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Desperate to salvage his writing career following less-than-stellar sales on his first book and the last-minute rejection of his second (after he’d already spent his potential advance), Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) announces one morning in 1971 that he’s going to write The Book of the Century. He has recluse billionaire Howard Hughes’s written permission to help Hughes write his autobiography. His publishing connections jump at the opportunity to publish what promises to be a huge best-seller. But there’s one little problem: all of Irving’s claims regarding Hughes are complete fabrications. He’s never met Hughes, and he definitely doesn’t have permission to write his life story. The letter he claims was written by Hughes is nothing more than a really good forgery. But what does it matter, anyway? Hughes won’t care about one little sham of a book—especially when he’s currently facing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.
After convincing his publishers that he’s not a fraud, Irving cashes his advance check and enlists friend and fellow writer Dick Susskind (Alfred Molina) to help him research his book. The men meet with Hughes’s old associates, steal files from the government, and listen carefully to recordings of Hughes, in an attempt to create a convincing fake. But the more he works on his book, the more involved—and dangerous—his lies become.
The most intriguing thing about The Hoax is that it’s based on actual events. The screenplay was based on the book written by Irving himself, and the more you get to know Irving the Character, the more you’ll wonder how much of Irving the Author’s story you can actually believe. Gere gives a convincing performance as Irving—convincing enough to make you wonder what’s real and what’s just another work of Irving’s fiction. Gere’s Irving is a smooth character—one who won’t even think twice about doing and saying whatever it takes to hold on to both his Mercedes convertible and the love of his devoted yet skeptical wife, Edith (played by a not-quite-as-convincing Marcia Gay Harden). A character who, after a while, seems to believe his own lies.
Director Lasse Hallström’s latest film held my attention from start to finish, but it does occasionally move a bit slowly. It’s not as memorable or as beautiful as Hallström’s Chocolat, nor is it as much fun as Casanova. But while it’s not Hallström’s best, it does offer an intriguing story about an equally intriguing character. If you’re fascinated by schemes and conspiracies—or even by the mysterious Howard Hughes—you’ll find it’s worth a couple of hours of your time.
DVD Review:
Sometimes, the truth really is stranger than fiction. And Lasse Hallström’s The Hoax definitely tells a strange-but-true story.
The DVD features include the usual commentaries (one with the producers and another with Hallström and writer William Wheeler), as well as a few deleted/extended scenes—which feature a couple of great monologues performed by a couple of talented actors. But the most intriguing features are those that talk more about Irving. Though “Stranger Than Fiction” is called a “making-of featurette,” it’s actually more about Irving and his story than it is about the making of the movie. It speculates a little bit about why Irving did what he did, and it discusses why he got away with it for so long. There’s also a short feature (called “Reflections on a Con”) with Mike Wallace, who interviewed “admirable crook” Irving for 60 Minutes in both 1972 and 2000.
While the features don’t make The Hoax DVD a must-buy, they do add a little more to the story. So if you find Irving and his story as interesting as I did, they’re worth checking out.
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