The Hoax

Richard Gere plays Clifford Irving in this tantalizing drama based on the true story of the novelist-turned-biographer who, in desperation after his new novel is rejected by his publisher, cooks up a fake biography of Howard Hughes. Irving and his writing partner (Alfred Molina) dig up the kind of dirt that would make a brilliant book, then forge letters and spin a lie that Clifford has been personally chosen by Hughes to write his story. That kind of façade just doesn't stay buried forever, even if the subject is a notorious recluse. Lasse Hallström directs with a looseness and a snap that has been absent from his recent Oscar-bait productions, and Gere sells Irving's spiel like a con man caught up in his own pitch. Marcia Gay Harden, Julie Delpy, Hope Davis, Eli Wallach and Stanley Tucci co-star. Features two commentary tracks (one by Hallström and writer William Wheeler, the other by producers Leslie Holleran and Josh Maurer), 13 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary (by Hallström and Wheeler), the featurette "Stranger Than Fiction," an interview with Mike Wallace (who interviewed the real Irving twice), and other supplements.