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The Man from Earth (2007)

Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi |

The Man from Earth is a American drama science fiction film written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Richard Schenkman. It stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, the protagonist. The screenplay was conceived by Jerome Bixby in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in April 1998.

The screenplay mirrors similar concepts of longevity which Bixby had introduced in Requiem for Methuselah, a Star Trek episode he wrote which originally aired in 1969. The film gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through Internet peer-to-peer networks, which raised its profile. The film was later adapted by Schenkman into a stage play of the same name.

Professor John Oldman is packing his belongings onto his truck, preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an impromptu farewell party: Harry, a biologist; Edith, an art history professor and devout Christian; Dan, an anthropologist; Sandy, a historian who is in (unrequited) love with John; Art, an archaeologist; and his younger student Linda.

As John’s colleagues press him to explain the reason for his departure, he picks up from a reference to Magdalenian cultures by Dan and slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, reveals that he is a prehistoric caveman himself from that precise period. He states that he has lived for more than 14 millennia, and that he relocates every ten years to keep others from realizing that he does not age. He begins his tale under the guise of a possible science-fiction story, but eventually stops speaking in hypotheticals and begins answering questions from a first-person perspective. His colleagues refuse to believe his story but accept it as a working hypothesis in order to glean his true intentions. John relates he was a Sumerian for 2000 years, later a Babylonian, and eventually went East to become a disciple of the Buddha.

Director: Richard Schenkman

Writer: Jerome Bixby

Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson, William Katt

Cast:

David Lee SmithJohn
Tony ToddDan
John BillingsleyHarry
Ellen CrawfordEdith
Annika PetersonSandy
William KattArt
Alexis ThorpeLinda
Richard RiehleDr. Will Gruber
Steven LittlesMoving Man #1
Chase SpragueMoving Man #2
Robbie BryanOfficer

Sources: imdb & wikipedia

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