Nothing So Strange
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Nothing So Strange is an "independent documentary" about a fictional assassination of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on December 2, 1999. (Note that the film is a work of fiction). The film was directed by Brian Flemming.
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Synopsis
At the very beginning of the film, Bill Gates (played by experienced Gates-double Steve Sires) walks onto the stage of the pavilion in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, Californiaon Thursday, December 2, 1999 to give a check for one million dollars to "Literacy For Life" as part of the "Bill Gates Foundation." (The filmmakers avoid mentioning Gates' family members in the film, thus, in one of the few purposeful elements of non-verimilitude in "Nothing So Strange," they refrain from naming the organization the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.) Upon reaching the stage, Gates is shot dead by a sniper, first in the right shoulder, then the head.
Beyond this point, occurring before the opening credits are finished, Gates doesn't reappear, and is mentioned only as a wealthy successful man and the subject of the assassination being investigated. The word "Microsoft" barely makes an appearance in the film, and Gates is portrayed as a well-liked and missed public figure, with a very passing mention of the existence of anti-Gates sentiment.
As the assassination story line goes: while chasing after the unknown sniper through an abandoned building, a rookie police officer fatally shoots Alek Hiddell, a minor anti-establishment figure and minority, in the head. Hiddell is named as the assassin of Gates, a report to this effect is filed by district attorney Gil Garcetti, and the case is closed.
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However, a group of people dissatisfied with the official version of events organizes into the activist group Citizens for Truth, and sets out to examine the available evidence of the assassination. The organization uncovers numerous details that create reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Hiddell in the assassination, and the possibility that the real assassin is still at large.
The mockumentary follows the organization as they grow in numbers, political prominence, and progress in their investigative efforts. The organization's success reaches a climax at their first annual convention, which is followed by their rapid drop in credibility and visibility to become effectively irrelevant.
Cast
Primary cast members:
- Debra Meagher - Laurie Pike
- David James - David James
- Mark Anderson - Mark Daniel Cade
- Keith Charles - Keythe Farley
- Dan Rivera - Douglas Glazer
- Valerie - Valerie Gordon
- Etana - Etana Jacobson
- Jennifer Smith - Jennifer Lauren
- Bill Gates - Steve Sires
- Julia Serrano - Sarah Stanley
- Alek Hidell - Philip Anthony Traylor
- Steve Martinez - Steve Wilcox
About the film
Illusory techniques
Flemming spent time in the flagging conspiracy theory circles still surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy as part of his research for this movie. A number of elements in the movie mirror those in that real-life incident as well as those real-life groups. The name of the organization's leader is a combination of names from leaders of Kennedy assassination groups, and Hiddell's name is an alias once used by Lee Harvey Oswald. Likewise, the name of the organization is similar to a Kennedy assassination conspiracy group, "Citizens for Truth about the Kennedy Assassination" (CTKA). The alternate theories and tales generated by Citizens for Truth also mimic theories from Kennedy assassination circles, including a "running man" theory, and a forced witness' reversal by police.
The film gains most of its realism from a number of unorthodox film-making techniques that are not obvious from watching the movie.
Perhaps the most amazing, given the movie's consistency and believability of the characters, is that very little if anything was scripted. Flemming has said that he wrote no script, providing perhaps a few important lines, and instead putting the creative effort into the details of the props and artifacts of the story. The "Garcetti Report" on the assassination, for example, is a complete document written by Flemming. The actors basically write their own dialogue, interactions, and reflections, and to some extent aiming the direction of the story along with their organization, with minor daily cues from Flemming. The fact that most of the actors had no prior professional acting experience makes this more remarkable (or perhaps it is this fact that helps make their actions so much more believable).
Another technique, perhaps the most amusing, is what Flemming has termed "reality-hacking"; the interaction of the actors in character with the real world. A scene taking place on the protest stage of the 2000 Democratic National Convention was filmed at the real convention, the day after main protests but still while the convention was in progress. The cast obtained a permit to protest on the stage under the Citizens for Truth name, and managed to attract a minor crowd and the attention of one New York Times reporter.
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Another scene, taking place during a community hearing on the Gates assassination investigation, takes place at the real community hearings for the LAPD Rampart scandal. Flemming provided David James, who was signed up to make a citizen's comment, with a carefully vague statement to read, and then set up his camera alongside those of major news organizations. Failing to incur the wrath of the panel after going far over the alloted speaking time, Flemming and James induce their wrath by having James re-read the statement over from the beginning "as an act of peaceful protest".
Flemming uses other tricks, such as duplicating the look of real protest groups' materials in the story's props, in order to utilize footage of real-life organizations to breathe legitimacy into CfT's appearance in the film. Many of these are documented on Flemming's website.
Promotional tactics
Prior to release of the film, Flemming registered and developed realistic web pages for a number of the subjects in the film, including [1] (http://www.citizensfortruth.org), lamenting the assassination of Bill Gates and criticizing the LAPD for their poor investigation of the incident. Each of these sites, including the main website for the movie, are completely in character and betray nothing about their purely fictitious nature.
The DVD for the movie is likewise largely in character, including pseudo-behind-the-scenes footage of the CfT group, and prop documents from the movie.
Other info
The film project was initially known as MacArthur Park. However another of the same name was taken to the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, causing a re-naming of the Gates project before its 2003 release.
Before the movie was completed, the hint of "a movie where Bill Gates is shot" stirred a minor media controversy, labeling Flemming an anti-establishment, anti-Microsoft kook at best, and a vicious inciter of violence at worst. For their part, Microsoft, knowing no details other than superficial news reports, stated they were "very disappointed that a filmmaker would do something like this". Ironically, two members of the cast, Steve Sires and David James, have both done promotional-related work for Microsoft.
Nothing So Strange has been declared an open-source project, and Flemming has made available via the Internet some of the footage (with plans to release the rest) used to create the movie, free for reuse.
External links
- Nothingsostrange.com (http://www.nothingsostrange.com) - Official website of the film
- Billgatesisdead.com (http://www.billgatesisdead.com) - a website modeled after the film that claims Gates is really dead.
- Citizensfortruth.org (http://www.citizensfortruth.org) - a website about the Citizens for Truth group in the movie
- Garcettireport.org (http://www.garcettireport.org/) - the "official report" about the assassination in the movie
- EZ-Entertainment.net - Interview about the film (http://www.ez-entertainment.net/interview/flemmingview.htm)