The Man from Earth (2007) on Netflix
Professor John Oldman is loading his truck for another move when colleagues arrive for a farewell party. He claims a Paleolithic birth and more than 14 millennia of life.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.8/10221,199 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
John Oldman is packing a truck outside his house for another move when his colleagues turn up to give him a send-off. Among them are Harry, a biologist; Edith, who teaches art history; Dan, an anthropologist; Art, an archaeologist; Sandy, a historian; and Linda, a student. Pressed on why he keeps leaving, John raises the idea that he dates from the Paleolithic age and has lived for more than 14 millennia, saying he moves every decade so that no one notices that he stays the same. He floats it first as a possible science fiction story, then answers questions as himself. His guests, each judging by his or her own field, treat the tale as a working hypothesis and press him for what he is really after.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Man from Earth (2007)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In 2007 producer Eric D. Wilkinson publicly thanked users of BitTorrent who distributed the film without permission, saying it lifted the profile of the film far beyond the financier's expectations, though he encouraged fans to buy the DVD or donate.
- Jerome Bixby conceived the screenplay in the early 1960s and did not complete it until he was on his deathbed in April 1998.
- The story was Jerome Bixby's last work, completed on his deathbed in April 1998, when he dictated the last of the screenplay to his son, screenwriter Emerson Bixby.
- After Jerome Bixby's death the script was given to Richard Schenkman to direct on a budget of just $200,000, and the film was shot in eight days after a week of rehearsals.
- The screenplay mirrors concepts of longevity Bixby had already introduced in "Requiem for Methuselah", a Star Trek episode he wrote that originally aired in 1969.
- A direct sequel, The Man from Earth: Holocene, was released in 2017, with David Lee Smith and William Katt reprising their roles as John Oldman and Art Jenkins.
