The Lawnmower Man (film)

Lore & Background

The film was originally developed as an adaptation of Stephen King's 1975 short story 'The Lawnmower Man,' which featured a Pan-worshipping satyr using mystical powers to mow lawns. Allied Vision acquired the rights but struggled to expand the story into a feature film. Meanwhile, director Brett Leonard and producer Gimel Everett wrote an original screenplay about virtual reality titled CyberGod, inspired by seeing Jaron Lanier's VPL Research technology. Allied Vision combined the two projects between May and August 1990, rewriting their script into The Lawnmower Man. The final film bears little resemblance to King's story beyond a single sequence where the antagonist telekinetically uses a lawnmower to murder a character named Harold Parkette. King successfully sued to have his name removed from the film, which was originally titled Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man, and won further damages when his name was included in the title of the home video release.

The plot follows Dr. Lawrence Angelo, a scientist at Virtual Space Industries, who conducts experiments using psychoactive drugs and virtual reality to enhance cognitive performance. After a chimpanzee test subject gains enhanced intelligence and aggression, Angelo recruits Jobe Smith, an intellectually disabled gardener, as a new subject. Jobe develops psychokinesis and telepathy, but the project director secretly replaces Angelo's medications with the original aggressive formula. Jobe becomes obsessed with evolving into a digital being, kills those who mistreated him, and eventually enters the VSI computer mainframe. Angelo traps him by encrypting connections, but Jobe escapes through a maintenance line before the building explodes. The film ends with phones ringing worldwide, signaling Jobe's success.

Principal photography began on May 28, 1991, in Los Angeles with a $10 million budget. The CGI was created by Angel Studios, and the scene where a priest is set on fire is an early use of motion capture, done by an Italian company using the technology for golf training. The Gemini process transferred CGI onto film by putting digital images on a high-resolution CRT screen, frame by frame, shot with a motion picture camera. The supervising sound editor was Frank Serafine, hired for his work on Tron. Fuji Creative's Masao Takiyama is credited as a co-producer.

Reader's Guide

The Lawnmower Man is significant as an early example of a techno-horror film exploring virtual reality and digital transcendence, themes that would become central to the genre. Its use of computer-generated imagery and motion capture was pioneering for its time, though the article notes the motion capture was originally developed for golf training. The film's troubled relationship with Stephen King's source material is a key part of its legacy: King successfully sued to have his name removed from the film after it deviated drastically from his story, and later won further damages when his name appeared on home video releases. A third court order imposed a $10,000 daily penalty on New Line for continued defiance. The film spawned a sequel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996), with Austin O'Brien as the only returning actor. The unrated director's cut, running 142 minutes, was released simultaneously with the 108-minute theatrical version on VHS and LaserDisc in August 1992, and its success alerted King to the continued use of his name on packaging.

Did You Know?

• The film was originally titled Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man, but King successfully sued to have his name removed due to deviations from his story.
• The CGI for the film was created by Angel Studios, and the scene of a priest being set on fire used early motion capture technology originally developed for golf training.
• The film was released in Japan under the title Virtual Wars.
• A sequel, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, was released in 1996 with Austin O'Brien as the only returning actor.