photo taken from cinemablend.com"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
What price would you pay for the sake of fame and wealth? The Hoax, directed by Lasse Hallstrom is a movie which is inspired by true events based in the life of Clifford Irving, the writer who pulled off one of the most audacious media scams in history when his "autobiography" of Howard Hughes was published.
Starring Richard Gere as Irving who allegedly claimed that the book was based on in-person interviews he conducted with the reclusive billionaire which were in fact completely a sham. Academy award winner Marcia Gray Harden, Alfred Molina and Hope Davis also star in this movie.
During the first 30 minutes of watching this film, I got so bored that I almost fell asleep. When I was about to turn it off, I suddenly changed my mind. When the story was building up, it became very interesting. Could you imagine yourself pretending that you are having direct contact with a very controversial billionaire and say that you're his spokesman and was instructed to write a book about him and make everybody believe you? Brilliant!
However, greed, ambition and pride are indeed the fatal flaws of our protagonist. He really thought he could pull stuff like that and he even involved his principled and loyal friend in his search for money and fame. They even went to great lengths just to get illegal information for their research and almost got caught many times.
In the end, many people became involved and contributed to the downfall of Irving including his wife, his mistress and other people from a competitor publishing house. Irving lost his wife, his best friend, a million bucks, his dignity and reputation. Him, his wife and his friend who were accomplices to the crime all suffered in jail and were made to pay for damages.
The lesson, be contented of what you have. Deception and dishonesty has its price and nobody has to suffer it only if one chooses not to.
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