title: MeToo movement

text: The #MeToo movement has been criticized for putting too much public focus on the consequences of specific individuals who have been accused of sexual misconduct, as opposed to discussing policies and changes to institutional norms that would help people currently experiencing sexual abuse. It's been noted that although allegations surrounding high-profile public figures tend to attract the most attention, the stories of regular workers often go unacknowledged. Yet to ensure meaningful change, these workers’ experiences must be at the center of any policy solutions that lawmakers pursue. Tarana Burke has voiced similar misgivings, pointing out one problematic aspect of #MeToo is "All of this media attention is on the perpetrator. All of the conversation about fairness and due process is focused on the perpetrator." She states the movement should focus on specific steps to help current and future sufferers. Activist and writer Jaclyn Friedman said, "We’ve got to stop treating each case that comes to light like a self-contained soap opera that ends when the villain is defeated, and start addressing the systems that have enabled workplace sexual abuse for so long." Writer Jia Tolentino has stated that it is natural to focus on the individual stories because they are "gripping and horrible", but determining the best workplace changes "doesn't have a ton to do with the specific investigation and adjudication of men that have already done this".


title: MeToo movement

text: Prisoners' rights are significantly limited, and the power imbalance between female inmates and male officers allows and promotes prison rape and other forms of abuse. Many people have criticized the prison system for punishing women who act in self-defense. Others criticize the main outreach of the Me Too movement for failing to address the systemic imprisonment of abused women and men.


title: MeToo movement

text: The development of #MeToo Behind Bars happened after a lawsuit was filed by four female inmates against correctional officers that brutally abused them. This new campaign's purpose is to bring awareness to the public of sexual violence towards women in prison. Sara Kershner, lead campaign organizer, mentions that the perpetrators of this type of violence is usually the state, institutions, and society. She believes society disregards human rights of those who are incarerated simply because they do not deserve them. As a result, there is no solidarity.


title: Aamir Khan filmography

text: Aamir Khan is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality. Khan first appeared on screen at the age of eight in a minor role in his uncle Nasir Hussain's film "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" (1973). In 1983, he acted in and worked as an assistant director on "Paranoia", a short film directed by Aditya Bhattacharya, following which he assisted Hussain on two of his directorial ventures"Manzil Manzil" (1984) and "Zabardast" (1985). As an adult, Khan's first acting project was a brief role in the 1984 experimental social drama "Holi".


title: Aamir Khan filmography

text: Khan's first leading role came opposite Juhi Chawla in the highly successful tragic romance "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" (1988). His performance in the film and in the thriller "Raakh" (1989) earned him a National Film Award – Special Mention. He went on to establish himself with roles in several lucrative films of the 1990s, including the romantic drama "Dil" (1990), the comedy-drama "Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke" (1993), and the romance "Raja Hindustani" (1996). He also played against type in the Deepa Mehta-directed Canadian-Indian co-production "Earth" (1998). In 1999, Khan launched a production company, Aamir Khan Productions, whose first release "Lagaan" (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and earned him the National Film Award for Best Popular Film. Also in 2001, he starred alongside Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna in the acclaimed coming-of-age drama "Dil Chahta Hai". "Lagaan" and "Dil Chahta Hai" are cited in the media as defining films of Hindi cinema. After a four-year hiatus, Khan portrayed the eponymous lead in "" (2005), a period film that underperformed at the box office, after which he played leading roles in two top-grossing films of 2006"Fanaa" and "Rang De Basanti".


title: Aamir Khan filmography

text: Khan made his directorial debut with "Taare Zameen Par" in 2007, a drama on dyslexia starring Darsheel Safary, in which Khan also played a supporting role. The film proved to be a critical and commercial success, winning him the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. Khan played a man with anterograde amnesia in the 2008 thriller "Ghajini", after which he portrayed an engineering student in the comedy-drama "3 Idiots" (2009), and a reclusive artist in the drama "Dhobi Ghat" (2010), which he also produced. Further success came when he played the antagonist of the adventure film "Dhoom 3" (2013) and starred as the titular alien in the -grossing satire "PK" (2014). In 2016, Khan played the father of two young female wrestlers in the sports biopic "Dangal", which earned over worldwide. Five of Khan's films"Ghajini", "3 Idiots", "Dhoom 3", "PK", and "Dangal" have held records for being the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. In addition to acting in films, Khan has developed and featured as the host of the television talk show "Satyamev Jayate" (2012–14).


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The legend dates back to the Middle Ages, the earliest references describing a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the citizens refuse to pay for this service as promised, he retaliates by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase "pied piper" has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: There are many contradictory theories about the Pied Piper. Some suggest he was a symbol of hope to the people of Hamelin, which had been attacked by plague; he drove the rats from Hamelin, saving the people from the epidemic.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The earliest known record of the story originates from the town of Hamelin itself, depicted in a stained glass window created for the church of Hamelin, which dated to around 1300. Although the church was destroyed in 1660, several written accounts of the tale have survived.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. The mayor, in turn, promised to pay him for the removal of the rats (the promised sum was 1,000 guilders). The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where all the rats drowned.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Despite the piper's success, the mayor reneged on his promise and refused to pay him the full sum (reputedly reduced to a sum of 50 guilders) even going so far as to blame the piper for bringing the rats himself in an extortion attempt. Enraged, the piper stormed out of the town, vowing to return later to take revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day, while the adults were in church, the piper returned, dressed in green like a hunter and playing his pipe. In so doing, he attracted the town's children. One hundred and thirty children followed him out of town and into a cave, after which they were never seen again. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind: one was lame and could not follow quickly enough, the second was deaf and therefore could not hear the music, and the last was blind and therefore unable to see where he was going. These three informed the villagers of what had happened when they came out from church.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Other versions relate that the Pied Piper led the children to the top of Koppelberg Hill, where he took them to a beautiful land, or a place called Koppenberg Mountain, or Transylvania, or that he made them walk into the Weser as he did with the rats, and they all drowned. Some versions state that the Piper returned the children after extorting payment, or that the children were only returned after the villagers paid several times the original payment in gold.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The Hamelin street named ("street without drums") is believed to be the last place that the children were seen. Ever since, music or dancing is not allowed on this street.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a stained-glass window placed in the Church of Hamelin . The window was described in several accounts between the 14th and 17th centuries. It was destroyed in 1660. Based on the surviving descriptions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by historian Hans Dobbertin. It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the town; Hamelin town records also apparently start with this event. The earliest written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384 which reportedly states: "It is 100 years since our children left."


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Although research has been conducted for centuries, no explanation for the historical event is universally accepted as true. In any case, the rats were first added to the story in a version from and are absent from earlier accounts.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Decan Lude of Hamelin was reported to have in his possession a chorus book containing a Latin verse giving an eyewitness account of the event.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The Lüneburg manuscript () gives an early German account of the event. According to the Christmas Eve edition of <nowiki>"</nowiki>The Saturday Evening Post<nowiki>"</nowiki> in 1955, on the back of the last tattered page of a dusty chronicle called The Golden Chain, written in Latin in 1370 by the monk Heinrich of Hereford, is there written in a different handwriting the following account:"Here follows a marvellous wonder, which transpired in the town of Hamelin in the diocese of Minden, in the Year of Our Lord, 1284, on the Feast of Saints John and Paul. A certain young man thirty years of age, handsome and well-dressed, so that all who saw him admired him because of his appearance, crossed the bridges and entered the town by the West Gate. He then began to play all through the town a silver pipe of the most magnificent sort. All the children who heard his pipe, in the number of 130, followed him to the East Gate and out of the town to the so-called execution place or Calvary. There they proceeded to vanish, so that no trace of them could be found. The mothers of the children ran from town to town, but they found nothing. It is written: A voice was heard from on high, and a mother was bewailing her son. And as one counts the years according to the Year of Our Lord or according to the first, second or third year of an anniversary, so do the people in Hamelin reckon the years after the departure and disappearance of their children. This report I found in an old book. And the mother of the Dean Johann von Lüde saw the children depart."""


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: It is rendered in the following form in an inscription on a house known as (English: "Rat Catcher's House" or Pied Piper's House) in Hamelin:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: According to author Fanny Rostek-Lühmann this is the oldest surviving account. (High German , meaning a knoll or domed hill) seems to be a reference to one of several hills surrounding Hamelin. Which of them was intended by the manuscript's author remains uncertain.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: A similar inscription can be found on the "Wedding- or Hochzeitshaus, a fine structure erected between 1610 and 1617 for marriage festivities, but diverted from its purpose since 1721. Behind rises the spire of the parish church of St. Nicholas, which may still enwall stones that witness how the parents prayed, while the Piper wrought sorrow for them without":


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Part of the town gate from the year 1556 is today exhibited at the Hamelin Museum. According to Hamelin Museum, this stone is the oldest surviving sculptural evidence for the legend. It bears the following inscription:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The Hamelin Museum writes:In the mid 14th Century, a monk from Minden, Heinrich von Herford, puts together a collection of holy legends called the “Catena Aurea”.  It speaks of a “miracle” that took place in 1284 in Hamelin.  A youth appeared and played on a strange silver flute.  Every child that heard the flute, followed the stranger.  They left Hameln by the Eastern gate and disappeared at Kalvarien Hill.  This is the oldest known account of this occurrence. Around this time a verse of rhyme is found in “zu Hameln im Kloster”.  It tells about the children’s disappearance.  It is written in red ink on the title page of a missal.  It bewails “the 130 beloved Hamelner children” who were “eaten alive by Calvaria”.  The original verses are probably the oldest written source of this legend.  It has been missing for hundreds of years.""However, different versions of transcriptions of handwritten copies still exist. One was published by Heinrich Meibom in 1688. Another was included by Johann Daniel Gottlieb Herr under the title Passionale Sanctorum in "Collectanea zur Geschichte der Stadt Hameln". His manuscript is dated 1761. There are some Latin verses which had a prose version underneath:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Somewhere between 1559 and 1565, Count Froben Christoph von Zimmern included a version in his . This appears to be the earliest account which mentions the plague of rats. Von Zimmern dates the event only as "several hundred years ago" ( ), so that his version throws no light on the conflict of dates (see next paragraph). Another contemporary account is that of Johann Weyer in his (1563).


