''First Person'' is an American TV series produced and directed by

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of their subjects, and the invention of the Interrotron. In 2003, his '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Li ...

. The show engaged a varied group of individuals from civil advocates to criminals, and ran for two seasons, in 2000–2001. Interviews were conducted with "The Interrotron", a device similar to a

teleprompter A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually bel ...

: Errol and his subject each sit facing a camera. The image of each person's face is then projected onto a two-way mirror positioned in front of the lens of the other's camera. Instead of looking at a blank lens, then, both Morris and his subject are looking directly at a human face.
Diagram
Morris believes that the machine encourages monologue in the interview process, while also encouraging the interviewees to "express themselves to camera"."Interviews: Errol Morris"

" The name "Interrotron" was coined by Morris's wife, who, according to Morris, "liked the name because it combined two important concepts — terror and interview.""THE FOG OF WAR: 13 Questions and Answers on the Filmmaking of Errol Morris by Errol Morris", FLM Magazine Winter 2004

" The Interrotron was later used by Morris for his 2003 film ''

The Fog of War ''The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara'' is a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, illustrating his observations of the nature of modern war ...

''. The first episode of the series was dedicated to debtor's advocate Andrew Capoccia, wherein he laid out his philosophy on debt reduction. Less than two days after the episode aired, on February 18, 2000, the chief judge of the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

in Rochester court announced the provisional suspension of all pending cases filed by Andrew Capoccia's firm. Cappocia was subsequently tried, convicted of fraud and imprisoned.

Episodes

Season 1

# "Stairway to Heaven" —

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic, inventor, and ethologist. She is a prominent proponent of the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. ...

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

college professor and expert on humane cattle slaughter techniques # "The Killer Inside Me" —

Sondra London Sondra London (born 1947 in Florida) is a controversial American true crime author. A onetime girlfriend of convicted murderer and suspected serial killer Gerard John Schaefer and the fiancée of convicted serial killer Danny Rolling (later e ...

, American true crime author. # "I Dismember Mama" — Saul Kent, promoter of

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

# "The Stalker" — Bill Kinsley, employer and victim of the disgruntled postal worker Thomas McIlvane # "The Parrot" — Jane Gill, victim of a murder with a possible avian eyewitness # "Eyeball to Eyeball" —

Clyde Roper Clyde F. E. Roper (born 1937) is a zoologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He has organised a number of expeditions to New Zealand to study giant squid, including in 1997 and 1999. He graduated from Transylvania Univ ...

, authority on the

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, ...

# "Smiling in a Jar" — Gretchen Worden, director of the

Mütter Museum The Mütter Museum is a medical history and science museum located in the Center City, Philadelphia, Center City area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It contains a collection of anatomy, anatomical and pathology, pathological Biological specime ...

of medical oddities in Philadelphia # "In the Kingdom of the Unabomber" — Gary Greenberg,

Unabomber Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber ( ), was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. He was a mathematics prodigy, but abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a reclusi ...

pen pal Pen pals (or penfriends, penpals, pen-pals) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of letters. Occasion ...

and would-be biographer # "Mr. Debt" — Andrew Capoccia, lawyer for credit-card debtors (since disbarred and convicted) # "You're Soaking In It" — Joan Dougherty, crime scene cleaner # "The Little Gray Man" — Antonio Mendez, retired

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

operative and master of disguise

Season 2

# "Harvesting Me" — Josh Harris, internet entrepreneur and

television addict "Television Addict" was the A-side of the debut single by The Victims, an early punk rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The song is a mainstay of compilations of Australian punk from the 1970s, and has been recorded by the Hoodoo Gurus, Yo ...

also featured in the

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

We Live in Public ''We Live In Public'' is a 2009 documentary film by Ondi Timoner about Internet pioneer Josh Harris, indirectly highlighting the loss of privacy in the Internet age. Synopsis The film details the experiences of Josh Harris, a dot-com milliona ...

'' # "The Smartest Man in the World" —

Chris Langan Christopher Michael Langan (born March 25, 1952) is an American horse rancher and former bar bouncer, known for scoring highly on an IQ test that gained him entry to a high-IQ society and for being formerly listed in the ''Guinness Book of Re ...

, bar

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...

with the alleged world's highest IQ # "The Only Truth" — Murray Richman, lawyer to New York mobsters # "One in a Million Trillion" —

Rick Rosner Richard Rosner (born c. 1941) is an American television producer best known for creating the television show ''CHiPs''.Staff report (September 15, 1977). CHiPs Debuts on NBC. He's also famous for being related to the one and only, Mark Rosner, ...

, professional high school student and ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

'' contestant # "Mr. Personality" — Dr. Michael Stone,

forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...

and

homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

aficionado, host of ''

Most Evil ''Most Evil'' is an American forensics television program on Investigation Discovery, first aired in 2006, presented by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael H. Stone of Columbia University during the program's first three seasons, and by forensi ...

'' # "Leaving the Earth" — Denny Fitch,

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...

pilot and one of the heroes onboard

United Airlines Flight 232 United Airlines Flight 232 was a regularly scheduled United Airlines flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, continuing to Philadelphia International Airport. On July 19, 1989, the DC-1 ...

References

Films directed by Errol Morris Films produced by Errol Morris 2000s American documentary television series {{US-documentary-tv-prog-stub