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Vonnegut's Dystopian "Harrison Bergeron" Gets the Cinematic Treatment

So It Goes / Dustin Rowles

Trailers | May 15, 2009 | Comments (38)

A local buddy of mine actually brought this to my attention: Chandler Tuttle has made a short film, 2081, based on the Kurt Vonnegut short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” which you can find in Welcome to the Monkey House. The story is vintage Vonnegut — the year is 2081 in a world where societal equality has been achieved by handicapping the more intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society down to the level of the lowest common endowment. This process is central to the society, designed so that no one will feel inferior to anyone else. .

In the midst of this, an exceptionally intelligent, exceptionally attractive man, Harrison Bergeron, who has been severely handicapped — he’s had his eyebrows shaved, 300 pounds of weight strapped to his chest, forced to wear a clown nose and shave his eyebrows, among other things — manages to invade a TV station and declare himself the emperor.

It’s a really cool idea (it is Vonnegut), and there was even a 1995 television movie made about it. The Chandler Tuttle short, 2081, premieres later this month at the Seattle Film Festival. It stars James Cosmo, Julie Hagerty and Armie Hammer, and Patricia Clarkson provides the narration. It will also be released in October on DVD and as a digital download. It looks flat fucking amazing. You can get more information about the movie here, and if you live in Seattle and want to see it at the SFF, you can find more information here. Everybody else will have to wait until October, and hopefully we can get our hands on a copy for review.

In the meantime, check out the trailer and tell me it’s not a short film you’re not dying to see.


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Comments

I love Vonnegut and I love this story. I've never seen the TV-movie (although the teacher whose room I inherited has a VHS copy which I have been too scared to actually watch) but this looks super-promising!

Posted by: Ariel at May 15, 2009 9:44 AM

One of my favorite books of all time, can't wait!

Posted by: BouncingBetty at May 15, 2009 9:45 AM

Here's the short story if you're interested.

Posted by: twig at May 15, 2009 9:46 AM

omg is that julie hagerty?! i didn't know she could knit!!!

Posted by: gp at May 15, 2009 9:50 AM

Sounds like a very cool story.

Trailer looks nice!

Posted by: Magiel at May 15, 2009 9:52 AM

I saw the tv movie. Wasn't it Sean Astin?

Posted by: Carrie at May 15, 2009 9:59 AM

I caught the '95 movie on tv a few years ago and it wasn't bad. Sean Austin was earnest and likable as he usually is, but this short film does look light years better.

Posted by: Tilly at May 15, 2009 10:00 AM

Harrison Bergeron would send me on benders of very involved thought as a teenager. Still think of it often in regard to things I would encounter in my years as an MRDD service provider. I would definitely love to see this.

Posted by: Stacy D at May 15, 2009 10:01 AM

Harrison Bergeron is my favourite of Vonnegut's short stories. I would love to see this... Something tells me I'll be waiting awhile though (stupid Ottawa!).

Posted by: b at May 15, 2009 10:02 AM

The trailer was great. I remember a line from the film 'You didn't make everyone equal, you made everyone the same!' I might look up the short story too.

Posted by: Carrie at May 15, 2009 10:03 AM

There are no words to describe how excited I am! Harrison Bergeron ment so much to me in my brooding teenage years.

Everyone looks at me like I am speaking in tongues when I bring up this story (or when I use brobdingnagian). If I had a heart, it would have grown three sizes today.

Posted by: Morgagod at May 15, 2009 10:20 AM

Is it just me or would anyone else like an extended version showing the ballerinas knocking each other around in purge Stoogian fashion with those weights?

I've always felt this story was a metaphor pushed just a little too far. Making a movie of it only validates the inanity, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a bad movie.

Posted by: Neodiogenes at May 15, 2009 10:26 AM

Oh Rudy Sam Wise Bergeron...that takes me back to high school...

Posted by: VeinsRHiways at May 15, 2009 10:46 AM

I've always felt this story was a metaphor pushed just a little too far.

Twenty years ago, I might have agreed, but I've watched this country bend over backwards with various legal structures designed to protect the stupid and the self-indulgent. "This hot fucking coffee you just bought so you could have hot coffee is fucking hot coffee motherfucker so don't burn your stupid hand with this hot coffee!" on every fast food coffee cup isn't that many ticks away from Vonnegut.

I think this would have supported a feature film in the right hands. Of course, how often does that happen? (cough, A Scanner Darkly, cough)

Posted by: socalledonlycousins at May 15, 2009 10:48 AM

I love this story, and I don't think it needs to be turned into anything else (tv or film).

Posted by: Cindy at May 15, 2009 10:52 AM

Unfortunately, in my opinion, we are closer to that society than we think.

Posted by: admin at May 15, 2009 10:52 AM

socalled, you're back!

I think. I haven't seen you for a while.

Posted by: twig at May 15, 2009 11:00 AM

I am unfamiliar with this story. I'm pretty sure I've never read any Kurt Vonnegut; I should probably add that to my list.

This film looks great, even without having read the source material--thanks for the summary, Dustin!

