In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 11 wins & 25 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTerry Gilliam was afraid that Brad Pitt wouldn't be able to pull off the nervous, rapid speech. He sent him to a speech coach but in the end he just took away Pitt's cigarettes, and Pitt played the part exactly as Gilliam wanted.
- GoofsIn the first surface scene, the bear shot is reversed and, thus, it manages to completely inhale the condensation of its breath.
- Quotes
Jeffrey Goines: There's no right, there's no wrong, there's only popular opinion.
- Crazy creditsThe film is introduced by the typing sound and sight of what are apparently excerpts from Dr. Kathryn Railly's notes on James Cole.
- Alternate versionsThere are two releases of the film, by different companies, one from Arrow Video (released both in the US and UK) and the US Blu-ray by Universal. The Arrow release of this film contained a mistake in a scene about 40 minutes in. Bruce Willis's character is interrogated and the tracking shots and close-ups of the researchers questioning him are duplicated. This error was spotted by fans, who contacted Arrow Video to point it out. Arrow admitted the misprint, vowing to correct it (a similar problem was discovered in Arrow's 4K release of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer). Arrow issued this statement: "Sadly, we have identified a fault on our 12 Monkeys UHD disc (FCD2191/AV380), where at approximately 41 minutes some footage is briefly repeated with no interruption to the soundtrack. This error was not spotted by the producers, the facility that carried out the work or the filmmaker who approved the restoration. The fault was traced to the initial 4K data when one of the scanned reels contained some overlap in content and this wasn't flagged in the initial conform. We are continuing to review our workflow processes to prevent these issues from happening in the future. Please hold on to your copy and we will follow up with further information as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience, we look forward to resolving this for you soon."
- SoundtracksWhat a Wonderful World
Written by Bob Thiele, George David Weiss
Performed by Louis Armstrong
Courtesy of MCA Records
Featured review
Terry Gilliam's stunning feature-length adaptation of Chris Marker's short film LA JETEE is full of mind-bending surprises, yet still touches your heart thanks to the superb cast. Gilliam's flair for the phantasmagorical works with the script by David and Janet Peoples to play with your head as much as it does with poor James Cole (Willis at his most Steve McQueen-like -- better than McQueen, even!), a time-traveling convict from the future who literally doesn't know whether he's coming or going as a team of scientists keeps sending him back to the wrong eras while trying to prevent a 1995 plague that's deadly to humans but harmless to animals. Willis, the justifiably Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt, and Madeline Stowe as a well-meaning psychiatrist give some of the best performances of their careers. Even Paul Buckmaster's tango-style score is haunting. This one's a don't-miss!
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- 12 monos
- Filming locations
- Eastern State Penitentiary - 2124 Fairmont Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA(interiors: asylum in 1990)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $29,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $57,141,459
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $184,776
- Jan 1, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $168,839,459
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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