On the podcast this week, Steven and Sean are getting into numerology and seeing 23s everywhere while talking about the Joel Schumacher film, The Number 23.
Did you know that 11 + 12 is 23? And that the nuclei of cells in human bodies have 46 chromosomes made out of 23 pairs? And that William Shakespeare was born on the 23rd of April and died on the 23rd of April? And also that if you add 3 to 6 and minus 12 but then add 49 and divide by 2, then you’ll end up with 23?!?!?!
Crazy, right?
Jim Carrey certainly thinks so in this movie and that’s why he’s going about as cuckoo as someone can go for Cocoa Puffs. And that’s pretty dang cuckoo. We think it’s understandable because when you go through what his character went through, we’d all probably have some trouble discerning reality from insanity.
I know we’d definitely treat dogs better, though. Poor Ned the dog. All he wanted to do was sit around and stare at Jim Carrey. Who doesn’t want to do that? I know we do because he’s amazing.
This one has some twists and turns that are hard to see coming. They’re out of left field and seemingly created by an unassuming red book. Who knew that literature could have such dire consequences? And not just for Jim Carrey, but for every character who reads this book. It seems cursed! Or is it? But maybe it’s not! Or is everything actually just in Jim Carrey’s head? Steven has some interesting theories about that possibility. The answers may be inside this episode…
…Or maybe you’ll just become obsessed with the number 23, too!
This film had a lot of fun with its sound design and it shows. This entire thing is basically just a playground for the sound designers to stretch out and try some new stuff. It’s clear they had a lot of fun creating a tense and spooky soundscape for the entire film. Matthew Libatique (one of Sean’s favorite cinematographers) is in experimental mode here. He has the opportunity to create the looks for both the real world and also a noir-styled mystery world. He knocks it out of the park with this one, as he does with all his films.
(Recorded on May 20, 2020)
Links to Stuff We Mentioned:
The Number 23 trailer - YouTube
23 fascinating facts about the number twenty-three - Independent
Kubrick’s Genius Use Of Colour in The Shining - Back to the Movies
Fake Doctors, Real Friends - Apple Podcasts
A Little Respect | Erasure - YouTube