Question: What did he see in the picture book which made him suspicious?
Michael Albert
11th Feb 2018
The Truman Show (1998)
Answer: In addition to what Bishop73 responded, he also notices other oddities. For example, the "Mount Rushmore" they allegedly took a vacation to was, in retrospect, pretty miniature.
I don't think he suspected much from the mount Rushmore miniature, he probably doesn't really know any landmarks that well. You see him wonder for a moment but that was only what spurred him to look closer at his wedding picture.
3rd Oct 2016
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: Why didn't the studio use the camera on Truman's clothes, which is functional later while he is at sea, to locate Truman during or following the basement disappearance?
Answer: There is never any indication that there are any cameras on Truman's clothes. When Truman is at sea, we only see shots of him from the perspective of cameras located (conveniently) on, around, or above the boat. Personally, I always wondered why the director, Christof, would have invested to put not just one, but multiple cameras on a boat where, due to his fear of water, Truman was least likely to be. But, as with many of these questions, the answer is that such plot devices serve to advance the cinematography and the story.
My thought on the boat cameras is that they were on there from when he used to go boating with his father.
It is not the same boat.
Truman had a camera on him when he confronted his wife in the kitchen and she said, "do something."
30th May 2016
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: Given that Truman is being watched (by multiple cameras) 24/7, how does he manage to escape from his house and get out to "sea" on a boat without any of the crew seeing him?
Answer: As the film depicts the control room during the overnight hours, while Truman typically sleeps, the crew is greatly reduced, and not paying very close attention. By that point in the film, Truman had moved into the basement of his home, having separated from his wife. He managed to sneak out of his house while the crew thought he was asleep. Truman had configured his sleeping area to look like he was in it, and had added a recording of himself snoring. We must suspend a bit of disbelief to imagine he could pull this off without anyone, crew nor devoted viewing audience, noticing. But presuming he was able to accomplish the deception, he was able to escape out to sea because nobody was paying attention to any of the thousands of other cameras in town, as all of the focus was on the allegedly sleeping Truman.
22nd Mar 2016
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: In the beginning of the film, Truman talks about something looking into a mirror. Like, "I'm not going to make it", "You're going to have to go on without me", "You're going to the top of this Mountain, broken legs and all" and so on. What was he doing?
Chosen answer: He is daydreaming out loud - acting out a little fantasy in his head. Truman leads a very ordinary, very humdrum, almost totally pre-programmed life. He attempts brief moments of escape, fantasizing about lost love, dreaming of a trip to Fiji, and engaging in small flights of fancy while staring at himself in the mirror. He has another such episode when he draws a space helmet with soap around his reflection, and imagines himself an astronaut.
29th Dec 2015
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: How does the show account for money? Truman obviously has real money so he doesn't get tipped off that he's living in a fake town, but how do they go about money for everyone else and any change Truman might get when he purchases items? I don't think the director would risk having any movie money (used in TV and movies to stand in for real money) within the world in case Truman should be handed some by accident.
Chosen answer: The world of "The Truman Show" is created as an actual functioning world. As such, even though Seahaven is a simulation, everything within it is made to seem as "real" as possible. There are actual newspapers and magazines. The snacks Marlon stocks in vending machines are actual snacks. The products in stores are real (and many are available for sale by catalog to the viewing audience). As such, there is every reason to believe that money used in Seahaven is actual legal tender. Why wouldn't it be? Every store and business can be stocked with money for change. Every actor and extra in Seahaven can be provided money for whatever transactions are needed, just as they are provided cars and briefcases and clothes and food. Accountants for the show can track the money just like everything else is probably tracked. The logistics seem overwhelming, but the economic operations of Seahaven have probably developed as the town has developed to meet Truman's needs.
16th Mar 2015
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: How does Christof talk to the actors? They don't look like they have earpieces, and if they do, why didn't that make Truman suspicious earlier?
Answer: They do have earpieces, just minuscule ones that can't be seen unless you are looking directly into a persons ear. As shown in the scene with Marlon on the beach, he is being fed his lines by such an earpiece. They are also present when Truman is in his car and he picks up the signal they are using to show where he is at the given time. Also, even though you can hear what someone is saying, you can't talk back to them which is why Meryl and Marlon had to talk to a camera when requesting help/confirming Truman wasn't there.
