View source for Nothing So Strange

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Nothing So Strange
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Brian Flemming]]
| producer       = Brian Flemming
| writer         = Brian Flemming (uncredited)
| starring       = David James<br>Mark Daniel Cade<br>[[Keythe Farley]]
| music          = [[No War But The Class War]]
| cinematography = 
| editing        = 
| studio         = GMD Studios<br>Parallax Productions<br>Unsharp Mask
| distributor    = 
| released       = {{film date|2002|01|13|[[Slamdance Film Festival]]|ref1=<ref name=premiere>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-01-et-morn1-story.html|title=Arts And Entertainment Reports From The Times, News Services And The Nation's Press|last=Dutka|first=Elaine|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=2002-01-01|access-date=2014-03-25}}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 82 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $200,000<ref name=filmthreat>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmthreat.com/news/1153/|title="NOTHING SO STRANGE" IN SAN FRANCISCO|author=<!-- Staff -->|work=[[Film Threat]]|date=2003-01-13|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>| gross          = 
}}
'''''Nothing So Strange''''' is a 2002 American [[mockumentary]] film written, produced and directed by [[Brian Flemming]] in the style of an "[[independent film|independent]] [[documentary film|documentary]]".  It centers on the fictional assassination of [[Microsoft]] founder [[Bill Gates]] on December 2, 1999. The film won the New York Times Claiborne Pell Award for Original Vision at the Newport Film Festival and received a positive reception from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''.

== Plot ==

At the very beginning of the film, Bill Gates (played by Gates double Steve Sires) walks onto the stage of the pavilion in [[MacArthur Park]], [[Los Angeles, California]] on Thursday, December 2, 1999, to give a check for one million dollars to "Literacy For Life" as part of the "Bill Gates Foundation." (The filmmakers intentionally avoided mentioning Gates' family members in the film; thus, they refrain from naming the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]].) Upon reaching the stage, Gates is shot dead by a sniper, first in the right shoulder, then the head.

While chasing after the unknown sniper through an abandoned building, a rookie police officer fatally shoots Alek J. Hidell (a known alias of [[John F. Kennedy|JFK]] [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|killer]] [[Lee Harvey Oswald]]), a minor anti-establishment figure and minority, in the head. Hiddell is named as the assassin of Gates, a report to this effect is filed by [[district attorney]] [[Gil Garcetti]], and the case is closed.

Beyond this point, which occurs before the opening credits are finished, Gates does not reappear and is mentioned only as a wealthy, successful man and the subject of the assassination being investigated. The word "[[Microsoft]]" barely makes an appearance in the film, and Gates is portrayed as a well-liked and missed public figure; a very passing mention is made of the existence of anti-Gates sentiment.

However, a group of people dissatisfied with the official version of events organizes into the activist group Citizens for Truth, and sets out to examine the available evidence of the assassination. The organization uncovers numerous details that create reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Hiddell in the assassination, and the possibility that the real assassin is still at large.

The [[mockumentary]] follows the organization as they grow in numbers, political prominence, and progress in their investigative efforts. The organization's success reaches a climax at their first annual convention, which is followed by their rapid drop in credibility and visibility to become effectively irrelevant.
{{-}}

== Cast ==
* Laurie Pike as Debra Meagher
* David James as David James
* Mark Daniel Cade as Mark Anderson
* [[Keythe Farley]] as Keith Charles
* Douglas Glazer as Dan Rivera
* Valerie Gordon as Valerie
* Etana Jacobson as Etana
* Jennifer Lauren as Jennifer Smith
* Steve Sires as Bill Gates
* Sarah Stanley as Julia Serrano
* Philip Anthony Traylor as Alek Hidell
* Steve Wilcox as Steve Martinez
* Didi Williams as himself

== Production ==
Flemming was inspired to make a film about a contemporary assassination that grabbed the public attention after wondering what would happen if a Kennedy-style assassination happened during modern times.  Through his research on the Kennedy assassination, he became convinced that there was no conspiracy.<ref name=sfgate>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Beyond-the-big-coverup-Indie-film-takes-on-2671970.php|title=Beyond the big coverup / Indie film takes on conspiracy theories|last=Hartlaub|first=Peter|work=[[SF Gate]]|date=2003-02-10|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  Flemming himself has no animosity toward Bill Gates, and used many Microsoft products during the making of ''Nothing So Strange''.<ref name=sfgate/>

Very little of the film was scripted. Flemming has said that he wrote no script, providing perhaps a few important lines, and instead putting the creative effort into the details of the props and artifacts of the story. The "Garcetti Report" on the assassination, for example, is a complete document written by Flemming. The actors improvised most of their own dialogue, interactions, and reflections, and to some extent aiming the direction of the story along with their organization, with minor daily cues from Flemming. Most of the actors had no prior professional acting experience.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

Another technique is what Flemming has termed "reality-hacking"; the interaction of the actors in character with the real world. A scene taking place on the protest stage of the 2000 [[Democratic National Convention]] was filmed at the real convention, and Flemming crashed a real police commission hearing.<ref name=sfgate/>

Flemming [[open source]]d all seventy hours of footage he shot, allowing other people to make their own cut.<ref name=sfgate/>

== Release ==
Prior to release of the film, Flemming registered and developed realistic web pages for a number of the subjects in the film.<ref name=filmthreat/>

''Nothing So Strange'' premiered on January 13, 2002, at the [[Slamdance Film Festival]].<ref name=premiere/>  After having trouble attracting distributors, Flemming decided to self-distribute the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmthreat.com/interviews/635/|title=BRIAN FLEMMING: THE CINEMATIC VAGRANT WHO WOULD BE GOVERNOR|last=Campos|first=Eric|work=[[Film Threat]]|date=2003-08-05|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  It was released on DVD on December 19, 2004.<ref name=dvdtalk>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/10252/nothing-so-strange/|title=Nothing So Strange|last=Bovberg|first=Jason|work=[[DVD Talk]]|date=2004-03-11|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>

== Reception ==
Scott Foundas of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called it "a smart, aware, polemical work".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2002/film/reviews/nothing-so-strange-1200551170/|title=Review: ''Nothing So Strange''|last=Foundas|first=Scott|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=2002-02-24|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  Doug Brunell of ''[[Film Threat]]'' rated it 4/5 stars and called it "brilliantly subversive".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/5995/|title=NOTHING SO STRANGE (DVD)|last=Brunell|first=Doug|work=[[Film Threat]]|date=2004-04-17|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  The ''[[Austin Chronicle]]'' wrote, "The result is a genre-bending experience that lives up to Daniel Webster's quote: 'There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange.'"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2002-03-08/84979/|title=Pick of the Litter: 'Nothing So Strange'|author=<!-- Staff -->|work=[[Austin Chronicle]]|date=2002-03-08|accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  Jason Bovberg of [[DVD Talk]] rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "''Nothing So Strange'' isn't quite the alternate-reality puzzle box that it aspires to be. It has an undeniably unique premise, but it quickly devolves into the mundane."<ref name=dvdtalk/>

Bill Gates himself stated, "It is very disappointing that a moviemaker would do something like this."<ref name=filmthreat/>

It won the ''New York Times'' Claiborne Pell Award for Original Vision.<ref name=filmthreat/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20011227040055/http://www.nothingsostrange.com/}}
* {{IMDb title|0274639|Nothing So Strange}}

[[Category:2002 films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:Camcorder films]]
[[Category:American mockumentary films]]
[[Category:American alternate history films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Bill Gates]]
[[Category:Films about assassinations]]
[[Category:Films set in 1999]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]