Swimming to Cambodia

Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassadors aide in The Killing Fields directed by Roland Joffé, the Cold War, Cambodia Year Zero and his search for his "perfect moment". The film grossed slightly over a million dollars.

Film

The opening shots of the film depict Gray walking toward The Performing Garage in New York. He goes in and after walking in past the audience, he takes his seat behind a table. On the table is a glass of water, a microphone and a notebook which Gray brought with him. Behind him are two pulldown maps. One is a map of Southeast Asia and the other is a diagram of the bombing of Cambodia, which Gray tells us was called Operation Breakfast. There is also back-lit projection screen which has projected on it a picture of a beach.

Related Topics:
The Performing Garage - Operation Breakfast

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The soundtrack for this film was composed and performed by Laurie Anderson, who would also score Gray's follow-up film, Monster in a Box. Gray returned the favor by providing the voice of a TV interviewer for her 1986 short film, What You Mean We?.

Related Topics:
Laurie Anderson - Monster in a Box - What You Mean We?

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While Sam Watterson and Ira Wheeler are credited as additional cast in this film, they are only shown in clips from the film The Killing Fields.

Related Topics:
Sam Watterson - Ira Wheeler - The Killing Fields

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The monologue was also been published in book form.

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