Michael Stone claims to understand the human psyche. He has developed his very own method for judging the personality of people. For this test he has made a list of hundreds of personality traits. By defining all the different traits and making a comparison to other lists and diagrams, he can with certainty tell who is a psychopath, sociopath, murderer and so on. Errol Morris talks to Michael Stone in an attempt to find out who he is. Has he lost himself in the quest to understand others?

Mr. Personality

Murray Richman is a lawyer for the worst criminals you can imagine. "Don't Worry" Murray comes as a saviour for many a gangster and brutal murderer, and he is often successful. Once, Murray got a jury to believe that a murder victim had accidentally fallen seven times onto a knife. Oddly cynical for an idealist, oddly idealistic for a cynic. In conversation with Errol Morris, Murray offers his vision of Truth, Justice and the American Way.

The Only Truth

The new millenium came without disaster. No end of the world. No nothing. Nevertheless, Josh Harris, internet entrepreneur and aspiring artist, has decided that the 2nd coming is at hand. And "the new Messiah" is none other than Gilligan, that's right, that Gilligan, from Gilligan's Island. He does not mean the actor playing Gilligan. He is just an avatar for the divine Gilligan, preaching before his descent to earth.  For Harris, life is a sad tug-of-war between those who control reality and those controlled by it. The weapon is media. And Harris, in an all-out onslaught on the world, has decided to make his own torpid existence into a new religion by asking a question that has never been asked before and has yet to be answered: is Gilligan really God -- or in Josh's lingo, Messiah 2.0?

Harvesting Me

Rick Rosner is obsessed with doing things right. If he does not get it exactly right the first time, he just does it again. He completed high school four times before he was satisfied, at the age of 34. To manage this he had to use a combination of disguises and false IDs. Now he is just as obsessed with the TV quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"?. He attended the show, but lost due to a trick question. On the brink of madness, he now watches every program again and again in the hope of a one in a million chance of correcting his error from the past.

One In A Million Trillion

One In A Million Trillion (2)

A plane with 297 passengers is out of control. One of the engines goes dead and the steering mechanism does not work. No one knows what to do, except Denny Fitch who happens to be on board. He manages to navigate the plane by using the thrust controls and forces it down to a crash landing. 111 people die in the crash, but thanks to Denny Fitch 186 passengers survive. Could he have saved more passengers if he had done things differently? He is haunted by the dream of the perfect landing.

Leaving The Earth

Leaving The Earth (2)

Chris Langan is a body builder and a nightclub bouncer, but he is also the smartest man in the world. Compared to him, Mensa members are like schoolboys. His IQ is so high that new tests must be devised in order to measure it. By his own account it must be somewhere in the range of 190-210. Langan tells us how he discovered the truth about the universe, and how he alone has seen the mind of God. He has a vision of a world ruled by an ultra-intelligent elite, with himself as the leader.

The Smartest Man In The World

First Person was an American TV series produced and directed by Errol Morris. The show engaged a varied group of individuals from civil advocates to criminals.

Interviews were conducted with "The Interrotron", a device similar to a teleprompter: 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. Morris believes that the machine encourages monologue in the interview process, while also encouraging the interviewees to "express themselves to camera".

All Episodes of First Person

Season 1