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: A number of theories suggest that children died of some natural causes such as disease or starvation, and that the Piper was a symbolic figure of Death. Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death, or , a common medieval trope. Some of the scenarios that have been suggested as fitting this theory include that the children drowned in the river Weser, were killed in a landslide or contracted some disease during an epidemic. Another modern interpretation reads the story as alluding to an event where Hamelin children were lured away by a pagan or heretic sect to forests near Coppenbrügge (the mysterious "hills" of the poem) for ritual dancing where they all perished during a sudden landslide or collapsing sinkhole.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Speculation on the emigration theory is based on the idea that, by the 13th century, overpopulation of the area resulted in the oldest son owning all the land and power (majorat), leaving the rest as serfs. It has also been suggested that one reason the emigration of the children was never documented was that the children were sold to a recruiter from the Baltic region of Eastern Europe, a practice that was not uncommon at the time. In his book "The Pied Piper: A Handbook", Wolfgang Mieder states that historical documents exist showing that people from the area including Hamelin did help settle parts of Transylvania. Emily Gerard reports in "The Land Beyond the Forest" an element of the folktale that "popular tradition has averred the Germans who about that time made their appearance in Transylvania to be no other than the lost children of Hameln, who, having performed their long journey by subterranean passages, reissued to the light of day through the opening of a cavern known as the Almescher Höhle, in the north-east of Transylvania." Transylvania had suffered under lengthy Mongol invasions of Central Europe, led by two grandsons of Genghis Khan and which date from around the time of the earliest appearance of the legend of the piper, the early 13th century.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: In the version of the legend posted on the official website for the town of Hamelin, another aspect of the emigration theory is presented:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Among the various interpretations, reference to the colonization of East Europe starting from Low Germany is the most plausible one: The "Children of Hameln" would have been in those days citizens willing to emigrate being recruited by landowners to settle in Moravia, East Prussia, Pomerania or in the Teutonic Land. It is assumed that in past times all people of a town were referred to as "children of the town" or "town children" as is frequently done today. The "Legend of the children's Exodus" was later connected to the "Legend of expelling the rats". This most certainly refers to the rat plagues being a great threat in the medieval milling town and the more or less successful professional "rat catchers".


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The theory is provided credence by the fact that family names common to Hamelin at the time "show up with surprising frequency in the areas of Uckermark and Prignitz, near Berlin."


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Historian Ursula Sautter, citing the work of linguist Jürgen Udolph, offers this hypothesis in support of the emigration theory:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: "After the defeat of the Danes at the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227," explains Udolph, "the region south of the Baltic Sea, which was then inhabited by Slavs, became available for colonization by the Germans." The bishops and dukes of Pomerania, Brandenburg, Uckermark and Prignitz sent out glib "locators," medieval recruitment officers, offering rich rewards to those who were willing to move to the new lands. Thousands of young adults from Lower Saxony and Westphalia headed east. And as evidence, about a dozen Westphalian place names show up in this area. Indeed there are five villages called Hindenburg running in a straight line from Westphalia to Pomerania, as well as three eastern Spiegelbergs and a trail of etymology from Beverungen south of Hamelin to Beveringen northwest of Berlin to Beweringen in modern Poland.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Udolph favors the hypothesis that the Hamelin youths wound up in what is now Poland. Genealogist Dick Eastman cited Udolph's research on Hamelin surnames that have shown up in Polish phonebooks:


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Linguistics professor Jürgen Udolph says that 130 children did vanish on a June day in the year 1284 from the German village of Hamelin ( in German). Udolph entered all the known family names in the village at that time and then started searching for matches elsewhere. He found that the same surnames occur with amazing frequency in the regions of Prignitz and Uckermark, both north of Berlin. He also found the same surnames in the former Pomeranian region, which is now a part of Poland.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Udolph surmises that the children were actually unemployed youths who had been sucked into the German drive to colonize its new settlements in Eastern Europe. The Pied Piper may never have existed as such, but, says the professor, "There were characters known as "lokators" who roamed northern Germany trying to recruit settlers for the East." Some of them were brightly dressed, and all were silver-tongued.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Professor Udolph can show that the Hamelin exodus should be linked with the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227 which broke the Danish hold on Eastern Europe. That opened the way for German colonization, and by the latter part of the thirteenth century there were systematic attempts to bring able-bodied youths to Brandenburg and Pomerania. The settlement, according to the professor's name search, ended up near Starogard in what is now northwestern Poland. A village near Hamelin, for example, is called Beverungen and has an almost exact counterpart called Beveringen, near Pritzwalk, north of Berlin and another called Beweringen, near Starogard.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Local Polish telephone books list names that are not the typical Slavic names one would expect in that region. Instead, many of the names seem to be derived from German names that were common in the village of Hamelin in the thirteenth century. In fact, the names in today's Polish telephone directories include Hamel, Hamler and Hamelnikow, all apparently derived from the name of the original village.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: It has been noted that all local reports of the incident date it to the specific date of 26 June, the date of pagan midsummer celebrations and often also place emphasis the children being led away to the ""Koppen"" meaning hills. It was traditional in some areas of Germany to celebrate midsummer by lighting bonfires in the hills. This has led to speculation that the children may have been led away by a pagan shaman to participate in one of these celebrations and been forced into a monastery or massacred by local Christians.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Some theories have linked the disappearance of the children to mass psychogenic illness in the form of dancing mania. Dancing mania outbreaks occurred during the 13th century, including one in 1237 in which a large group of children travelled from Erfurt to Arnstadt (about ), jumping and dancing all the way, in marked similarity to the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, which originated at around the same time.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Others have suggested that the children left Hamelin to be part of a pilgrimage, a military campaign, or even a new Children's Crusade (which is said to have occurred in 1212) but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent. The townspeople made up this story (instead of recording the facts) to avoid the wrath of the church or the king.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: William Manchester's "A World Lit Only by Fire" places the events in 1484, 100 years after the written mention in the town chronicles that "It is 100 years since our children left", and further proposes that the Pied Piper was a psychopathic paedophile.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: In linguistics, "pied-piping" is the common name for the ability of question words and relative pronouns to drag other words along with them when brought to the front, as part of the phenomenon called Wh-movement. For example, in "For whom are the pictures?", the word "for" is "pied-piped" by "whom" away from its declarative position ("The pictures are for me"), and in "The mayor, pictures of whom adorn his office walls" both words "pictures of" are pied-piped in front of the relative pronoun, which normally starts the relative clause.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: Some researchers believe that the tale has inspired the common English phrase "pay the piper", although the phrase is potentially a contraction of the English proverb "he who pays the piper calls the tune" which means, contrary to paying a debt such as the modern expression implies, that the person paying for something is the one who gets to say how it should be done.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: The present-day city of Hamelin continues to maintain information about the Pied Piper legend and possible origins of the story on its website. Interest in the city's connection to the story remains so strong that, in 2009, Hamelin held a tourist festival to mark the 725th anniversary of the disappearance of the town's earlier children. The Rat Catcher's House is popular with visitors, although it bears no connection to the Rat-Catcher version of the legend. Indeed, the Rattenfängerhaus is instead associated with the story due to the earlier inscription upon its facade mentioning the legend. The house was built much later, in 1602 and 1603. It is now a Hamelin City-owned restaurant with a Pied Piper theme throughout. The city also maintains an online shop with rat-themed merchandise as well as offering an officially licensed Hamelin Edition of the popular board game "Monopoly" which depicts the legendary Piper on the cover.


