Mike Hanson Wrote:This movie (that gave Rene Zellwegger her first big break: it was the reason she got to audition for JERRY MAGUIRE

Maggers Wrote:I've written about the "Whole Wide World" many times on many different threads ... about favorite movies of all times, favorite movies of the '90's, Conan the Barbarian threads, etc.

I love this wonderful and very moving movie. It's on my top 20 list of films.

Mike Hanson Wrote:THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

I hit the library over the weekend and was very pleased to find a DVD containing an anamorphic widescreen presentation of the movie THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.This is a wonderful autobiographical film for ANYBODY who is an aspiring fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror writer (because it is about one of the more famous writers who straddled the fantastic: Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian).While the print was very good, it was not 100% perfect, as I did notice a couple of minor scratches at two points...but heck, nothing really to complain about in an otherwise excellent movie. DVD "Extras" are almost nonexistent. You get one recent interview between the Director and the female star, Rene Zellweger, which was just okay, and then you get the commentary track (which was excellent) for the main flick with the Director, the Writer, the man who scored the film, and Vincent D'Onofrio (the actor who plays Robert E. Howard) throwing in their two cents.
I watched it twice, once with and then without commentary. The film is a gem. It was made for only $1.3 million and was a 23-day shoot. And you also find out in the commentary that D'Onofrio pocketed a few expenses himself for some nice touches in the film, like renting the classic 1930's commuter bus that Rene's character Novalyne is riding in the end. It was obviously a dream project that he really believed in (I think he ended up being a co-producer of the movie).I started re-reading the wonderful autobiographical novel ONE WHO WALKED ALONE by Novalyne Price Ellis (which the movie is based on) after watching the flick Saturday night.Robert E. Howard was a much more complex and deeply flawed human being than the movie ever really lets you find out, but still, I find him a fascinating subject, more so now for the reality of his short life as a tortured brilliant writer (he died at the age of 30), than for his memorable fantasy creation "Conan The Barbarian." D'Onofrio mentions in the commentary how writers are always coming up to him to compliment the scene where Howard is typing a Conan story while shouting the words aloud, in a near-frenzy...a moment which I have to admit I love, and one which will bring a smile to every aspiring writer who peruses this website. This movie (that gave Rene Zellwegger her first real shot at stardom: an early screening nabbed her an audition for JERRY MAGUIRE) does a fascinating job of taking us into the brilliant, unstable, and tortured mind of the late fantasy writer Robert E. Howard during the last three years of his life, in rural Texas, 1933-1936. What Howard accomplished in an all-too short life is an amazing inspiration to anyone who ever put pen to paper (or finger to computer keyboard).

Mike