Synopsis

After his mentor is found murdered, computer scientist Douglas Hall becomes the prime suspect and discovers evidence pointing to a missing virtual reality project. The simulation recreates 1937 Los Angeles with inhabitants unaware that they are artificial. As Hall investigates the crime and crosses between simulated worlds, he begins to question his memories, his identity, and the nature of reality itself.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is loosely adapted from Daniel F. Galouye's 1964 science fiction novel Simulacron-3, also published as Counterfeit World.
• The same novel previously inspired Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 German television miniseries World on a Wire.
• Production took place in Los Angeles and Long Beach from February 4 through April 17, 1998.
• Douglas Hall's house is Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House, which was also used as Deckard's apartment building in Blade Runner.
• The 1937 sections were filmed at locations including the Biltmore Hotel, the Ambassador Hotel, and the RMS Queen Mary.
• The film was released in 1999, the same year as The Matrix, and was later nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.
• Its closing image imitates an old television set being switched off, leaving open the possibility that the apparent final reality may also be simulated.
• HIM's song "Join Me in Death," released as "Join Me" in the United States, became an international hit after appearing in connection with the film.