Posted by: tamatha at May 15, 2009 11:11 AM

Great story, and the trailer looks good, but isn't the story just five or six pages long? That trailer gives pretty much everything away except for the ending.

Posted by: Macafee at May 15, 2009 11:37 AM

Looks very promising.
Wish someone would take on "Unready to Wear" as well.

Posted by: billy at May 15, 2009 11:37 AM

Not to quibble, but the hot coffee lawsuit is a bad example. The whole point of the suit wasn't that the coffee was hot, but that it was a LOT HOTTER than hot coffee normally is. And it actually was. McDonald's really WAS keeping the coffee heated to crazy high levels so that it would stay hot longer once poured - they figured people would just wait to drink it until it had cooled down. What they hadn't counted on was someone spilling it and receiving burns that were actually pretty hideous - more than you'd get from "normally hot" coffee. There actually was a case there. I'm not saying there aren't plenty of dumb lawsuits, but that wasn't one of them.

Posted by: Landon at May 15, 2009 1:08 PM

I think Harrison Bergeron is the single best thing Vonnegut ever wrote. Either that, or Rosewater as the culmination of the whole Breakfast of Champions lore.

This movie, however, will almost surely suck. They're gonna squeeze 2 hours out of it? Hot damn, I'm almost impressed.

Posted by: Jackseppelin at May 15, 2009 1:42 PM

Wow, he was such a awesome guy they made him shave his eyebrows twice? How does that even work?

Posted by: jbrader at May 15, 2009 2:23 PM

jbrader - Two eyebrows. Think, man. (grin)

Posted by: Landon at May 15, 2009 2:31 PM

The story's great (as is all Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle is one of the funniest things I've ever read), but Sean Astin was a hoot as Bergeron. Cute and earnest, yes, but hardly a superman-type. This looks like it'll rock.

Jackseppelin, it's a short. Though they did manage an hour and a half for the TV version.

Posted by: frumpiefox at May 15, 2009 2:48 PM

This is at least a better story to make a remake of than, say Thundercats or He-Man, which all but hemorrhage outdatedness. Never the less, I feel that that is the best place to get something off my chest:

I want, nay, I DEMAND a Call of Cthulhu movie, God damn it.

Think of all the themes prevalent in that story that are relavant today: Racism, Xenophobia, Religion, Fear of the Unknown. Seriously.

But no, Hollywood. You insist on shoving the likes of X-Men and Shia LaBeouf down my throat.

Posted by: Matt 2.0 at May 15, 2009 3:38 PM

I can't wait to see this. I just found out about this today and was hoping you guys would have more information. I just don't know if I can wait until October. This looks fantastic!

Posted by: Katherine at May 15, 2009 3:45 PM

I found out about this movie a while ago and just got the update which I sent on to Dustin... I have been a Vonnegut fan since high school and this story (as did many in Welcome to the Monkeyhouse) stood out in my receding memory banks...I too was scared that they would trash this story in making a feature film, but felt better when i realized that is a short. I can see that... it is a very visual and auditory story and BLAMMMM CHOO CHOO, CRASH ZOOM... what was I saying... I can't remember... i guess I'm not that smart

Posted by: Jeremy at May 15, 2009 4:07 PM

Harrison Bergeron was the name of a buddy's bong in college. It's a good story and though I kind of agree with Morgagod, I really want to see this.

Posted by: boyuc at May 15, 2009 4:33 PM

NOOOOOOOO!!!

Vonnegut does not translate well to the big (or little) screen. Never has, never will.

Posted by: Rosa at May 15, 2009 7:09 PM

Poor Kurt :(

And a right-wing media group, known for producing pro-capitalism and anti-environmentalist documentaries, of all the people.

Posted by: Arthur Dent at May 15, 2009 9:49 PM

Matt 2.0, you may not be aware, but the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society actually made a Call of Cthulhu movie. It's done in the style of a classic 1920's silent film, and it is quite good. You can read about it at: http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/

Posted by: CptCrckpot at May 16, 2009 6:34 AM

I named my son after this character, so clearly this is a film that I am looking forward to seeing...

Posted by: Samantha at May 16, 2009 9:17 AM

Why is it so dark and ... slow-looking? Meh.

And: Why do writers always imagine it will be the government's job to dumb everyone down to the lowest common denominator in some distant future? TV and the movies are taking care of that right now and doing a splendid job.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 16, 2009 10:27 AM

WOOOOOO!

Posted by: ChristianH at May 16, 2009 7:00 PM

I'm not a huge Vonnegut fan, but Harrison Bergeron is my favorite short story ever. I hope this is heartbreaking and moving and perfect. I'm so excited!

Posted by: BiblioGeek at May 18, 2009 1:35 AM

"Harrison Bergeron" is one of the greatest short stories ever. It's about time someone figured out that it will make a great short film.

Posted by: hater from siloam springs at May 18, 2009 11:22 AM

Harrison Bergeron was included in part of a PBS teleplay called "Between Time and Timbuktu" back in the 1970s. Sean Astin was not born yet. Patty Duke and John Astin were an item.

Posted by: just plain Ben at May 18, 2009 9:42 PM