Is 'Male' a tall tale?

'Unknown' docu comes under scrutiny

By IAN MOHR

The authenticity of 'Unknown White Male,' Ruper Murray's docu about a friend with amnesia, is being challenged by critics.

In the current age of the arty hoax -- following the lit scandals of J.T. LeRoy and James Frey -- the latest project to come under scrutiny is the upcoming amnesia docu "Unknown White Male," which was up for a DGA award and short-listed for an Oscar nom.

The brouhaha could bring far more media attention to the pic than an indie docu might otherwise get -- with "Good Morning America" and Diane Sawyer interviews, as well as a New Yorker piece in the works.

The publicity gives the pic's distribs, Wellspring and Court TV, the chance to play up any controversy as a marketing hook, though they say they won't do so.

Questions about the film first began back when helmer Rupert Murray's mystery-of-the-mind movie unspooled at Sundance last year. Pic follows the director's friend, Doug Bruce, a thirtysomething who took a subway ride in 2003 only to arrive in Coney Island with no clue who he was or what he was doing.

In the pic, notes found in Bruce's backpack lead the Brit to an ex-girlfriend, and he begins to piece his life back together, learning that he was a stock broker who retired to embark on a career as a professional shutterbug.

Pic -- produced via the U.K.'s Film Four and Spectre Broadcast -- played to enthusiastic notices and won a domestic distribution deal even though it was originally skedded to air only on U.K. TV.

But something about Bruce's story raised the suspicions of some Sundance viewers -- despite the fact that the docu's subject is diagnosed onscreen by Harvard psychology department chairman Daniel L. Schacter as having a type of retrograde amnesia.

First, some aud members in Park City accused the pic's creators of making a mockumentary, which they denied. Then, HBO's docu unit -- run by prexy Sheila Nevins -- began circling the pic but ultimately decided it was less than credible after some initial research. Various other interested distribs even began considering using the questions surrounding Bruce's authenticity as a way to market the film.

"The question mark of whether it's real or not could be a great way to direct people to see the movie," recalled Josh Braun, who repped the film at Sundance through his Submarine label. "After members of our team met (with Bruce), we believed it was 100% real. It seems too elaborate to keep the whole thing going. But even from the beginning, we said that an element of the marketing of the film is, 'Is this real or isn't it?' Some distributors pitched that as a way to market the film. Maybe some people think that it's too good to be true -- (Bruce) is good-looking, rich and dates models. They say it's too convenient."

Now more industry types are weighing in: As part of a Q&A piece with Bruce, posted today on GQ.com, Michel Gondry, the helmer of the hip memory-loss pic "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," said, "I didn't believe him. But I don't want to confront him, and I always avoid the subject. Maybe he (took) the idea from 'Eternal Sunshine?' Oops, I didn't say that!" (Bruce then goes on to tell GQ, "It's not a hoax. People find it too incredible to be truthful. It's more incredible, actually." Click here to read the interview.)

Wellspring -- which has created a one-sheet for the pic that reads "A True Story" below the title -- has decided not to use any such controversy to market the pic and stands by its veracity.

"The movie is inherently interesting and compelling enough," said Wellspring acquisitions head Marie Therese Guirgis. She added that her company has received more press requests over "Male," which rolls out Feb. 24, than for any of its previous films.

And people close to the project say there are a number of production companies and directors interested in remake rights.

"Any time you have an issue of amnesia, or an insanity defense, there are always questions raised," said Court TV chairman Henry Schleiff, whose net will air the pic over the summer.

Schleiff pointed to a similar amnesia case that hit papers this week: A Gotham attorney showed up at a Chicago homeless shelter seven months after he disappeared. "It raises the issue of what is amnesia all about?," he added. "And that's a very interesting story. We just think this is a very interesting story that's well produced and directed."

Wellspring said that the pic has screened so far for scads of psychiatric orgs with no questions over Bruce's story.

The DGA and Academy's nonfiction wings also apparently agree.

"The film was made by extremely legitimate documentary professionals who would not jeopardize their careers to perpetrate a fraud," Wellspring's Guirgis said. "There's no chance that the movie's a fake. Is there a chance that (Bruce) is faking? We are all inherently cynics. I haven't given him a lie detector test, but he has nothing to gain, and we are operating under the fact that the movie is real. If it's going to make people more interested in seeing the film, they can judge for themselves."