John Malkovich delivers a flamboyant and unabashed performance as con man Alan Conway, the man who would be Stanley Kubrick. Draped in as much vulnerability as one of Alan’s silken robes, Malkovich preens his way through London’s lowlife and highlife, whatever the circumstance calls for.  

As the full title of the film indicates, this is a “true…ish” account of what actually happened during the 1990s, as Conway successfully passed himself off as the famous, though seldom seen, film director.   

Director Brian Cook and screenwriter Anthony Frewin are in unique positions to know the details. Cook worked with the real Stanley Kubrick over a period of 30 years. He was Kubrick’s assistant director on the films Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. Frewin’s first involvement with Kubrick was on 200l: A Space Odyssey and he did research for all Kubrick’s other films after that.  

Conway took on all comers with his loose impersonation of Stanley Kubrick. He’d never met Kubrick, didn’t look at all like him, and was not familiar with the filmmaker’s work. Yet, Conway’s smarmy persona was metamorphic. With a change of accent or address to suit the situation, the con man could wheedle whatever he wanted out of his mark ¾ a few quid, a few beers, or a vacation by the seaside.  

In the film, his trick with the address is to plant himself casually on the front stairs of a classy residence and, as Stanley Kubrick, Conway pretends to be waiting for whoever is picking him up. Of course, it is assumed that the lovely home belongs to Kubrick.  

Conway’s big score seems to be British television personality and singer Lee Pratt (Jim Davidson), who belts out raucous Tom Jones type rhythms and lyrics. Conway, as Stanley Kubrick, accompanies Lee to his engagement at a seaside resort, in a limo with a fully stocked bar, and he promises to make Lee a star in the U.S., in Las Vegas. Lee’s manager becomes suspicious and Conway has to beat a retreat back to London.  

Nearly all those duped by Conway posing as Kubrick, appeared to be willing participants in their own scams. They fawn over this overdone boozer and imposter, making excuses for him ¾ “Oh, you know the rich never carry cash.” All of his eccentricities, affectations, and total lack of money, could not have gone completely unnoticed. If these victims suspected fraud, they didn’t come forward, to expose their vulnerability and risk being laughed at.  

Time eventually ran out for Conway when he brazenly challenged an assertion made against Kubrick by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich (William Hootkins), who was visiting London and had met Kubrick years earlier. The journalist and his wife Alix (Marisa Berenson) discovered Conway’s ruse and threatened to expose him. 

Any true movie buff has to see this film, for Malkovich, for Kubrick, for fun. The supporting cast is wonderful. The filmmakers pay homage to Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange in a big way. How’s this for irony? Alan Conway died in December 1998 and Stanley Kubrick passed away three months later.