Being There
In one of his most finely tuned performances, Peter Sellers plays the pure-hearted, childlike Chance, a gardener who is forced into the wilds of Washington, D.C., when his wealthy guardian dies. Shocked to discover that the real world doesn’t respond to the click of a remote, Chance stumbles into celebrity after being taken under the wing of a tycoon (Melvyn Douglas, in an Oscar-winning performance), who mistakes his protégé’s horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife (Shirley MacLaine) targets Chance as the object of her desire. Adapted from a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, this satire, both deeply melancholy and hilarious, is the culmination of Hal Ashby’s remarkable string of films in the 1970s, and a carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties, and media-fueled delusions that shaped American culture during that decade.
Special Features
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with members of the production team
- Excerpts from a 1980 American Film Institute seminar with director Hal Ashby
- Author Jerzy Kosinski in a 1979 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show
- Appearances from 1980 by actor Peter Sellers on NBC’s Today and on The Don Lane Show
- Promo reel featuring Sellers and Ashby
- Trailer and TV spots
- Deleted scene, outtakes, and alternate ending
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Harris
New cover based on an original theatrical poster
Collector's Sets
Collector's Set
Special Features
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with members of the production team
- Excerpts from a 1980 American Film Institute seminar with director Hal Ashby
- Author Jerzy Kosinski in a 1979 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show
- Appearances from 1980 by actor Peter Sellers on NBC’s Today and on The Don Lane Show
- Promo reel featuring Sellers and Ashby
- Trailer and TV spots
- Deleted scene, outtakes, and alternate ending
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Harris
New cover based on an original theatrical poster
Cast
- Peter Sellers
- Chance
- Shirley MacLaine
- Eve Rand
- Melvyn Douglas
- Benjamin Rand
- Jack Warden
- President Bobby
- Richard Dysart
- Dr. Robert Allenby
- Richard Baseheart
- Vladimir Skrapinov
- Ruth Attaway
- Louise
- Dave Clennon
- Thomas Franklin
- Fran Brill
- Sally Hayes
Credits
- Director
- Hal Ashby
- Produced by
- Andrew Braunsberg
- Executive producer
- Jack Schwartzman
- Associate producer
- Charles B. Mulvehill
- Screenplay by
- Jerzy Kosinksi
- Screenplay by
- Robert C. Jones
- Based on the novel by
- Jerzy Kosinski
- Cinematographer
- Caleb Deschanel
- Music by
- Johnny Mandel
- Film editor
- Don Zimmerman
- Production designer
- Michael Haller
- Costume designer
- May Routh
A scene from Being There
