The Minus Man | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Hampton Fancher |
Produced by | Keith Abell Fida Attieh David Bushell Steve Carlis Joseph J. DiMartino Larry Meistrich Mary Vernieu |
Written by |
Hampton Fancher (screenplay) Lew McCreary (novel) |
Starring |
Owen Wilson Janeane Garofalo Brian Cox Mercedes Ruehl Dwight Yoakam Dennis Haysbert Sheryl Crow |
Music by | Marco Beltrami |
Cinematography | Bobby Bukowski |
Edited by | Todd C. Ramsay |
Production
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Distributed by | The Shooting Gallery |
Release date
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Running time
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111 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Minus Man is a 1999 film starring Owen Wilson and Janeane Garofalo, based on the novel by Lew McCreary, and directed by Hampton Fancher, who also wrote the screenplay. The film centers on a serial killer whom Fancher describes as "a cross between Psycho's Norman Bates, Melville's Billy Budd and Being There's Chauncey Gardner".
Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson) is a serial killer who poisons his victims; he explains that he feels he is helping them and that they die without pain. After killing a heroin addict named Casper (Sheryl Crow) he met at a bar, he makes her death look like an overdose and moves on to a new town. The next day, he arrives at the home of Doug and Jane Durwin (Brian Cox and Mercedes Ruehl). He rents out the room of their missing daughter. Doug recommends he look for work at the post office, as they are hiring seasonal help for Christmas.
Vann is shown retrieving a kit from under his car. It contains the poison he uses on his victims, which he places in a flask and fills with amaretto.
Doug takes Vann to a high school football game, where he meets a star athlete and his family. A few days later, Vann offers the boy a ride and murders him, burying his body on a beach. While he is digging the grave, Vann has an imaginary conversation with two detectives, Blair and Graves (Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert) who stand over him, asking taunting questions about his methods. Throughout the film, Vann has imaginary conversations with two detectives.