title: Pied Piper of Hamelin

text: In addition to the recent milestone festival, each year the city marks 26 June as "Rat Catcher's Day". In the United States, a similar holiday for exterminators based on Rat Catcher's Day is marked on 22 July, but has not caught on.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Solofa Fatu Jr. (born October 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He is a member of the Anoa'i family of Samoan wrestlers. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons, wrestlers Jey and Jimmy Uso, in 2015.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Solofa Fatu was born on October 11, 1965, in San Francisco to Solofa Fatu Sr. and Elevera Anoa'i Fatu, and grew up in the Sunnydale Projects in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood, where his maternal grandparents were preachers. He attended Balboa High School, and competed on the wrestling team.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In 1982, when he was seventeen years old, Fatu was wounded in a drive-by shooting that left him with a scar on his abdomen; he claimed in a 2021 interview that he had died for three minutes in the emergency room before being revived. He spent two months in the hospital, after which his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him out of state to live with her brothers Afa and Sika Anoa'i, with whom he trained to become a professional wrestler.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu began his wrestling career in 1985, working for Gino Brito and Dino Bravo's Lutte Internationale promotion in Montreal as Prince Alofa, a high-flying babyface. He often teamed with the territory's top faces. Fatu also worked for International Championship Wrestling in New York City in that same year.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: He and his cousin Samula Anoaʻi became The Samoan Swat Team (Samu & Fatu) in 1986 for New Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1987, they signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and They used the "Samoan savage" gimmick their relatives, The Wild Samoans successfully used by working barefoot, never publicly speaking English, and no-selling attacks to the head. They became the new WWC Caribbean Tag Team Champions (after a long vacancy) on November 7, 1987, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico after defeating Invader I and Invader III. They held the title for just over a month before dropping it to Mark and Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling. Storywise, Buddy Roberts brought them in to fight his fights against the Von Erich family and former Fabulous Freebirds partner Michael Hayes. The SST were given a big push right away; presented as an unstoppable force, they beat hometown heroes Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship on August 12, 1988. They remained undefeated in WCCW until they dropped the belts to Hayes and his new partner, Steve Cox, on September 12. They recaptured the title four days later. Hayes and Cox beat them for the title again on October 15, and, two days later, lost it back again.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On September 12, 1988, The Samoan Swat Team became double champions by beating "Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship. They made their pay-per-view debut at AWA SuperClash III, the AWA's first and last PPV. They successfully defended their World Tag title against Michael Hayes and Steve Cox.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In early 1989, the SST left WCCW, vacating both championships. Swat Team signed with Jim Crockett Promotions, introduced as manager Paul E. Dangerously's replacement for The Original Midnight Express (Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey), who had left the promotion. The SST took over the Express' feud with The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane), beating them at on April 2, 1989. The SST teamed with former rival Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Jimmy Garvin at the 1989 Great American Bash, losing a WarGames match to The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, and Steve Williams.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In the fall of 1989, Paul E. Dangerously was phased out and the SST took a new manager, "The Big Kahuna" Oliver Humperdink. They were also joined by Fatu's brother, The Samoan Savage. The SST lost more and more matches as 1989 drew to a close, but got a break when Sid Vicious was injured, leading his team, The Skyscrapers, to pull out of the "Iron Team Tournament" at Starrcade 1989. Fatu and The Samoan Savage, rebranded as The New Wild Samoans, replaced them. For the rest of their WCW career, Fatu and Savage teamed, while Samu only wrestled singles matches.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: After leaving WCW in the summer of 1990, Fatu and Savage worked for several independent promotions in the US, Europe, Puerto Rico and Japan, often teaming with cousin Kokina Maximus. The three worked for the Universal Wrestling Association in 1991, where they won the UWA Trios Tag Team Championship and held it for just under two months. They headlined the UWA's 16th anniversary show, losing the title to Dos Caras, El Canek, and Mil Máscaras.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: After Samu and Fatu joined the World Wrestling Federation, they were renamed The Headshrinkers, but their savage gimmick remained. Kokina Maximus also joined the WWF, but was repackaged as Japanese sumo wrestler Yokozuna, and his relation to The Headshrinkers was not acknowledged. The Headshrinker's first notable angle came when they interfered to help Money Inc. beat The Natural Disasters for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Soon after, The Headshrinkers feuded with The Natural Disasters and the recently formed High Energy.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Between 1992 and early 1994, The Headshrinkers occasionally challenged for the tag title and made sporadic PPV appearances, feuding with The Smoking Gunns and Men on a Mission. Fatu would receive a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart on the March 1, 1993 episode of "Monday Night RAW". Despite interference by Samu, Fatu was unsuccessful.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: The Headshrinkers helped Yokozuna win a casket match against The Undertaker at the 1994 Royal Rumble. In April, they turned face, took Lou Albano as their manager and challenged tag champions The Quebecers. They won the gold on the May 2 episode of Monday Night RAW. At King of the Ring on June 19, they successfully defended the title against Yokozuna and Crush. Their title reign ended at a house show in Indianapolis on August 28, when they lost to Shawn Michaels and Diesel. This happened a day before they were scheduled to defend against Irwin R. Schyster and Bam Bam Bigelow at SummerSlam. The match went on without the title, and The Headshrinkers lost by disqualification.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Soon after, Samu left the WWF to recover from injuries and was replaced by Sione (formerly The Barbarian). They were called The New Headshrinkers. The storyline reason for Samu's departure was that he was not coping well with manager Lou Albano's attempts to civilize him, particularly about wearing boots. The New Headshrinkers made only two PPV appearances, at the 1994 Survivor Series, where they were eliminated from their ten-man tag match, but helped their team win and at the 1995 Royal Rumble; Sione lasted about seven minutes early on and Fatu over five nearer the end. They entered a tournament to crown new WWF tag team champions in late 1994/early 1995, and lost to Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the semi-finals. For the first half of 1995, they worked with Jacob & Eli Blu, usually putting them over. Their final match was a loss to Men on a Mission at a June 22 house show in London, England, after which Sione left for WCW and Fatu was removed from WWF television.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: After a brief hiatus, Fatu reappeared as a singles wrestler in July 1995 repackaged as a streetwise positive role model, for which he filmed several vignettes in his old San Francisco neighborhood touching on his real-life upbringing in the ghetto and preaching the messages of staying in school and saying no to drugs, all while he spoke fluent English. Each segment ended with the onscreen phrase "Make a Difference", making it the unofficial name of the gimmick. Fatu made his in-ring return on July 29 by pinning Rad Radford on "WWF Superstars", and then enjoyed a run of victories over enhancement talent for the remainder of the year. However, the character did not get over with fans, and in 1996 Fatu was regularly booked to lose to stars such as Steve Austin, Vader, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Two men known as "The Samoan Gangster Party" (Fatu's cousins Samu and Lloyd Anoaʻi) additionally began showing up in the audience during his matches, but no storylines were ever developed. The "Make a Difference" gimmick was dropped in May 1996.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In 1996, Fatu was repackaged as The Sultan, a masked wrestler who never spoke, ostensibly because his tongue was cut out. He was managed by The Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund. He unsuccessfully challenged Rocky Maivia for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 13. The Sultan vanished in 1998, and Fatu left to train at Dory Funk's Funking Conservatory wrestling school.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: After training at Funk's, Fatu returned on the November 13, 1999 episode of "WWF Metal" as Rikishi Fatu, beating Julio Fantastico. "Rikishi" is the general Japanese term for a sumo wrestler, similar to his cousin's ring name "Yokozuna". "Fatu" soon became "Phatu", until he dropped the last name entirely after he started teaming with Too Cool. No mention was made of his WWF past. He had gained some weight, bleached his hair blonde, and wore a "mawashi". Per Vince McMahon's request and Fatu's own willingness to honor sumo tradition, nothing was worn underneath the "mawashi" and his buttcheeks were exposed; this was unlike Yokozuna, who wore tights underneath the loincloth, which both McMahon and Fatu felt were unnecessary for the Yokozuna character.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi briefly feuded with Viscera before forming a wildly popular alliance with the duo Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty). One night, during Too Cool's traditional post-match dance routine, Rikishi joined them. As the dance routines became more frequent and longer, this popularity translated to a significant push. In the 2000 Royal Rumble match, he and Too Cool did the dance to their respective songs, much to the delight of the audience. He later eliminated seven opponents, and it took six wrestlers working together to eliminate him.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi also became known for his infamous signature maneuver – the Stink Face – as his buttocks were rubbed into the faces of opposing wrestlers. When his opponent was incapacitated in the corner of the ring, Rikishi would slap his buttocks to indicate the attack, and then he would turn around, hike his thong up, and smother his buttocks into his victim's face. On an episode of WWE Raw on May 15, 2000, Stephanie McMahon described Rikishi's buttocks as "bulbous", "smelly" and "sweaty" when describing the Stink Face. Kurt Angle, who received a Stink Face from Rikishi, said, "It was the worst smell I ever smelt in my life." The Stink Face also served as a finishing move at times, as wrestlers became physically ill from the maneuver, forcing them to leave the ring and thereby losing via count out. The Stink Face became known as the most repulsive move in the World Wrestling Federation, and this humiliating maneuver became very popular with the fans.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In May 2000, fan favorites Rikishi and Too Cool feuded with Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle, culminating in a victory at Judgment Day. After winning the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Benoit on the June 22 episode of "SmackDown!", Rikishi qualified for the 2000 King of the Ring tournament. On June 25, at King of the Ring, he defeated Benoit in the quarterfinals and Val Venis in the semis. Both opponents hit him with a steel chair after losing, weakening his shoulder and helping Kurt Angle defeat him in the final. Stemming from Venis' attack, Rikishi faced him on July 6 and lost the title after Tazz hit him with a television camera. They rematched in a steel cage at Fully Loaded. In this match, Rikishi climbed the cage and, in an allusion to Jimmy Snuka, splashed Venis from the top. Rikishi soon lost the match after Tazz again hit him with a camera.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On the October 9 episode of "Raw", Commissioner Mick Foley used a slip of the tongue from Scotty 2 Hotty to implicate Rikishi as the person who had run over Stone Cold Steve Austin almost a year earlier at Survivor Series, the night after Rikishi debuted in the WWF. Rikishi admitted it, claiming it was to allow his cousin The Rock an opportunity for stardom, insisting that Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan and Austin – "The Great White Hope" – had always been pushed, at the expense of Samoan wrestlers like Peter Maivia, Jimmy Snuka, Samu, Yokozuna and The Rock. Rikishi then turned heel.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Austin immediately set out for revenge, facing Rikishi in a No Holds Barred match at No Mercy. The match went to a no contest when Austin dragged Rikishi to the parking lot and tried to run him over; a police car drove in front of Austin's, saving Rikishi. Though arrested, Austin had brutally attacked Rikishi, cutting and bruising his face. Later that night, Rikishi interfered in The Rock's WWF Championship defense against Kurt Angle, but "accidentally" kicked the champ, allowing Angle to Angle Slam them both and win the title. After several attacks on Austin by an unseen assailant, it became clear that Rikishi had an accomplice. During a handicap match pitting Rikishi and Angle against Austin, Triple H came to the ring, seemingly to aid Austin, but swerved the audience by attacking him with a sledgehammer. Triple H then revealed he had masterminded the Survivor Series assault and hired Rikishi to drive the car.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: While Austin began feuding with Triple H, Rikishi's tension with The Rock boiled over. Despite delivering a Stink Face to the Rock, Rikishi would lose to him in a match at Survivor Series. He then participated in a six-man Hell in a Cell WWF Championship match at Armageddon. Vince McMahon drove a flatbed truck ringside in an effort to dismantle the cage and stop the match. Before he could, The Undertaker chokeslammed Rikishi from the top of the cell onto the wood chip-covered bed. Kurt Angle later retained the title.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In January 2001, Rikishi won a Fatal Four Way match on "SmackDown!" for the #30 spot in the 2001 Royal Rumble match involving Rock, Undertaker and Kane, after he pinned the latter. There, he eliminated The Undertaker, and was soon eliminated by The Rock. Haku returned to the WWF in the Rumble, and he and Rikishi formed a tag team and feuded with The Brothers of Destruction, The Dudley Boyz then The Hardy Boyz. The team split while Rikishi was sidelined with an eardrum injury in March. He returned on the May 3 "SmackDown!" and fought The Undertaker to no-contest. On the next "Raw", he turned face once again and gave the Stink Face to Stephanie McMahon after she distracted him and cost him a non-title match with Austin. On May 20, at Judgment Day, he injured his shoulder in the opening bout with William Regal, which caused him to miss much of the year and the entire Invasion angle.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi returned on December 6, 2001, delivering a Stink Face to Vince McMahon and solidifying his face status. Upon the , Rikishi was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. At Judgment Day, he faced Billy and Chuck in a "secret partner" match. His partner turned out to be Rico, Billy and Chuck's stylist. Despite Rico's best efforts to unfairly help Billy and Chuck, Rikishi and Rico won the match and became the WWE Tag Team Champions. Rico would later cause Rikishi to lose the titles back to Billy and Chuck in a rematch on the June 6 episode of "SmackDown!".


