The same hospital building in which I was born years later. So Howard walked the halls of the hospital where I was born.

It was fate that I would be interested in FRPGs.

 

[johnsemlak]

I recently learned that when Howard's mother was ill, she was brought to a hospital in my hometown. The same hospital building in which I was born years later. So Howard walked the halls of the hospital where I was born.

It was fate that I would be interested in FRPGs.

Man, that's weird. Cool.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I saw The Whole Wide World and I absolutely loved it.

I can't remember the actor's name (Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket), but he was dead-on, I thought, in portraying Howard's passion -- nay, obsession -- with writing and with Conan in particular.

I believe it was Howard that said he didn't create the Conan stories, they simply emerged, fully formed, from his subconscious. Howard was simply retelling tales that really happened in some some pre-cataclysmic era. This movie makes you believe it.

Oh, and Renee Zellwieger is a babe, too.

His name is Vincent D'Onofrio and he is everywhere.

• Chelsea Walls (2002)
• The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
• Impostor (2002)
• The Red Sneakers (2002)
• The Salton Sea (2002)
• The Cell (2000)
• Claire Dolan (2000)
• Happy Accidents (2000)
• Steal This Movie (2000)
• Supernova (2000)
• The 13th Floor (1999)
• Spanish Judges (1999)
• That Championship Season (1999)
• The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
• The Velocity of Gary (1999)
• The Newton Boys (1998)
• Good Luck (1997)
• Men in Black (1997)
• The Winner (1997)
• Feeling Minnesota (1996)
• Good Luck (1996)
• The Whole Wide World (1996)
• The Winner (1996)
• Strange Days (1995)
• Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
• Being Human (1994)
• Ed Wood (1994)
• Imaginary Crimes (1994)
• Desire (1993)
• Household Saints (1993)
• The Player (1992)
• Crooked Hearts (1991)
• Dying Young (1991)
• Fires Within (1991)
• The 13th Floor (1990)
• The Blood of Heroes (1988)
• Mystic Pizza (1988)
• Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• The First Turn-On (1983)

Producer
• The Velocity of Gary (1998)
• The Whole Wide World (1996)

 

[MW Turnage]

Until now, I never realised that D'onofrio was Pyle in Full Metal Jacket (which IMDB says he gained 70lbs for). He's a remarkably good actor; you remember the role, but you forget its him playing it. Welles in Ed Wood, Robert E Howard in Whole Wide World, Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie, the psycho in The Cell, the Edgar suit in Men in Black, Professor Moriarity in the recent Sherlock Holmes movie for USA Network.

He's good.

 

[Shadowdancer]

He's also starring in a TV series: "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" on NBC.

And yes, he is a very good actor.