American Splendor (film)
| American Splendor | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini |
| Produced by |
Ted Hope Christine Kunewa Walker Julia King Declan Baldwin |
| Written by | Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini |
| Based on |
American Splendor and Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar Joyce Brabner |
| Starring |
Paul Giamatti Hope Davis Judah Friedlander |
| Music by | Mark Suozzo |
| Cinematography | Terry Stacey |
| Edited by | Robert Pulcini |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
Fine Line Features HBO Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2 million |
| Box office | $7,986,084 |
American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life. The film was written and directed by documentarians Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.
The film stars Paul Giamatti as Pekar and Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner. It also features appearances from Pekar and Brabner themselves (along with Toby Radloff), who discuss their lives, the comic books, and how it feels to be depicted onscreen by actors. It was filmed entirely on location in Cleveland and Lakewood in Ohio.
Though Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini had directed documentaries before, American Splendor was their first narrative feature. Of the film's alternating of fictional portrayals with real-life appearances by Pekar and his friends and family, co-writer/co-director Pulcini recalled, "It really was the only way that made sense to tell that story because we were handed this stack of comic strips where the main character never really looks the same because he’s drawn by so many different artists. We wondered how to stay true to the material, and that’s the concept we came up with. The structure came out of that very naturally. It wasn’t something that we labored over." Berman added that upon meeting Pekar they felt compelled to include him in the film. "We also got to know Harvey even before we wrote the screenplay. We actually went to Cleveland and spent time with Harvey and Joyce, and spoke to them on the phone a lot. Once we spent some time with both of them, we were like, “Oh my God, we have to put them in the movie!” That was a case where we were still using our documentary instincts and had to figure out a way to include him in it that was a natural fit for the material."
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