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: In early 2002, Hulk Hogan was booked to face Rikishi in Hogan's first match back since leaving the WWF to go to rival WCW in the 1990s. Hogan won the match, but Rikishi was able to deliver a Stink Face to Hogan after the conclusion of the match.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi was not featured much in late 2002 and early 2003. He feuded with John Cena, Bill DeMott, and The Full Blooded Italians on "SmackDown!". The return of Roddy Piper led Rikishi to challenge him as Piper had hit Jimmy Snuka with a coconut years ago on Piper's Pit. At Backlash, Piper's protege Sean O'Haire defeated Rikishi after Piper got hit with a coconut by Rikishi giving O'Haire time to hit the Widowmaker on Rikishi. Rikishi eventually formed a tag team with Scotty 2 Hotty, and the duo defeated the Basham Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 5, 2004 episode of "SmackDown!", holding them for two and a half months before losing them to Charlie Haas and Rico on the April 22 episode of "SmackDown!". Fatu, however, was released by WWE on July 16, 2004, following repeated requests from WWE to lose weight.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu continued to wrestle on the independent circuit. In October 2005, he shortened his ring name to Kishi after being notified by WWE legal representatives that WWE owned a trademark on the name "Rikishi". Fatu, as Kishi, would go on to work for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a professional wrestling promotion based in Italy.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On February 17, 2007, Fatu competed as SUMO RIKISHI in a tag team contest at an All Japan Pro Wrestling event, as he was brought in by Keiji Mutoh to feud with Akebono. On August 12, 2007, Fatu competed in an 8-man tag, as Rikishi, at AAA's TripleMania event. On August 23, Fatu competed in a Triple Threat match against Samoa Joe and Sterling James Keenan at Ballpark Brawl VIII in Buffalo, New York. On November 17, wrestling as Rikishi once again, Fatu defeated Mike Rollins at a Heavy on Wrestling event in Duluth, Minnesota.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On the September 13, 2007 episode of "Impact!", Fatu debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Junior Fatu. On the September 20 episode of "Impact!", Fatu lost to Christian Cage in his first match due to a distraction by Christian's partner A.J. Styles. On the October 4 episode of "Impact!", Fatu, Samoa Joe and The Latin American Xchange defeated Christian, Styles, Senshi and Christopher Daniels. On the October 11 episode of "Impact!", Fatu and LAX lost a six-man tag team match to Kurt Angle and Team 3D. At Bound for Glory, Fatu competed in the Fight for the Right Reverse Battle Royal which was won by Eric Young. On the October 25 episode of "Impact!", Fatu defeated Robert Roode in a Fight for the Right Tournament match after interference by Samoa Joe. On October 30, however, it was reported that Fatu had been released from TNA, because he and TNA management failed to reach an agreement about a pay raise. Chris Harris took Fatu's spot in the Fight for the Right semi-final match.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi appeared with his family at the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony to induct his cousin Yokozuna. He then made an in-ring appearance on "Raw" on July 16, 2012, defeating Heath Slater. During the match, he used the Samoan Spike and the Banzai Drop (the latter having been used as a finishing move since his 1999 repackaging as Rikishi) as a tribute to his deceased brother Umaga and cousin Yokozuna, respectively. After the match, he danced with his sons Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso. He then reappeared on the 1,000th episode on July 23 with other Legends to help Lita take down Slater.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi next appeared on the January 6, 2014 episode of "Raw", where he reunited with Too Cool to defeat 3MB in a six-man tag team match.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On the February 9, 2015 episode of "Raw", Rikishi was announced as the newest member to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015. His sons, who wrestle as Jimmy and Jey Uso, inducted him into the Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: On November 22, 2020, he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Rikishi is a playable DLC character in the Attitude Era-themed video game "WWE '13". He also appeared in "", "WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It", "WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth", "WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain", "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17", "WWE 2K18", WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K22. Outside of the main series, he is featured in "WWF No Mercy", "WWF Raw", "WWE Raw 2", "WWE WrestleMania X8" and "WWE WrestleMania XIX".


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu appeared in the Italian comedy film "Natale a Miami". He also guest starred on the Nickelodeon show "Victorious", as a sumo wrestler in the episode "Brain Squeezers."


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu under his "Rikishi" ring name is the Samoan judge in the "Wall Of The World" on the CBS show "The World's Best".


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu is a member of the Anoa'i family, which has had a presence in professional wrestling since the mid-twentieth century. He is the twin brother of Sam "Tonga Kid" Fatu and the older brother of the late Eddie "Umaga" Fatu. Fatu's uncles Sika Anoa'i and Afa Anoa'i wrestled as The Wild Samoans. Many of his cousins wrestled including: the late Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i, Afa “Manu Anoa’i Jr., Samula "Samu" Anoa'i, the late Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i, Lance Anoa'i, and Lloyd "L.A. Smooth" Anoa'i. His father, Solofa Fatu Sr., died of complications related to COVID-19 on October 4, 2020.


