Greenwood Hill Productions presents a new critically-acclaimed film adaptation of Dalton Trumbo’s legendary anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun.
Ben McKenzie (Gotham, Southland, The O.C., Junebug, 88 Minutes) stars in a live stage performance of the award-winning Off-Broadway monologue, based on Trumbo’s literary masterpiece.
The story takes place in the mind of an American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of WWI; a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, Joe Bonham discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him trapped forever within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code, he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
The story takes place in the mind of an American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of WWI; a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, Joe Bonham discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him trapped forever within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code, he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
The body of war. The heart of a man.
Filmed on a bare stage in the style of Jonathan Demme and Spalding Gray’s stage monologue, SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA, actor Ben McKenzie gives a riveting tour-de-force performance as an American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of WWI.
Dalton Trumbo’s JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN is a new play-on-film version of Dalton Trumbo’s 1939 National Book Award-winning anti-war novel. The movie takes place in the mind of Joe Bonham, a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, Joe discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him trapped forever within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code, he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
The film is adapted from the 1982 Off-Broadway play, Dalton Trumbo’s JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, written by Bradley Rand Smith.
Additional info, photos, trailer, reviews, articles, press materials and a study guide available on the film’s official website, www.JohnnyGotHisGuntheMovie.com and on IMDB.