Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Director: George Clooney George Clooney

Overview

Chuck Barris is best known to most Americans as the guy who used to host The Gong Show. He was also the creator and producer of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and a handful of other successful game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. But was he also a hired killer working with the CIA? That's the take-it-or-leave-it premise of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the memoir of the same name by Chuck Barris. Barris (Sam Rockwell) grows up dreaming of success in show biz and winning the hearts of beautiful women, but early on, he meets with plenty of resistance from both women and the television industry, despite writing the hit tune "Palisades Park" and scoring a job with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. The 1960s proves more fortunate for Barris; he meets the love of his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore), and sells ABC on the idea of The Dating Game. However, after the show has made him wealthy and successful, Barris is approached by the mysterious Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA agent who wants to recruit Barris as a covert operative. Barris finds the notion of playing spy games intriguing and agrees, but soon discovers what Byrd and his partners really want is for Barris to assassinate uncooperative figures around the world. Soon, Barris finds that his life has been all but taken over by Byrd and another CIA agent, the mysterious and sexy Patricia (Julia Roberts). As he hops the globe, killing people in the name of American security (using his status as a Dating Game chaperone as a cover), Barris learns that the KGB has discovered his not-so-little secret and that his own life is in great danger. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind marked the directorial debut of actor George Clooney, working from a screenplay adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' book. Dick Clark, Dating Game host Jim Lange, frequent Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan, and Gene Gene Patton appear as themselves.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2021
UPC:	0032429351722
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	R
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	22,472

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sam Rockwell	Chuck Barris
Drew Barrymore	Penny
George Clooney	Jim Byrd
Julia Roberts	Patricia
Rutger Hauer	Keeler
Maggie Gyllenhaal	Debbie
Jerry Weintraub	Larry Goldberg
Robert John Burke	Jenks
David Julian Hirsh	Freddy `Boom Boom' Cannon
Frank Fontaine	ABC Executive
Rachelle Lefevre	Tuvia (age 25)
Chelsea Ceci	Tuvia (age 8)
Michael Cera	Chuck (age 8 and 11)
Daniel Zacapa	Renda
Emilio Rivera	Benitez
Carlos Carrasco	Brazioni
Michelle Sweeney	Housekeeper
Aimee Rose Ambroziak	Chuck's Date No.1
Isabelle Blais	Chuck's Date No.2
Melissa Carter	Chuck's Date No.3
Sean Tucker	Barfly
Barbara Bacci	Woman in Veil
Janet Lane	Blonde Bachelorette
Shaun Balbar	Beanpole Bachelor
Jeff Lefebvre	Frizzy Haired Bachelor
Michael Filipowich	Handsome Bachelor
Samantha Banton	Black Bachelorette
Christian Paul	Black Bachelor,Black Bachelor
Kristen Wilson	Loretta,Gong Show Band
Steve Adams	`Dating Game' Director
Maria Bertrand	Stud Bachelorette,Stud Bachelorette
Brad Pitt	Bachelor Brad
Matt Damon	Bachelor Matt
Marlida Ferreira	Woman in Pub
Jerome Tiberghien	Englishman
Michael Ensign	Simon Oliver
Martin Kevan	Chuck's Father
Claudia Besso	Chuck's Mother
Isabelle Juneau	Amana Girl
Nathalie Morin	Bachelorette Winner
Tony Zanca	Bachelor Winner
Sergei Prisselkow	Shaving Man
Norman Roy	Colbert
Marlene Fisher	Casting Executive Woman
Richard Kind	Casting Executive Man
Suyun Kim	Asian Folksinger No.1
Shulan Noma	Asian Folksinger No.2
Andre Minicozzi	Gong Show Band
Richard Beaudet	Gong Show Band
Ron Di Lauro	Gong Show Band
Bruce Pepper	Gong Show Band
Francois St. Pierre	Gong Show Band
Cheryle Murphy	Little Person
Krista Allen	Pretty Woman
George Randolph	Gene Gene the Dancing Machine
Pascale De Vigne	Critic
Carlo Berardinucci	Waiter
Tanya Anthony	Prostitute
Andree-Anne Quesnel	`Gong Show' Model
Keshav Patel	Elvis Singer
James Urbaniak	Rod Flexner
Leslie Cottle	L.A. Bar Woman
Dino Tosques	L.A. Bartender
Joe Cobden	Unknown Comic
Ethan Thomas C. Dempster	Chuck (age 3)
Tommy Hinkley	Hambone Man
Bill Corday	Justice of the Peace
Chuck Barris	Himself
Dick Clark	Himself
Jaye P. Morgan	Herself
Gene Gene Patton	Gene Gene the Dancing Machine
Jim Lange	Himself,Bellboy
Murray Langston	Unknown Comic
Jennifer Hall	Georgia
Fred Savage	Actor
John Todd Anderson	Stud Bachelor
Pascal Devigne	Critic
Ilona Elkin	Georgia's Girlfriend
Alex Wurman	Composer

Technical Credits

Charlie Kaufman

Chuck Barris

George Clooney	Director
Charlie Kaufman	Screenwriter
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Stephen Evans	Executive Producer
Jon Gordon	Executive Producer
Andrew Lazar	Producer
Brad Martin	Stunts
Louis Morin	Special Effects
Rand Ravich	Executive Producer
Bill Rivard	Special Effects
Steven Soderbergh	Executive Producer
Harvey Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Chuck Barris	Screenwriter
Far Shariat	Producer,Executive Producer
Jeffrey Sudzin	Producer
Eddie Bydalek	Sound Effects
Mike Chock	Sound Effects
Les Productions de L'intrigue	Special Effects
Curt Schulkey	Sound/Sound Designer
Edward Tise	Sound/Sound Designer
Aaron Glascock	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

He had the perfect cover: TV producer by day, CIA operative by night. Stranger than fiction, or just plain fiction? It's anybody's guess in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a sharp adaptation of the unusual memoir of Chuck Barris, creator of The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Gong Show (which he also hosted). The story covers the life of the TV iconoclast in his own words, from his 1940s childhood through his Hollywood success and subsequent downfall. The kicker here is Barris's claim that throughout his entire career he moonlighted as a CIA assassin. As a result, Confessions plays out as half biographical drama and half spy thriller, also tracking the purported killer from initial recruitment to lethal climax. Sam Rockwell stars as Barris and has the man down to a tee, from physical appearance to goofy persona. In his directing debut, George Clooney offers a stylized yet light touch, keeping the showy theatrics to a minimum and relying more on the natural quirkiness of the narrative, which is scripted with eccentric glee by Charlie Kaufman. In fact, the conceit of the film is so brilliant that it's easy to lose sight of what a deft adaptation Clooney and Kaufman have wrought, with sharp dialogue, inventive staging, and a charming cast that includes Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, and Clooney himself in a mesmerizing turn as Barris's mysterious, mustachioed CIA contact. Those with fond memories of Barris's TV shows will also find this trip down memory lane a delight -- right down to the interview clips with the likes of Gong Show regular Jaye P. Morgan and Dating Game host Jim Lange. But the question remains: Is this a true-life story or a tongue-in-cheek metaphor for the caprices of the human psyche? Actually, it's hard to say which is the more intriguing possibility. Either way, the result is an off-kilter comedy-drama that is by turns amusing and head spinning, a perfect tribute to of one of television's dark geniuses.