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

text: Fatu and his wife Talisua Fuavai-Fatu have five children: Thavana Monalisa, twins Joshua Samuel and Jonathan Solofa, Jeremiah Peniata and Joseph. Joshua Samuel, Jonathan Solofa and Joseph are currently signed to WWE where all three perform on the Smackdown brand as Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa, respectively.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The first season of "True Detective", an American anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto, premiered on January 12, 2014, on the premium cable network HBO. The principal cast consisted of Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, and Tory Kittles. The season had eight episodes, and its initial airing concluded on March 9, 2014. As an anthology, each "True Detective" season has its own self-contained story, following a disparate set of characters in various settings.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Constructed as a nonlinear narrative, season one focuses on Louisiana State Police homicide detectives Rustin "Rust" Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin "Marty" Hart (Harrelson), who investigated the murder of prostitute Dora Lange in 1995. Seventeen years later, they must revisit the investigation, along with several other unsolved crimes. During this time, Hart's infidelity threatens his marriage to Maggie (Monaghan), and Cohle struggles to cope with his troubled past. "True Detective" first season explores themes of philosophical pessimism, masculinity, and Christianity; critics have analyzed the show's portrayal of women, its auteurist sensibility, and the influence of comics and weird horror fiction on its narrative.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Pizzolatto initially conceived "True Detective" as a novel, but felt it was more suitable for television. The episodes, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, were filmed in Louisiana over a three-month period. The series was widely acclaimed by critics and was cited as one of the strongest dramas of the 2014 television season. It was a candidate for numerous awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film, and won several other honors for writing, cinematography, direction, and acting.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Before creating "True Detective", Nic Pizzolatto had taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, DePauw University, and the University of Chicago. Inspired by HBO's series "The Wire", "The Sopranos", and "Deadwood", he began working on a short story collection that he later published as "Between Here and the Yellow Sea" in 2006. He published a novel, "Galveston", in 2010, and began trying to write for television. His earlier attempts at television writing were unsuccessful because of a lack of money. Pizzolatto's first major gig in television writing came in 2011, as a screenwriter for AMC's series "The Killing". He credits the show with giving him a glimpse of the inner workings of the television industry. Pizzolatto grew increasingly dissatisfied with the series' creative direction, and left two weeks into staff writing sessions for its second season.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: "True Detective" was intended to be a novel, but once the project took definite form, Pizzolatto thought the narrative's shifts in time and perspective made it more suitable for television. He pitched an adaptation of "Galveston", and from May to July 2010 he developed six screenplays, including an early, 90-page draft of the "True Detective" pilot script. Pizzolatto secured a development deal with HBO for a potential pilot series shortly thereafter. He wrote a second "True Detective" script soon after his departure from "The Killing" thanks to the support of production company and manager Anonymous Content, which ultimately produced and developed the project in-house. By April 2012, following a heated bidding period, HBO commissioned eight episodes of "True Detective", with a budget of $4–4.5 million per episode. Pizzolatto did not hire a writing staff because he believed a collaborative approach would not work with his isolated, novelistic process, and that a group would not achieve his desired result. After working alone for about three months, the final copy of the project script was 500 pages long.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Because the series is an anthology, each season has a self-contained narrative, following a disparate set of characters in various settings. Pizzolatto began contemplating the lead roles while he was pitching the series to networks in early 2012. "True Detective" anthology format required actors to commit to only a single season, so Pizzolatto was able to attract film stars who normally avoid television series because of their busy schedules. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey were among the actors Pizzolatto considered for star billing. McConaughey, who had recently finished filming "Killer Joe" (2011), was contracted well before HBO commissioned the season. Impressed with his performance in "The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011), Pizzolatto at first assigned him to play Hart, but McConaughey convinced him to give him the part of Cohle. When asked in a "Variety" interview about his decision to switch parts, the actor replied, "I wanted to get in that dude's head. The obsession, the island of a man—I'm always looking for a guy who monologues. It's something really important as I feel I'm going into my better work." To prepare for the role, McConaughey created a 450-page analysis—the "Four Stages of Rustin Cohle"—to study his character's evolution during the season.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Harrelson was the season's next significant casting choice, brought on to play Hart at McConaughey's request. Harrelson stated that he joined "True Detective" partly because he wanted to work with certain people involved in the project, with whom he had previously collaborated in the 2012 HBO film "Game Change". Michelle Monaghan agreed to play the season's female lead, Maggie, because she felt compelled by the direction of the plot and her character's story arc. Michael Potts and Tory Kittles completed the principal cast, playing detectives Maynard Gilbough and Thomas Papania, respectively. Major supporting roles in "True Detective" first season include Kevin Dunn as Major Ken Quesada, Alexandra Daddario as Lisa Tragnetti, and Brad Carter as Charlie Lange.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Pizzolatto narrowed his search for a suitable director to Cary Joji Fukunaga, whom he knew from Anonymous Content, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Fukunaga was formally appointed as director after Iñárritu pulled out of the project due to film commitments. In preparation for his work on the series, Fukunaga spent time with a homicide detective of the Louisiana State Police's Criminal Investigations Division to develop an accurate depiction of a 1990s homicide detective's work. Fukunaga recruited Adam Arkapaw, director of photography of "Top of the Lake", as project cinematographer. Arkapaw came to the director's attention for his work in "Animal Kingdom" (2010) and "Snowtown" (2011), and was hired after the two negotiated a deal at a meeting in San Francisco. Alex DiGerlando, whom Fukunaga had worked with on Benh Zeitlin "Glory at Sea" in 2008, was appointed as the production designer. Fukunaga said in an interview, "I knew what Alex accomplished in the swamps of Louisiana and given some money, how much more amazing he could be in building sets that would just be used for one or two days and be abandoned again."


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Initially, "True Detective" first season was due to shoot in Arkansas, but Pizzolatto later chose to film in Louisiana to take advantage of state tax incentives and the area's distinctive landscape: "There's a contradictory nature to the place and a sort of sinister quality underneath it all ... everything lives under layers of concealment. The woods are thick and dark and impenetrable. On the other hand you have the beauty of it all from a distance."


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Principal photography took three months (between 100 and 110 days), from January to June 2013, with approximately five minutes of film shot per day. Production staff constructed various set pieces, among them a scorched chapel, Joel Theriot's tent revival, and the Louisiana State Criminal Investigations Division offices, the last of which they built inside an abandoned light bulb warehouse near Elmwood. For the Dora Lange crime scene, the crew filmed exterior shots at a remote sugarcane field outside Erath which, because it was partially burned, inspired what DiGerlando called a "moody and atmospheric" backdrop for the corresponding interior scenes.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The scene in which Cohle, taking Ginger hostage, escapes a housing complex amidst gunfire, was captured in Bridge City as a single six-minute tracking shot, a technique Fukunaga had employed in "Sin Nombre" (2009) and "Jane Eyre" (2011). Shot in seven takes, preparation for the scene was extensive and demanding: McConaughey trained with Mark Norby to master a fighting style for his character, and the nature of the shoot required a team of stunt coordinators, make-up artists, and special effects crew on hand during its entire course. Elsewhere, shooting took place at the old Kenner High School campus and nineteenth-century Fort Macomb, located outside New Orleans.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The entire season was shot on 35 mm film, which the production staff chose to achieve a certain texture, as well as a "nostalgic" quality. The season was filmed using a Panavision Millennium XL2 camera, and the choice of lens corresponded to the period when a scene took place. Scenes set in 1995 and 2002 were captured with Panavision PVintage lenses, which produced a softer image because they were made of recycled, low-contrast glass. As these scenes were written as a reflection of Cohle and Hart's memory, production sought to make them as cinematic as possible, to reflect what Arkapaw called "the fragmentation of their lucid imaginations back through their past." To achieve this, they relied on wider lenses to exaggerate composition. The 2012 scenes were shot with Panavision Primo lenses: the visual palette in comparison was sharper and had much more contrast, lending a "modern, crisp feeling" to the images, and, according to Arkapaw, pulling "characters out from their environments to hopefully help audiences get inside their heads".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Joshua Walsh was responsible for creating "True Detective" artwork. His work for the show consists of over 100 individual "devil's nests"—twig sculptures created by the killer—along with wall paintings and miniature sculptures of men made of beer cans, among others. According to DiGerlando, Walsh's interests in hunting and taxidermy made him "the perfect dude for the job". A blueprint for the devil's nests was not well established in the script, other than specifications that the structures be able to stand on their own and feature a spiral motif. DiGerlando and Walsh went with a tripod design that showed a spiral when viewed from the base, and contained ladder-like crossing elements that symbolized the killer's desire to ascend to a dark spiritual plane. Each design had subtle differences from one another. DiGerlando cited the work of Henry Darger and James Charles Castle as strong stylistic influences and sought a primitive look for the sculptures, one that revealed the workings of a man with "some deep inner urge to express himself". To reflect this, Walsh built devil's nests using mud, secondhand children's clothing, reeds, roots, and other materials he felt the killer would use.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The season's title sequence was a collaboration between director Patrick Clair, his Santa Monica-based studio Elastic, his Sydney-based studio Antibody, and Brisbane-based company Breeder. The design team emphasized southern Louisiana's industrial landscape because it reflected the characters' traits and personal, inner struggles. Clair stated that from the start he had an "unusually clear" vision of "True Detective" finished opening sequence. Using Richard Misrach's photography book "Petrochemical America" (2012) as a template, the production team initially photographed the local scenery, and the resulting images were woven together to form the core of the title sequence. By the time production began animating, they faced several problems: the photographic stills were too grainy and the footage was too jagged. As a result, many shots were digitally altered and slowed to about a tenth of their original speed, which, according to Clair, "evoked a surreal and floaty mood that perfectly captured what we were after."


