Man On The Moon (film) - Fact Vs. Fiction

Fact Vs. Fiction

The film makes a few changes to Kaufman's life story. As Kaufman explains in the prologue, "all the most important things in my life are changed around and mixed up for dramatic purposes".

The famous Carnegie Hall "milk and cookies" performance, portrayed in the film as one of his last performances after being diagnosed with cancer, had in fact occurred in 1979, five years before Kaufman's death. Also, the film is deliberately ambiguous over whether it portrays his "death" as genuine, or the hoax that some fans believe it to be. Actually, Zmuda enlisted his old Chicago friends and confidants, Joe Troiani and Bill Karmia to stage Kaufman's return from the dead. Dressed as Kaufman's alter ego Tony Clifton, Zmuda returned to the Comedy Store in 1985. Through the use of clever staging, the trio made it appear that Andy Kaufman might have returned to visit adoring fans.

Kaufman and his girlfriend, Lynne Margulies were never wrestling opponents. Nor did they know each other in the 70's. They met for the first time when working on My Breakfast with Blassie, a 1983 movie they appeared in together.

The film implies that the fight with Michael Richards on Fridays was more serious and violent. In fact when it was broken up, Richards (who never retaliated to water being poured on him) was upset, claiming "what? It's funny" and told the stagehands to "butt out" when they tried to intervene, saying "it's all in fun". Also there was no attempt by the producers to tell the audience it was all a prank they were involved in.

Many events in the feud between Kaufman and Jerry Lawler, which continued well after the David Letterman incident, were left out of the film. Also left out in the film was Jimmy Hart, who at the time acted as Kaufman's manager. According to Lawler's autobiogaphy It's Good to be the King...Sometimes, WCW wrestler Glenn Gilbertti, better known to wrestling fans as Disco Inferno, was considered for the role of Lawler.

The film implies that Taxi was canceled only once. However, the show went on for one more season on NBC.

The film implies that Carol Kane was a member of the Taxi cast during the show's first season, which in real life was 1978–79. In actuality, Kane did not make her first appearance on the series until the episode "Guess Who's Coming for Brefnish", which first aired on ABC in January 1980 during the show's second season.

The film portrays the first meeting between Shapiro and Kaufman at a nightclub, following Kaufman's set where he performed an imitation of President Jimmy Carter. The film then led to Shapiro booking Kaufman on the first episode of Saturday Night Live, which occurred in 1975, during Gerald Ford's presidency; Carter would not get elected to the position until 1976, nor would he take office until January 1977.

During one scene in the film, Andy is seen playing a Ms. Pac Man machine. At that point in the film, it is still the 1970s. Ms. Pac Man was not released until 1981. Also notable, he is playing a "hyper" version of Ms. Pac Man. This is where Ms. Pac Man is able to move through the mazes at a much increased speed. The Ms. Pac Man machines were not altered to do this until some time after the game's original release.

Other inaccuracies include scenes based around "SNL", specifically the first episode's host. Also Lorne Michaels asking the home viewing audience to vote Kaufman off the show, which happened in 1982, two years after Michaels left the show as executive producer and Dick Ebersol took over.

After its release, the film attracted some criticism over various events in Kaufman's life that were left out. Significantly, these critics included Kaufman's own father Stanley, who was displeased that little of Andy's early life (before show business) and early career was portrayed.

Additionally, since Bob Zmuda was involved in the production of the film, around the same time having written a "tell all" book ("Andy Kaufman Revealed!"), many of its criticisms carry over to the film. Notably, Zmuda is accused of overemphasizing his role in the creation of many of Andy's routines (such as Tony Clifton). Andy's father contends that Andy formulated these bits while in college doing a local TV show: "Uncle Andy's Funhouse" (which is briefly referenced in the film: Andy is wearing an "Uncle Andy's Funhouse" t-shirt in one scene). Zmuda is also portrayed in the film to be present at many events which he was not in real life.