Public Access
| Public Access | |
|---|---|
Film poster
|
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| Directed by | Bryan Singer |
| Produced by | Kenneth Kokin |
| Written by | Bryan Singer Christopher McQuarrie Michael Feit Dougan |
| Music by | John Ottman |
| Cinematography | Bruce Douglas Johnson |
| Edited by | John Ottman |
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Production
company |
Occidental Studios
Cinemabeam |
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Release date
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January 1993 |
|
Running time
|
90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$250,000 |
Public Access is a 1993 American drama film directed by Bryan Singer in his feature film debut. Singer also wrote the screenplay with Christopher McQuarrie and Michael Feit Dougan. The film was shot in 18 days for US$250,000. It was screened at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, where it was a joint winner of the Grand Jury Prize. Critics praised the technical direction of Public Access but did not lend similar praise to the film's story and the characters.
A clean-cut drifter ends up in a small town called Brewster. Getting wind of the local public-access television cable TV station, the man decides to host his own show called Our Town, which becomes a focal point for town citizens to call in and voice their problems anonymously. However, things start to get ugly and tensions rise for the show, which begins to elevate the man's signature catchphrase "What's wrong with Brewster?" into an entirely new subject for the people of Brewster, when the town becomes embroiled in a mess it has created, driven by a man whose intentions might be far more sinister than he appears to be.
Bryan Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, and Michael Feit Dougan wrote the screenplay for Public Access. Singer directed the screenplay in 1992 on a budget of $250,000 and with a schedule of 18 days. The crew used leftover film stock from Dracula and Hoffa. The director recalled the production experience, "Chris and I look at that film and wince a little. Part of our reaction is, 'Wow, look what we did then. It was so small and undeveloped.' Part of it is reliving the circumstances of the days we filmed each scene. This production was fraught with 100 times more turmoil than Usual Suspects—every day was a crisis. And then we also feel very nostalgic about it." Singer compared Public Access's themes to his follow-up film The Usual Suspects, "The two films are similar in the notion of things not always being what they seem. They're also about audiences' projections on a stranger. In many ways, Verbal in The Usual Suspects is an extension of Whiley, by being a foil for our projections. Both films are about telling stories and provoking, which segues into my style—using sound and images and music to create tension."
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