Being There is a 1979 American satire directed by Hal Ashby. Based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosiński

The film stars Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine, and features Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, and Richard Basehart.

Peter Sellers was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Chance the Gardener. The screenplay won a BAFTA and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. A Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was made to Douglas.

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected Being There for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”

An inventive, imaginative, brilliant little film concerning a simple gardener (Peter Sellers) who knows nothing of the outside world, but is forced out one day and through an odd series of circumstances, ends up being a close personal advisor to the President of the United States (Jack Warden).

There is quite simply nothing really like this film, as it takes the subject of satire to a whole new level while Sellers naïve, lovable character remains the anchor that drives the comedy and plot forward.

-Rotten Tomatoes.