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Creation of a 3D effect required the design team to use an assortment of low-poly meshes, or 3D geometric models. Using a variety of animation and special effects techniques, these images were later superimposed "with painstaking care" to avoid a sterile, digitized look. Clair said, "The most crucial thing to me was that this didn't feel digital, so we went to great lengths to incorporate as much organic imagery as possible." For some stills, the design team created digital doubles to develop more texture. The sequence's final cut was polished using optical glitching and motion distortion techniques. "The Sydney Morning Herald" included the opening sequence in a list of ten of the best title sequences on television.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Season one's opening theme is "Far from Any Road", an alternative country song originally composed by The Handsome Family for their 2003 album "Singing Bones". The "True Detective" soundtrack features a compilation of gospel and blues music, which were selected by Pizzolatto and T Bone Burnett. The pair opposed the use of Cajun music and swamp blues for the season's musical score because they felt it was overdone. Burnett said the score was intended to be character-driven, rather than inspired by other crime fiction drama. Songs by Bo Diddley, Melvins, Primus, The Staple Singers, Grinderman, Wu-Tang Clan, Vashti Bunyan, Townes Van Zandt, Juice Newton, and Captain Beefheart appear in season one. Burnett also composed original pieces with Rhiannon Giddens, who used a Swarmatron synthesizer, and Cassandra Wilson. HBO released an abridged soundtrack album, featuring 14 tracks from "True Detective" first two seasons, on August 14, 2015, through physical media and iTunes.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Commentators have noted masculinity as a theme in "True Detective". Christopher Lirette of "Southern Spaces" said the show was about "men living in a brutally masculine world" and women are depicted as "things-to-be-saved and erotic obstacles" à la "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "Chinatown" (1974). "Slate" Willa Paskin said "True Detective" depiction of its female characters—as sex workers, the deceased and "a nagging wife"—seemed to reveal an intent to reflect the protagonists' "blinkered worldview and the very masculine, Southern cop culture they inhabited". Some commentators saw Hart's characterization as a manifestation of this idea, evident through his conventional view of women as virgins and whores, as well as his treatment of Maggie and Audrey. When Hart confronts the two men who had sex with Audrey, he is in essence "charging other men a price for infringing on the daughter he sees, in a muddled way, as both deserving of protection and badly in need of being controlled".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: In her piece for "Salon", Janet Turley said that the women "become reflections of the men", given that the "True Detective" universe is seen through the eyes of the show's male leads. Sam Adams of "Indiewire" contended that the story was about "the horrible things men do to women", many of which are never reported to or investigated by authorities. Adams wrote, "No one missed Dora Lange. Marie Fontenot disappeared, and the police let a rumor stop them from following up". He said the role of women was more profound because Cohle suffers through his ex-wife and deceased daughter and Hart is unable to "deal appropriately with the women who are there". According to Scott Wilson, a cultural studies lecturer at Kingston University, women are categorized as "the superegoic, the obscene and the sacred". Maggie, in Wilson's interpretation, is portrayed as the superegoic wife who "constantly makes demands on her guilty husband or partner tying him or her down and deflecting him or her from his symbolic role as police".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The philosopher Erin K. Stapleton subscribes to the theory that Dora Lange's corpse serves to "provide the initial territory or orientation through which the communities of "True Detective" are formed." It is through Dora's corpse that Cohle and Hart's partnership is first clearly articulated and in addition to their own bond, "the intimate knowledge" of her body is the basis of all of the other relationships in their respective lives. Her narrative thus, by proxy, influences both men's character development as they delve into the case.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: "True Detective" explores Christianity and the dichotomy between religion and rationality. Born into a devout Catholic household, Pizzolatto said that as a child he saw religion as storytelling that acts "as an escape from the truth". According to Andrew Romano at "The Daily Beast", the season alludes to Pizzolatto's childhood and creates a parallel between Christianity and the supernatural theology of "Carcosa": "Both ... are stories. Stories people tell themselves to escape reality. Stories that 'violate every law of the universe.'" Romano believed this message is not critical of religion "per se"; rather it shows how the "power of storytelling" and religious zeal "can wind [you] up in some pretty sick places." Jeff Jensen from "Entertainment Weekly" has opined that the show becomes more self-aware through Cohle's harsh critiques of religion, which he viewed as a vehicle for commentary about pop culture escapism. Stapleton observed that the crimes on "True Detective"—through its victims and the implications of sacrifice and sexual violence—"respond to the conservative Christianity from which they originate, and seek to exploit the opportunities for the pleasure of transgression such a structure offers."


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Theorist Edia Connole saw connections to Philip Marlowe and "Le Morte d'Arthur" Lancelot in "True Detective" presentation of Cohle, all "knights whose duty to their liege lord is tempered with devotion to God." Other aspects of "True Detective" evoke Christian imagery, including the opening scene, which Connole felt mirrored the crucifixion of Jesus. The author and philosopher Finn Janning argued that Cohle's evolution illustrates an affinity between Buddhism and philosophical pessimism. A self-proclaimed pessimist, Cohle is, however, changed by a near-death experience in the season finale, in which he has an epiphany, seeing death as "pure love": this echoes the Buddhist concept of rigpa.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Critics have offered many readings of the influence of weird and horror fiction on "True Detective" narrative, often examining the influence of Robert W. Chambers' short story collection "The King in Yellow" (1895) and Thomas Ligotti. Allusions to "The King in Yellow" can be observed in the show's dark philosophy, its recurring use of "Carcosa" and "The Yellow King" as motifs throughout the series, and its symbolic use of yellow as a thematic signature that signifies insanity and decadence. Pizzolatto was accused of plagiarizing Ligotti because of close similarities between lines in "True Detective" and text from Ligotti's nonfiction book "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" (2010)—accusations Pizzolatto denied, while acknowledging Ligotti's influence.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Other philosophers and writers identified as influences include Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Ray Brassier, Emil Cioran, and Eugene Thacker. Mathijs Peters, in a piece for "Film International", argued that "True Detective" probes Schopenhauerian philosophy through its approach to individuality, self-denial, and the battle between dark and light. Ben Woodard noted the show's evolving philosophy, which examines a setting where culture, religion and society are the consequences of biological weakness. Woodward wrote, "Biological programming gets recuperated and socially redistributed visions, faiths, and acerbic personalities take the reins of uncertain ends creating a world where 'people go away'." Even the setting, Fintan Neylan argued, emphasizes a world "where the decrepitude of human ordering cannot be hidden". "This is not a place where hope fled; it is a place where hope could never take root. It is with these people and environs that the real horror is sourced". Neylan observed that Cohle's actions are not motivated by misanthropy, rather a drive to challenge "those who try to either disguise or manipulate this frailty of humans for their own benefit". Cohle ultimately confronts "an entire philosophical history which has taken its task as that of sweeping frailty away". Christopher Orr at "The Atlantic" said "True Detective" was "Fincherian in the best sense", a fusion of "Se7en" (1995) and "Zodiac" (2007), because of its subject matter, sleek cinematography and "vivid, unsettling" aura.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Some commentators noted further influences from comic book literature. Adams likened Cohle to the protagonist of "Alan Moore's The Courtyard" and drew parallels with Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles" for the show's brief exploration of M-theory with one of Cohle's monologs. ComicsAlliance and "New York" columnist Abraham Riesman cited "Top 10" as the inspiration for the season finale based on dialogue from the episode's closing scene.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Another major topic of discussion among critics has been "True Detective" auteurist sensibility. Auteurism (from the French "auteur", "author") is a critical framework in which films (or other works of art) are assessed as reflections of the personal vision of individual authors, typically the director or writer. Authorship of a television series is most commonly ascribed to the showrunner, usually a creator of a series who fills a dual role as head writer and executive producer. For example, the crime drama "Twin Peaks" (1990–91) is often interpreted as a product of the contrasting visions of its co-creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, each of whom exercised varying degrees of control over the course of its first two seasons and later sequels. Colin Robertson at "The List" saw "Twin Peaks" as the most notable artistic antecedent to "True Detective" first season, seeing that both shows challenge generic crime drama cliches and "use the genre conventions of a whodunnit-style mystery as a sublimely subversive diving board, and leap off from there to tell a broader story."


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: From the perspective of auteur theory, the first season of "True Detective" is noteworthy for its reliance on only a single screenwriter and a single director: not only did Pizzolatto serve as showrunner, but he and Fukunaga were at the helm of each episode as sole writer and director, respectively. The partnership of a sole writer and sole director was virtually unique in the traditionally collaborative medium of television production, as most series involve a writing staff and a set of several directors working in tandem over the course of a season. Scott Timberg at "Salon" noted that Pizzolatto's previous writing experience was not in film or television but literary fiction, a "more purely auteurist form" for which total creative control by an individual author is the norm.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Fukunaga did not return for the second season, which instead featured six directors across eight episodes, and Pizzolatto retained control of the writing. Met with mixed reviews, season two prompted critics to reevaluate the "auteurist" perspective on the previous season. A critical consensus held that, in hindsight, the response to season one had overestimated the extent of Pizzolatto's individual creative responsibility. Ryan Lattanzio at "IndieWire" posited that Fukunaga's direction of the first season in its entirety had resulted in a consistent vision that counterbalanced "Pizzolatto's tendency to overwrite, and undercook". Conversely, Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" recognized the common view that Fukunaga had provided "balance" to "Pizzolatto's overwriting" but argued "the balance came equally" from Harrelson and McConaughey playing against type in serious roles, as both actors were "widely-known as 'laid-back dudes,' often in comedies as much as drama".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: "True Detective" debuted to 2.3 million U.S. viewers, becoming HBO's highest rated series premiere since the pilot episode of "Boardwalk Empire". Ratings remained steady and peaked at the finale, which drew 3.5 million viewers. Overall, season one averaged 2.33 million viewers, and its average gross audience (which includes DVR recordings, reruns, and HBO Go streaming) totaled 11.9 million viewers per episode, thus becoming HBO's highest rated freshman show since the first season of "Six Feet Under" 13 years earlier.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The American press considered "True Detective" to be among the best television shows of 2014. Many critics complimented the work of both lead actors, often singling out McConaughey for further praise, with his work described as "jaw-droppingly great" and "simply magnetic". Some reviewers singled out simple conversational scenes, often in claustrophobic interiors, as some of the best acting in the series. The characterization received mixed reviews: Cohle's speeches, described by "HuffPost" as "mesmerizing monologues", and by "Vanity Fair" as dense and interesting material, were criticized by the "New York Post" as "'70s-era psycho-babble" which slowed down the story. Several critics viewed the portrayals of women as stereotypical: "either angry or aroused", though Michelle Monaghan was praised for her performance in a "thankless role".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: Pizzolatto and Fukunaga, as sole writer and director of the entire series, were able to exercise much stronger control over the show than is usual for a TV series, which let the show take risks: the pacing, dialogue, and cinematography all departed at times from the expectations for a television drama. Pizzolatto's scripts drew occasional criticism as "self-consciously literary" and overwritten, and several journalists attributed mistakes in the script to Pizzolatto's inexperience in writing TV drama. Despite the criticism, the "Daily Telegraph" and Uproxx described the season as "ambitious" and "dense with event and meaning". The flashback structure also divided critics: it was described as "impressively seamless", and "a major asset", but the fragmented approach to storytelling was considered a flaw by others. Uproxx praised Fukunaga's atmospheric and "hauntingly beautiful" cinematography, and "The Boston Globe" complimented the "spare, hollow, percussive" soundtrack, with Uproxx crediting the creative control the two men wielded for the quality of the result.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: The story of two mismatched detectives working on a case was described by several critics as a cliché, though many reviewers felt this was made into a strength: "The Daily Beast", for example, described the narrative as having "the potential to be revolutionary", and the Grantland reviewer felt that "the form is truly radical and forward-thinking", though he added that "the content is anything but". Emily Nussbaum, writing for "The New Yorker", was also critical, considering the real story to be "a simpler tale: one about heroic male outlines and closeups of female asses"; she described the philosophical monologues as "dorm room deep talk" and argued that the show had "fallen for its own sales pitch". Other reviewers were more positive: comments ranged from "as frighteningly nervy and furious in its delivery and intent as prime David Lynch", to "one of the most riveting and provocative series I've ever seen".