Yep, that's it. Also, the earpieces might not even be that small but Truman isn't looking for them and thus doesn't see them.
Chosen answer: It appears that Christof and the control team in the moon did not, in fact, have contact with the actors very often. It is more likely he had contact with people on the ground who could make things happen per his instructions. But there were inconsistencies. For example, how could he create instantaneous traffic jams at a moment's notice, and set up a hazardous spill scene on the outskirts of town to prevent Truman from leaving Seahaven, but he couldn't get anyone to interrupt or vary the cycle of movements by extras that Truman watched in his rear view mirror when he was trying to convince his wife something in their town was amiss - even when he was talking aloud, anticipating the next extra's move before it happened? Christof could arrange for a road race to happen by and to have people almost instantaneously hustle Truman's father onto a bus when he showed up in town as a homeless man, but it took quite some time to get Sylvia's father onto the beach to whisk her away to Fiji, even though Christof knew exactly where they were headed. And when Truman and Meryl were having their major argument in their kitchen, Christof could engineer Marlon to show up with a six pack of beer, but he couldn't communicate with Meryl to provide her advice on how to handle the situation, and she ended up screaming for help into a camera. I think Christof did place some sort of communication/listening device on some actors at critical times. We saw that in a couple of instances (e.g. When Marlon went into Truman's basement looking for an already disappeared Truman, Christof was feeding him direct instructions). But I don't think it was routinely done. And when it was, Christof's surely would have had the technical know-how to create a supremely inconspicuous piece of equipment.
2nd Feb 2015
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: How could people sneak into the show? It's in a large dome, and I assume there's lots of security.
Chosen answer: A motivated individual can find a way. One could get hired as an extra, or as a crew member. And one could certainly simply elude security. The larger the operation, the easier it is to find holes in the system. We have certainly seen many instances of that in real life, in museums, theme parks, celebrity residences, national landmarks, etc. Why not in a fictional, dome-enclosed town?
1st Jul 2014
The Truman Show (1998)
Question: Just something that has interested me for a while. Did all the people in the town grow up with Truman (eg. his classmates) or are they all different actors? Also do all the actors live on set or do they have lives outside the show?
Chosen answer: Clearly, in his media interviews, Truman's best friend, Marion, indicates that he did, indeed, grow up with Truman since they met in elementary school. One could extrapolate that his classmates did, as well. A sudden change of actor from one day to the next would be too much of tip-off to Truman. As actors leave the show, there is a story along with it. His father is presumed to have died, and returns later. I'm sure others move away. The main characters (Truman's wife, parents, close co-workers, and other key figures in his life) also appear to live "in world" and have devoted their entire lives to the Truman project. It is not made clear about the extras, though.
It's kinda hard to believe though that a little boy (Marion) is faking it all so well for all these years since his childhood without raising any suspicion.
He probably didn't get to know it until a late age. In the bus, a little girl was confused and almost tell her mum that there was Truman, so a kid can't keep up the secret. I'm pretty sure they don't know it. But on the other hand, when he says he wants to be an explorer all the classmates freak out, as if they knew it would put in danger the show. So maybe the classmates and even the best friend had been selected after making sure they wouldn't mess up and reveal the secret.
Answer: In a deleted scene, "Marlon" explained that he didn't realise he was auditioning for the show. Only that his mother was the casting director and told him that he would be in this class with Truman and that he would be known as Marlon from then on. In regards to the classmates, they weren't freaking out, they were laughing at the prospect of Truman wanting to be an explorer. With the other actors, only his family, Marlon, and a few close friends/co-workers would live on set. If they want to have a break to visit their friends/family on the outside I'm sure they would have been allowed to. Just come up with a story of why you are leaving for X time and Truman would buy it.
Answer: Meryl's fingers were crossed in their wedding picture, which made him think she was hiding something or that it was fake somehow. Later when he sees her, he says "I'll cross my fingers for ya" indicating he realises something is up.
Bishop73