Seahaven

Questions and would-be stories for Truman Burbank’s Life After Seahaven

When you’re sold on a movie or a movie character, it’s not foreign to think about things in the film and come up with angles of the story that flesh out entirely different stories that could drive a movie. For example, the Tom Hanks film Cast Away has a story unto itself that isn’t shown in the film: What happened to Chuck Noland (Hanks) as he gets rescued from the South Pacific? It’s not a 1-2-3 thing but a process and a tale on its own. It wouldn’t be the movie by itself but there are various acts and deeds that he had to undertake that would have been interesting to see.

I was thinking about that Cast Away stuff which turned me to the ending of another film; a flick that had more to show because the ending was a gateway to a new adventure for the main character who was followed along closely for the entire film. This picture wasn’t a direct adventure but more a character piece, so an immediate sequel wouldn’t have been fitting.

At this point, more than twenty years after Truman Burbank bid the set of Seahaven “good afternoon, good evening and good night”  and entered reality, there are stories that could be told and shown in a framing that compliments what was The Truman Show, or at least some of the elements as they were presented in the 1998 movie.

Peter Weir’s film was a play on reality television, with a single life filmed and the world around him manipulated to give Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey in a role that defied the over-the-top comedy he was known for) regular story and drama to entertain the viewers of his television channel. And Truman didn’t know about this – how he was being filmed and the man-made control over his life.

As Truman was taken care of by those in control, he was a prisoner, prevented from exploring and knowing the world. His world was the set of Seahaven in Burbank, California. The events of The Truman Show touch on his life, the actors/actresses and off-screen aspects and la-de-da, building up to the movie’s finale, Truman’s escaping the set.

The escape itself, passing through a door into the darkness of backstage, opens up a new world of events for Truman. It opens up a story to tell in reflection. So, consider this a pitch called “Life After Seahaven”.

You could get 90 minutes and more in a documentary-like presentation of Truman Burbank willingly sitting down with an interviewer and reflecting on what happened and what life is like now that he’s actually lived in the real world. There are elements to show in immediate life-living where Truman gets to deal with fans or mundane challenges of reality that the set-crew of The Truman Show prevented him or protected him from having to face.

There’s stuff to tell if not show in what happened and what’s gone on… much like reflective commentary was done in the original movie by cast members.  This time, though, it would be Truman, people in his immediate life post-Seahaven.

Truman was shown as having wanted to adventure and explore, and to finally get the chance? Where has Truman traveled? Did he make it to Fiji, the destination he was trying to sail to during the climax of the original movie? Did his fame have an effect on his traveling? Did he explore? Did he get scared and actually become reclusive because of all the chaos that we know and see in day-to-day life?

There’s the romance aspect that sits bold-faced in the life Truman dived into: He wanted to reunite with Sylvia, a former cast member who Truman fell in love with and who tipped him off to the fact his world wasn’t real. Natascha McElhone played Sylvia (“Lauren
Garland”) and one of the last shots in The Truman Show was her character running downstairs with intent to reunite with Truman. Are they involved or is the story simply that she inspired him and when reality factored in, things didn’t work? There are angles and factors that add fruit to this one…

The old life can still be a factor in Truman’s new world. How did Truman’s ex-wife Meryl (real name Hannah Gill and played by Laura Linney) act with Truman now in reality? Did she press a divorce lawsuit against him? How bitter were those proceedings, or were they thrown out because the marriage was fictitious? With how things are going in the real world that we live in now, I’d expect there to be those who want Truman locked up because of how he treated Meryl, or at least there’d be people who side with Meryl and want Truman punished.

What about Cristof, the director and deity-like manager of Truman Burbank’s life on the Seahaven set? What happened to the man after Truman Burbank left and ended what Cristof had devote so much to? Did Cristof (played by Ed Harris) ever actually meet Truman? Heck, as this sequel concept is supposed to be a docu-drama, why not actually have the two characters meet? What drama would play out with that? What anger expressed? There’s show in any cast “reuniting”.

I’m not trying to pitch a franchise. I’m just saying there’s a story that could be presented in the quality of the original movie that won viewers over. “Life After Seahaven” can stand alone as fare about life after television, or life after imprisonment and reintroduced to the world. It has the quirk that the lead character had to adjust to a life that isn’t focused on his every move, and yet it still was that way with thanks to his fame.

If nothing more, Truman Burbank’s life after Seahaven is a story worth imagining. For the film industry, I hope this is a concept worth contemplating.

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