The Dying Gaul (film)
| The Dying Gaul | |
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Original poster
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| Directed by | Craig Lucas |
| Produced by | Campbell Scott |
| Written by | Craig Lucas |
| Starring |
Patricia Clarkson Peter Sarsgaard Campbell Scott |
| Music by | Steve Reich |
| Cinematography | Bobby Bukowski |
| Edited by | Andy Keir |
| Distributed by | Strand Releasing |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $345,041 (Worldwide) |
The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Craig Lucas. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.
In 1995 Hollywood, novice screenwriter Robert Sandrich has written an autobiographical script inspired by his lover's death by AIDS-related cerebral tuberculosis. It impresses both studio executive Jeffrey Tishop and his wife Elaine, but for commercial reasons Jeffrey is willing to greenlight the project only if Robert changes his protagonist from Maurice to Maggie and shifts the focus of his plot from gay to straight people. Robert initially refuses to compromise his principles, but when Jeffrey threatens to make the film without his participation, he decides to accept the $1 million paycheck he's been offered and make the requested edits.
Both Jeffrey and Elaine find themselves attracted to Robert, who becomes a frequent guest in their Malibu home and soon drifts into a sexual relationship with the manipulative producer. The connection Elaine feels to the grieving young man is more emotional and cerebral than physical and, after discovering Robert is addicted to Internet chat rooms, she tracks him down online and engages him in conversation while posing as a gay man. Using information he has revealed to her in person, she somehow manages to convince him he is communicating with his dead lover. Complications ensue when Robert reveals he's having an affair with Jeffrey, which forces Elaine to face the truth about her seemingly perfect marriage and prompts a confrontation that leads to tragedy.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005 and was shown at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, the Provincetown International Film Festival, the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Montréal World Film Festival, Film Fest New Haven, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, and the Austin Film Festival before opening in eleven theaters in the United States on November 4, 2005.
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