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: As the nominations for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards approached, early media reports named "True Detective" among several potential miniseries candidates, due to a revision made by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences that recognized film and miniseries content as distinct categories. By March 2014, HBO had submitted "True Detective" as a drama series contender, an unconventional move given the show's anthology format and fierce competition from the likes of "Breaking Bad" and "House of Cards". HBO's decision was censured by FX president John Landgraf, who remarked to reporters at a press event: "My own personal point of view is that a miniseries is a story that ends, a series is a story that continues. To tell you the truth, I think it's actually unfair for HBO to put "True Detective" in the drama series category because essentially you can get certain actors to do a closed-ended series – a la Billy Bob Thornton in "Fargo" or Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in "True Detective" – who you can't get to sign on for a seven-year [regular drama series] deal." Nevertheless, "True Detective" emerged as a frontrunner heading into the Primetime Emmy season, and in July 2014, was nominated for twelve awards; its closest rival, "Breaking Bad", received sixteen nominations. The series ultimately won five Emmy awards: Outstanding Directing (Fukunaga), Outstanding Casting, Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Make-Up, and Outstanding Cinematography.


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: "True Detective" was a candidate for a variety of awards, most of which recognized outstanding achievement in direction, cinematography, writing, and acting. It received four Golden Globe nominations, among them for Best Miniseries or Television Film, and a TCA Award for Program of the Year. Among the show's wins include a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best International Programme, a Writers Guild of America Award in the category, and a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (McConaughey).


title: True Detective (season 1)

text: On June 10, 2014, HBO Home Entertainment released the first season of "True Detective" on DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats. In addition to the eight episodes, both formats contain bonus content including interviews with McConaughey and Harrelson, Pizzolatto, and composer Burnett on the show's development, "Inside the Episode" featurettes, two audio commentaries, and deleted scenes from the season. During its first week of sale in the United States, "True Detective" was the number two-selling TV series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, selling 65,208 copies.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Sweet Home () is a South Korean apocalyptic horror streaming television series starring Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, and Lee Si-young. Based on the Naver webtoon of the same name by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, which recorded over 2.1 billion net views, the series was released on Netflix on December 18, 2020.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: After an unexpected family tragedy, Cha Hyun-soo leaves his home and moves into an apartment. Soon after, monsters begin appearing. People inside the apartment are trapped inside the building, realizing that monsters are lurking everywhere outside. Hyun-su and other residents shield themselves inside the building in the hope of surviving as long as they can.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Director Lee Eung-bok "roughly" knew the ending of the Line Webtoon on which the series is based before the later released its last chapter in July 2020, though he decided to "differ a bit from the webtoon because [they're] showing on different platforms." Ultimately, the live-action adaptation deviates dramatically from the original.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: The series spent most of its budget, with each episode costing $2.7 million. Choreographer Kim Seol-jin and contortionist Troy James were chosen to record the monsters' movements through motion capture.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Although filming had already started, Netflix officially announced the series' lineup on December 18, 2019, with Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook and Lee Si-young in lead roles, and


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Lee Do-hyun, Kim Nam-hee, Go Min-si, Park Gyu-young, Go Yoon-jung, Kim Kap-soo and Kim Sang-ho as part of the ensemble cast.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Lee Eung-bok revealed that, during Song Kang's audition, the actor reminded him of Johnny Depp in "Edward Scissorhands": "an image of someone who has a pure and innocent soul but is holding a spear in his hand." The actor was recommended to Lee Eung-bok by the director of Netflix's "Love Alarm" which propelled him to fame in August 2019. Lee Si-young's character does not appear in the original webtoon but the director "wanted to add a female character who can pull off really cool action scenes"; the actress being a former amateur boxer. She trained for six months prior to filming the series. Park Gyu-young admitted that she did not have high hopes about being picked for the series but "as soon as [she] left the audition set, the director called [her] and said to leave with a script."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: In September 2022, actress Bibi withdraws from filming due to timing and filming schedules, and an actress replaced her role.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Designers from Legacy Effects, VFX Studio Westworld and Spectral Motion, who worked on films such as the "Avengers" and "Avatar"


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: as well as the television series "Game of Thrones" and "Stranger Things", were recruited for "Sweet Home".


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: On November 18, 2020, Netflix released a trailer for the series announcing that "Sweet Home" would premiere on December 18. In June 2022, the series was picked up for two additional seasons.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: "Sweet Home" is the first South Korean series to enter Netflix Top 10 in the United States, reaching the top 3. Three days after its release, the series ranked No. 1 in 8 regions and was within the Top 10 in 42 regions. The show was viewed by 22 million paid subscribers worldwide in the first 4 weeks of its release and appeared in the Netflix top 10 in more than 70 countries.


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: It was praised by viewers for its "high-quality visual effects" and "the deep human connections among the characters." However, many criticized the soundtrack which they believe did not fit with the story, as well as the lack of monsters in the latter episodes of the season. On this, director Lee Eung-bok said that "[he] know[s] some of the viewers were anticipating more gore, but [he] hope[s] they will understand why monsters were absent from some parts of our drama."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Kavya Christopher of "The Times of India" gave a rating of 4/5 and said, "One does not need to be a lover of the horror genre to enjoy this series, thanks to the many underlying plots of the various characters – both big and small. The action is superb, to say the least, and the drama is endearing at various levels."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Joel Keller of "Decider" said that "despite its flaws and a premise we've seen before, "Sweet Home" distinguishes itself by its setting and its monsters. We will see if the drama between the survivors will keep us watching."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Pierce Conran of "South China Morning Post" gave a rating of 3/5, saying that "despite a breathless opening episode and some grisly fun throughout, "Sweet Home" does not provide much of a story for viewers to get hooked on."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: In another mixed review, Meagan Navarro of "Bloody Disgusting" said that "what sprints out of the gate and sets up an exciting creature-filled horror series quickly comes to a slow crawl zombie apocalypse that we've seen many times before. It just swaps out the zombies for monsters."


title: Sweet Home (TV series)

text: Similarly, Jonathan Wilson from "Ready Steady Cut" said that ""Sweet Home" gets off to a racing start and never really lets up, leading to a frantic, messy, but ultimately enjoyable binge-watch."


title: The Room

text: The Room is a 2003 American drama film written, produced, executive produced and directed by Tommy Wiseau, who stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. The film centers on a melodramatic love triangle between amiable banker Johnny (Wiseau), his deceptive fiancée Lisa (Danielle) and his conflicted best friend Mark (Sestero). A significant portion of the film is dedicated to a series of unrelated subplots, most of which involve at least one supporting character and are left unresolved due to the film's inconsistent narrative structure. The work was reportedly intended to be semi-autobiographical in nature; according to Wiseau, the title alludes to the potential of a room to be the site of both good and bad events. The stage play from which the film is derived was so-called due to its events taking place entirely in a single room.


title: The Room

text: A number of publications have labeled "The Room" as one of the worst films ever made. An assistant professor of film studies was the first to describe "The Room" as "the "Citizen Kane" of bad movies." Originally shown only in a limited number of California theaters, "The Room" quickly became a cult film due to its bizarre and unconventional storytelling, technical and narrative flaws, and Wiseau's off-kilter performance. Although Wiseau has retrospectively described the film as a black comedy, audiences have generally viewed it as a poorly made drama, an opinion shared by some of the cast. Although the film was a box-office bomb, sales and notoriety significantly increased in later years.


title: The Room

text: "The Disaster Artist", Sestero's memoir of the making of "The Room", was co-written with Tom Bissell and published in 2013. A film of the same title based on the book, directed by and starring James Franco, was released on December 1, 2017; the book and film received widespread acclaim and numerous award nominations.


title: The Room

text: Johnny is a successful banker who lives in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée Lisa, who has become dissatisfied with their relationship. She seduces his best friend, Mark, and the two begin a secret affair. Meanwhile, Johnny, having overheard Lisa confessing her infidelity to her mother, Claudette, attaches a tape recorder to their phone in an attempt to identify her lover by recording their phone conversations.


title: The Room

text: Denny, a neighboring college student whom Johnny financially and emotionally supports, has a run-in with an armed drug dealer, Chris-R, but Johnny and Mark overpower and detain him. Denny also lusts after Lisa and confesses this to Johnny, who understands and encourages him to instead pursue one of his classmates. Johnny spirals into a mental haze and calls upon Peter – his and Mark's friend and a psychologist – for help. Mark also confides in Peter that he feels guilty about his affair. When Peter asks Mark if the affair is with Lisa, Mark attacks Peter and attempts to kill him, but they quickly reconcile.


