Peter Sellers

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS-2004-It’s pretty obvious that unless a celebrity was mostly a son of bitch in real life he/she would never have a movie made about them unless they wound up with some very serious illness. HBO’s PETER SELLERS pretty much adheres to this rule.







Geoffrey Rush gives a right on performance in the title role but it’s painfully obvious that the director (Stephen Hopkins) wanted to focus more on the actor’s off screen antics than anything remotely connected with his movie roles. So much time is spent on depicting him as a bad father and husband that most of his work in his most famous films is thrown to the wayside. But I guess if you really wanted to know the motivation behind his performance in such films as THE PINK PANTHER series, LOLITA and DR. STRANGELOVE it would be better to watch a documentary.



Lots of time is wasted on his pursuit of Sophia Loren in a movie no one remembers which led to the divorce of his first wife (Emily Watson). The film seems to lay some blame on his behavior to his overbearing mother (who along with her husband talk to the camera several times). It’s cool though to hear characters talk about people like Spike Milligan.



Much is also made about how he DIDN’T want to play Inspector Clouseau even though Blake Edwards (John Lithgow) wanted him. It’s hard for me to believe that he created the character in the men’s room on a plane going to the US! Some time however is given to his quest to bring his last “masterpiece” BEING THERE” to the screen.



Stanley Tucci has a minor role as Stanley Kubrick and Charlize Theron plays actress Britt Ekland (Theron is 10 times better looking than the real actress ever was!) who became his second wife. Other actors play David Niven, Hal Ashby, Ursula Andress and Carlo Ponti.



From the director of LOST IN SPACE, PREDATOR 2 and several episodes of TV’s 24.



Do I look like him?


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