Jump to content

A Brief History of Time (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 109.76.141.172 (talk) at 03:57, 24 February 2022 (Currently? FAIL WP:RELTIME). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A Brief History of Time
VHS cover
Directed byErrol Morris
Based onA Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking
Produced byDavid Hickman
StarringStephen Hawking
Cinematography
Edited byBrad Fuller
Music byPhilip Glass
Production
companies
Distributed byTriton Pictures
Release dates
  • October 1991 (1991-10) (Los Angeles)
  • January 1992 (1992-01) (Sundance)
  • August 21, 1992 (1992-08-21)
Running time
80 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Japan
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.3 million[1]

A Brief History of Time is a 1991 biographical documentary film about the physicist Stephen Hawking, directed by Errol Morris.[2] The title derives from Hawking's bestselling 1988 book A Brief History of Time, but, whereas the book is solely an explanation of cosmology, the film is, additionally, a biography of Hawking's life, featuring interviews with some of his family members and colleagues. The music is by frequent Morris collaborator Philip Glass.

Production

This film project originated with executive producer Gordon Freedman, who brought the project to Anglia Television as a co-producer. After acquiring the property, Freedman met with director Steven Spielberg for advice on how to make the project into an important documentary film. Spielberg suggested Errol Morris as director. Freedman's production company partnered with Anglia Television and Tokyo Broadcasting. David Hickman, of Anglia, became the film's producer.

Morris only had a few days of access to film and interview Hawking. Because of Hawking's ALS, a disease that progressively affects nerve cells within the spine and brain,[3] Morris filmed various static shots of Hawking, his wheelchair, and the tools he used to communicate, such as his battery-powered computer-based communication system with an electronic voicebox (which was sponsored and provided by Intel Corporation[4]), to later edit together for the video component of Hawking's interview segments in the film.

Although Hawking had an aversion to featuring his personal life in the film, Morris saw A Brief History of Time as being as much a biography as a science text, and much of his directing and editing work was dedicated to finding ways to depict ideas from theoretical physics and cosmology and then connect those ideas with details from the life of Hawking. He employed stylized interview sequences, graphic illustrations, and hypnotic music written by Philip Glass.[5]

Instead of Morris traveling around and filming the various interview subjects in their native surroundings, all of the interviews for this film were shot on specially built sets on a sound stage in England.[6]

Music

The soundtrack for A Brief History of Time was composed by Phillip Glass.[7]

Soundtrack

A Brief History of Time
Soundtrack album by
Phillip Glass
Released2015
LabelOrange Mountain Music
ProducerKurt Munkacsi
No.TitleLength
1."Brief History of Time Title"1:29
2."Mysterious No. 4"3:36
3."Bombs with Fidelity"2:22
4."Slow, Simple, Sad No. 3"3:50
5."Mysterious No. 1" 
6."Slow, Simple, Sad No. 4"3:57
7."Mysterious No. 2"2:42
8."Hawking Radiation"1:42
9."Bombs"2:47
10."Dice"2:11
11."Hawking-Radiation with Brass"1:43
12."Climbing the Stairs"1:23
13."End with Strings and Trumpets"2:17
14."Melody in Major"3:10
15."Signature"2:54
16."Utility No. 1"3:32
17."House"2:06
18."Closing No. 1"3:28
19."End Credits Arpeggio and Brass"2:11
20."End Credits Major and Minor"4:48

Reception

A Brief History of Time received largely positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 93% rating based on 15 reviews.[8] On Metacritic, the film has a 78 out of 100 rating based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]

Availability

The film was released on VHS in the early 1990s, but remained unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray until The Criterion Collection issued a release on April 15, 2014.

References

  1. ^ "A Brief History of Time (1992)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  2. ^ "A Brief History of Time Transcript". ErrolMorris.com. 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  3. ^ Association, ALS. "About ALS". ALSA. The ALS Association. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  4. ^ Hawking, Stephen. "The Computer". Hawking.
  5. ^ Tobias, Scott. "A Brief History Of Time". The Dissolve. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  6. ^ Resha, David (2010). The Cinema of Errol Morris. Wesleyan University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780819575357. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  7. ^ Glass, Phillip. "A Brief History of Time". PhillipGlass. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  8. ^ "A Brief History of Time". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  9. ^ "A Brief History of Time". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
Awards
Preceded by Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
1992 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Brief_History_of_Time_(film)&oldid=1073704141"