Martian Child
Encyclopedia
Martian Child is a 2007 American comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 film about a writer
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...

 who adopts a strange young boy who believes himself to be from Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

. Martian Child was released on November 2, 2007. The film was directed by Menno Meyjes
Menno Meyjes
Menno Meyjes is a Dutch-born screenwriter, film director and producer.He moved to the United States in 1972 and studied at the Art Institute of California – San Francisco. He was nominated for several awards for his screenplay to the 1985 film The Color Purple, adapted from the novel by Alice Walker...

 and produced by New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...

. It stars John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

 and Bobby Coleman
Bobby Coleman
Robert Moorhouse "Bobby" Coleman III is an American child actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Martian Child, as the title character, and The Last Song.-Life and career:...

. The MPAA rating system rated the film with a PG for thematic elements and mild language
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

.

Plot

David Gordon (John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

), a popular science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 author, lost his wife Mary when they were trying to adopt a child. Two years later, David is finally matched with a young boy named Dennis (Bobby Coleman
Bobby Coleman
Robert Moorhouse "Bobby" Coleman III is an American child actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Martian Child, as the title character, and The Last Song.-Life and career:...

). Socially awkward, Dennis believes he is from Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 and only goes outdoors when under the cover of a large box to block out the sun's harmful rays. Although initially hesitant to adopt a boy by himself, David recognizes a part of him in Dennis and slowly coaxes him out of the box and into his home.

With the help of David's friend Harlee (Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...

) and sister Liz (played by Cusack's real life sister Joan
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

), David and Dennis begin an arduous process of learning about each other, from Dennis's incessant photo-taking habits, his inclination to eat only Lucky Charms, and his perpetual stealing, to David's continuing love of his wife, his love of baseball and his own struggles to be accepted by others.

As David teaches Dennis how to be an "Earthling," father and son earn each other's trust and eventually find someone who will love them unequivocally.

Cast

  • John Cusack
    John Cusack
    John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

     as David Gordon
  • Bobby Coleman
    Bobby Coleman
    Robert Moorhouse "Bobby" Coleman III is an American child actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Martian Child, as the title character, and The Last Song.-Life and career:...

     as Dennis
  • Amanda Peet
    Amanda Peet
    Amanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...

     as Harlee
  • Sophie Okonedo
    Sophie Okonedo
    Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...

     as Sophie
  • Joan Cusack
    Joan Cusack
    Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

     as Liz Gordon
  • Oliver Platt
    Oliver Platt
    Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...

     as Jeff
  • Anjelica Huston
    Anjelica Huston
    Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...

     as Tina
  • Richard Schiff
    Richard Schiff
    Richard Schiff is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he received an Emmy Award...

     as Lefkowitz
  • Howard Hesseman
    Howard Hesseman
    Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...

     as Dr. Berg

Background and production

The film is based on David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...

's award-winning semi-autobiographical novelette
Novelette
A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...

 The Martian Child
The Martian Child
"The Martian Child" is a novelette by David Gerrold. It won the 1995 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, Locus Award and HOMer Award and the 1994 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon award for best short fiction...

which he later expanded to novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 length. Gerrold had, in real life, adopted a son as an openly gay man. The novelette leaves the sexuality of the narrator undisclosed, however, the novel version identifies him as gay. In the film, the protagonist is straight and has a female love interest, a development which inspired criticism from members of the gay community.

Reception

Martian Child's box office performance was poor, grossing only a little more than US$9 million. Rental and DVD sales of the film were good, although not enough to match the amount of money used to produce the film. Critical reception was mixed to negative, with a 31% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.

DVD release

Martian Child was released on DVD on February 12, 2008. It opened at #20 the DVD sales chart, selling 69,000 units for revenue of $1.3 million. As per the latest figures, 400,000 DVD units have been sold, acquiring revenue of $7,613,945. This does not include DVD rentals/Blu-ray sales.

External links

  • Official site from New Line Cinema
    New Line Cinema
    New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...

  • Official trailer from YouTube
    YouTube
    YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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