| K-PAX | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Iain Softley |
| Produced by | Robert F. Colesberry Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin |
| Written by | Gene Brewer Charles Leavitt |
| Starring | Kevin Spacey Jeff Bridges Mary McCormack Alfre Woodard |
| Music by | Edward Shearmur |
| Cinematography | John Mathieson |
| Editing by | Craig McKay |
| Studio | Walt Disney Pictures Universal Pictures IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 2. Produktions KG Mutual Film Company Lawrence Gordon Productions Summit Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (US) United International Pictures (International) Pathé and FilmFour (UK) Buena Vista International (Australia) |
| Release date(s) | October 26, 2001 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $48 million |
| Box office | $65,001,485 |
K-PAX is a 2001 American science fiction and mystery film directed by Iain Softley and starring Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack and Alfre Woodard. The screenplay, written by Gene Brewer and Charles Leavitt, is based on a novel of the same name by Brewer about a psychiatric patient who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. During his treatment, the patient demonstrates an outlook on life that ultimately proves inspirational for his fellow patients and especially for his psychiatrist.
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Claiming to be an extraterrestrial from a planet called 'K-PAX' about one thousand light years away in the Lyra constellation, Prot (rhyming with the word "goat", played by Kevin Spacey) is committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan where psychiatrist Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) begins to evaluate him as a delusional. However, Prot's unwavering ability to provide cogent answers to questions about himself, K-PAX, and its civilization leads Dr. Powell to introduce him to a group of astrophysicists, where Prot claims to have journeyed to Earth by means of "light-travel" and goes on to display knowledge that puzzles them.
Prot also exhibits considerable influence over the other patients at the Institute, each of whom believes unquestioningly that he is indeed from K-PAX. Prot has explained that he can take one person with him when he returns; thereafter most of the patients at the institute ask to be taken to K-PAX.
Upon learning that many of his patients expect to leave Earth on July 27, Dr. Powell confronts Prot, who explains that it is a predetermined date. However, Powell believes this to be a significant date in Prot's life, a day on which he suffered a severe psychological trauma. Powell then decides to subject Prot to regression hypnosis, which works well. Using information gained from these sessions, Powell figures out that Prot is actually Robert Porter, a man presumed dead since attempting suicide after his wife and daughter were murdered in 1996.
On July 27, what is thought to be Prot is found lying catatonic under his bed, and one of the other patients is also missing. The missing patient is never found, and Prot does not return. The other patients do not recognize Robert as he is being wheeled out of the room.
Complaints of plagiarism of the film Man Facing Southeast were made by its makers, and Gene Brewer and others connected with the K-PAX film were subsequently sued in November 2001. The complaint was later withdrawn, and Gene Brewer went on to release a memoir exploring his inspiration for the books called Creating K-PAX - or Are You Sure You Want To Be A Writer?.[1]
| Preceded by From Hell |
Box office number-one films of 2001 (USA) October 28 |
Succeeded by Monsters, Inc. |
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