Split Image (film)

Split Image (also known as Captured) is a 1982 American drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Michael O'Keefe, Karen Allen, Peter Fonda, James Woods, Elizabeth Ashley, Brian Dennehy and Ronnie Scribner. It tells the story of an all-American college athlete who becomes involved in a youth-oriented cult, and his family's struggle to bring him home.

Synopsis
Danny Stetson is a clean-cut, American college student and gymnast with dreams of Olympic gold when he's lured into Homeland, a youth-oriented religious commune, by a compellingly beautiful girl, Rebecca. Here he is programmed by the charismatic leader, Neil Kirklander, to believe that his new life now has the true meaning that it previously lacked.

Anguished by their son's disappearance, Danny's parents Diana and Kevin hire a modern-day bounty hunter, Charles Pratt, to abduct Danny and exorcise his brainwashed mind, but the psychological change could be traumatizing.

Production
Ted Kotcheff said the film began when Peter Guber, then head of Polygram, approached him to make a movie about cults. Kotcheff was enthusiastic and worked on the film for two years.

The film was originally written by Scott Spencer, whose novel Endless Love had been filmed by Polygram. Spencer was replaced by Larry Gross, then Robert Kaufmann. "I was never actually fired," said Spencer. "The phone calls just stopped coming."

Kotcheff said " I did a lot of research and spoke to a lot of people who had been in cults. Most of them felt that society had become too materialistic and too crass. They wanted something beyond that and more spiritual. I like that film a lot."

Kotcheff said he cast Peter Fonda because "I wanted all his 60s resonances brought to his character."

The film was originally known as Captured. Filming took place in May 1981 in Dallas, Texas. Tatum O'Neal was originally cast in the film but she had to be let go as she was seventeen years old and not able to work night scenes, which the film required. She was replaced by Karen Allen, who was ten years older than O'Neal, requiring a rewrite of the script.

Reception
Kotcheff said "the film disappeared practically without a trace. It's a subject that American people don't want to hear about."

Awards
In 1982, Ronnie Scribner was nominated in the Category of Best Supporting Young Actor in a Motion Picture at the Youth In Film Award (now known as the Young Artist Award).