title: The Room

text: At a surprise birthday party for Johnny, his friend Steven catches Lisa kissing Mark while the other guests are outside and confronts them about the affair. Johnny announces that he and Lisa are expecting a child, although Lisa later reveals she lied about it in order to cover up the truth about the affair. At the end of the evening, Lisa flaunts her affair in front of Johnny and Mark starts to attack him.


title: The Room

text: After the party, Johnny locks himself in the bathroom in despair. When he leaves, he retrieves the cassette recorder that he attached to the phone and listens to an intimate call between Lisa and Mark. Outraged, Johnny berates Lisa for betraying him, prompting her to end their relationship permanently and live with Mark. Johnny then has an emotional breakdown, angrily destroying his apartment and committing suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.


title: The Room

text: Hearing the commotion, Denny, Mark, and Lisa rush up the stairs to find his dead body and the gun that he shot himself with in his hand. Mark blames Lisa for Johnny's death, admonishes her for her deceitful behavior, and tells her to get out of his life. Denny tells Lisa and Mark to leave him with Johnny, and they step back to give him a moment, but ultimately, they all stay and comfort each other as the police arrive.


title: The Room

text: Tommy Wiseau originally wrote "The Room" as a play in 2001 after seeing the film "The Talented Mr. Ripley". He then adapted the play into a 540-page book, which he was unable to get published. Frustrated, Wiseau instead decided to adapt the play into a film, producing it himself in order to maintain creative control.


title: The Room

text: Wiseau has been secretive about how he obtained funding for the project, but he told "Entertainment Weekly" that he made some of the money by importing leather jackets from Korea. According to "The Disaster Artist" (Greg Sestero's book based on the making of "The Room"), Wiseau was already independently wealthy at the time production began. Over several years, he claims to have amassed a fortune through entrepreneurship and real estate development in Los Angeles and San Francisco, a story Sestero found impossible to believe. Although many of the people involved with the project feared that the film was part of a money laundering scheme for organized crime, Sestero also found this possibility unlikely. Wiseau spent the entire budget for "The Room" on production and marketing; Wiseau stated that the film was relatively expensive because many members of the cast and crew had to be replaced. According to Sestero, Wiseau made numerous poor decisions during filming that unnecessarily inflated the film's budget, such as building sets for sequences that could have been filmed on location, purchasing production equipment rather than renting it, and filming scenes multiple times using different sets. Wiseau also forgot his lines and place on camera, resulting in minutes-long dialogue sequences taking hours or days to shoot. Wiseau's antics on the set further caused the film's cost to skyrocket, according to Sestero.


title: The Room

text: According to Sestero and Greg Ellery, Wiseau rented a studio at the Birns & Sawyer film lot and bought a "complete Beginning Director package", which included two film and HD cameras; Wiseau was confused about the differences between 35 mm film and high-definition video, yet he wanted to be the first director to film an entire movie simultaneously in two formats. He achieved this by using a custom-built apparatus that housed both cameras side by side and required two crews to operate. Despite this, only the 35 mm film footage was used in the final cut.


title: The Room

text: Wiseau selected actors from thousands of head shots, although most of the cast had never been in a feature film prior to "The Room". Sestero had limited film experience and agreed to work as part of the production crew only as a favor to Wiseau, with whom he had been friends for some time before production began. Sestero then agreed to play the Mark character after Wiseau fired the original actor on the first day of filming. Sestero was uncomfortable filming his sex scenes and was allowed to keep his jeans on while shooting them.


title: The Room

text: According to Greg Ellery, Juliette Danielle had "just gotten off the bus from Texas" when the shooting began, and "the cast watched in horror" as Wiseau jumped on Danielle, immediately beginning to film their "love scene." Sestero disputed this, stating that the sex scenes were among the last filmed. Wiseau said that Danielle was originally one of three or four understudies for the Lisa character and was selected after the original actress left the production. According to Sestero, the original actress was "Latina" and came from an unidentified South American country; according to Danielle, the actress was closer to Wiseau's age with a "random" accent. Danielle had been cast as Michelle but was given the Lisa role when the original actress was dismissed because her "personality...didn't seem to fit" the character. Danielle corroborates that multiple actors were dismissed from the production prior to filming, including another actress hired to play Michelle.


title: The Room

text: Even though Kyle Vogt (who played Peter) told the production team that he had only a limited amount of time for the project, not all of his scenes were filmed by the time his schedule ran out. Despite the fact that Peter was to play a pivotal role in the climax, Vogt left the production; his lines in the last half of the film were given to Ellery, whose character is never introduced, explained, or addressed by name.


title: The Room

text: The original script was significantly longer than the one used and featured a series of lengthy monologues; it was edited on-set by the cast and script supervisor Sandy Schklair, who found much of the dialogue incomprehensible. An anonymous cast member told "Entertainment Weekly" that the script contained "stuff that was just unsayable. I know it's hard to imagine there was stuff that was worse. But there was." Sestero mentions that Wiseau was adamant characters say their lines as written, but that several cast members slipped in ad libs that made the final cut.


title: The Room

text: Much of the dialogue is repetitive, especially Johnny's. His speech contains several catchphrases: he begins almost every conversation with "Oh, hi!" or "Oh, hi [name of character]!" To dismissively end conversations, many characters use the phrase "Don't worry about it", and almost every male character discusses Lisa's physical attractiveness (including an unnamed character whose only line is "Lisa looks hot tonight"). Lisa often stops discussions about Johnny by saying "I don't want to talk about it."


title: The Room

text: In "The Disaster Artist", Sestero recalls that Wiseau planned a subplot in which Johnny was revealed to be a vampire because of Wiseau's fascination with the creatures. Sestero recounts how Wiseau tasked the crew with devising a way for Johnny's Mercedes-Benz to fly across the San Francisco skyline, revealing Johnny's vampiric nature.


title: The Room

text: Principal photography lasted four months. Shooting took place mainly on the Birns & Sawyer soundstage in Los Angeles, with some second unit shooting in San Francisco, California. The many rooftop sequences were shot on the soundstage, and exteriors of San Francisco were greenscreened in. A behind-the-scenes feature shows that some of the roof scenes were shot in August 2002. The film employed over 400 people, and Wiseau is credited as an actor, writer, producer, director, and executive producer. Other executive producer credits include Chloe Lietzke and Drew Caffrey. According to Sestero, Lietzke was Wiseau's ESL tutor and had no involvement in the film, and Caffrey, who had been an entrepreneurial mentor to Wiseau, died in 1999. Wiseau had several problems with his behind-the-camera team, and claims to have replaced the entire crew four times. He also assigned multiple (and often disparate) responsibilities to several crew members, a process Sestero described as "sandwich[ing] two roles into one" that frequently resulted in shooting delays: aside from playing the role of Mark, Sestero worked as the film's line producer, helped with casting, and assisted Wiseau; Schklair also served as a "de facto" first assistant director, and Birns & Sawyer sales representative Peter Anway acted as another assistant to Wiseau. Wiseau frequently forgot his lines or missed cues, and required numerous retakes and direction from Schklair and a stagehand named Byron; much of his dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production.


title: The Room

text: The score was written by Mladen Milicevic, a music professor at Loyola Marymount University. Milicevic later provided the score for Wiseau's 2004 documentary "Homeless in America" and "Room Full of Spoons", a 2016 documentary on "The Room".


title: The Room

text: The soundtrack features four R&B slow jams which play during four of the film's five love scenes; Michelle and Mike's oral sex scene uses only instrumental music. The songs are "I Will" by Jarah Gibson, "Crazy" by Clint Gamboa, "Baby You and Me" by Gamboa with Bell Johnson, and "You're My Rose" by Kitra Williams & Reflection. "You're My Rose" is also reprised during the end credits. The soundtrack was released by Wiseau's TPW Records in 2003.


title: The Room

text: In a 2011 "Entertainment Weekly" article, Schklair announced that he desired credit for directing "The Room". Schklair told "EW" that Wiseau became too engrossed with his acting duties to direct the film properly and asked him to "tell the actors what to do, and yell 'Action' and 'Cut' and tell the cameraman what shots to get." The script supervisor also said that Wiseau asked Schklair to "direct [his] movie" but refused to give up the director title. This story is corroborated by one of the film's actors (who requested anonymity) and by Sestero in "The Disaster Artist". Sestero describes Schklair taking charge of numerous sequences in which Wiseau found himself unable to remember lines or adequately interact with the rest of the cast, but jokes that claiming directorial credit was like "claiming to have been the "Hindenburg"s principal aeronautics engineer", and also notes that Schklair left the production before the end of principal photography in favor of the short film "Jumbo Girl" due to that project being shot by Janusz Kamiński. Wiseau has dismissed Schklair's comments, saying, "Well, this is so laughable that...you know what? I don't know, probably only in America it can happen, this kind of stuff"; he similarly implied that Schklair's abandoning of the film during filming was justification for not receiving such a credit.


title: The Room

text: "The Room" is considered to be semi-autobiographical as it draws on specific incidents from Wiseau's own life, such as the details of how Johnny came to San Francisco and met Lisa, and the nature of Johnny and Mark's friendship. According to Sestero, the character of Lisa is based on a former lover of Wiseau's to whom he intended to propose marriage with a diamond engagement ring, but because she "betray[ed] him multiple times", their relationship ended in a break-up. Defining the script as "an advisory warning about the perils of having friends", Sestero has described "The Room" as Wiseau's "life study of human interaction", dealing with additional themes of trust, fear and truth.