THE REAL RAINMAN

Whatever happened to the real Rainman, the quiet genius, Kim Peek, whose extraordinary life story inspired the character played by Dustin Hoffman. Since the Oscar-winning movie Rainman became a worldwide hit, the once-reclusive Kim Peek has wowed and thrilled over a half million people, demonstrating his phenomenal brain power in a unique roadshow that travels around the USA


Now for the first time Kim Peek’s remarkable personal story has been the subject of a full-length documentary made by the award-winning producers behind the sensational worldwide hit The Boy with the Incredible Brain / Brainman, Focus Productions of Bristol UK.

This film has just been nominated for the Royal Television Society (RTS) national awards to be announced in London on March14th. It has already won Best Documentary and Best Editing at the Bristol RTS awards.


The Real Rainman will be transmitted for the first time on Monday 27th February at 9.00pm on Five, and repeated three days later at 11.00pm on Thursday 2nd March.

For this new “wonderful and moving film” cameras have followed Kim as he toured around America meeting scientists who tried to uncover the secret of Kim ‘s remarkable intelligence.

When movie star Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for his performance in Rainman he said to Kim Peek in front of millions of viewers “Kim, I may be the star, but you are the heavens”.

But the true story of Kim is more amazing than any film.

When Kim was born he was so brain-damaged that doctors told his father to put him into an institution and even suggested he have a lobotomy. Unwilling to turn their back on their disabled son Kim’s parents decided to bring him up themselves.

But unknown to his parents, whilst they were away at work, Kim read every book, every Readers Digest, encyclopedia and telephone directory in their house.

Everything Kim read from the age of 3, he retained, nothing was forgotten, he was able to read two pages of a book at once, one with each eye, and he was also able to read upside down and mirror image writing with equal ease.


He also learnt to do maths and calendar calculating at breathtaking speeds. Kim also knows every zip code in America --- and not only the codes themselves but thousands of details about the zip code area.

But all of this talent remained largely hidden --- his parents did not realize that he had a mind and memory better than a whole stadium full of encyclopaedias --- because they had been told from a young age that he was mentally retarded.

Kim’s extraordinary mental abilities were only truly appreciated after TV and film screenwriter Barry Morrow interviewed Kim for a film he was researching.
“I don’t think anybody could spend five minutes with Kim and not come away with a slightly altered view of themselves, the world and our potential as human beings” says Barry who was so astounded by Kim’s genius that it gave him the idea for the movie Rainman.

Ever since the movie was a major worldwide hit, Kim has been traveling around the USA speaking to people to explain what it is like to be have a mind and memory like Rainman.


Nowadays, Kim still may not be able to dress himself or brush his own teeth but he has an IQ of 184 and stuns people wherever he goes with his memory. Kim goes on road shows around America, visiting schools, rotary clubs and universities to demonstrate as his father Fran Peek puts it: “ that its OK to be handicapped”. Audiences cannot believe his speed of mental processing and his seemingly endless memory.

“He can recite cast lists and lines of dialogue from any of the scores of books, movies and plays he’s read or seen, including Shakespeare ----but he cant explain what they mean. He has a perpetual calendar in his head to identify any day or date in history or the future --- but he cant figure out how to sharpen his pencil.”
School children on the roadshows are asked to come prepared with a list of questions which they have researched on any subject --- so that Kim can demonstrate his knowledge --- of just about everything from history to sport, music to maths, literature to movies.

One woman asked him what coincided with her husband’s birthdate of Feb 20th 1938. Kim began reciting Adolf Hitler’s Reichstag address.


Ask him what year Tchaikovsky finished the Nutcracker suite. He’ll not only tell you 1892 but sing several parts for you.

In the film Kim meets four bedazzled teams of scientists who try to unravel his remarkable brain power, they include the world’s leading neuroscientist Professor V S Ramachandran of the University of San Diego, who makes a profound discovery through Kim about the nature of savant intelligence.

But Kim is no ordinary subject for investigation, he makes the scientists both laugh and cry, confounding them with his unique take on life. Finally, Kim travels to England, the first time he has ever left the USA and faces his stiffest test: the students of the Oxford Union Debating Society, where virtually every President and Prime Minister has spoken. But, as always, Kim not only amazes his erudite audience but charms the socks off them as well.

The film is not just a portrait of the “world’s greatest savant” it is also a moving account of a unique human relationship between Kim and his dedicated father, the equally remarkable Fran Peek.

Produced by Focus Productions Bristol UK whose film on maths genius and savant Daniel Tammet, entitled Brainman/ The Boy with Incredible Brain has won two Royal Television Society Awards and been sold to over 30 countries all over the world.

The Real Rainman is a co production for Five, Discovery Science and The History Channel and is distributed worldwide by Channel 4 International.

Producer-Director: Sarah Feltes
Photography: Toby Trackman
Production Manager: Tiffany Jefferies
Editor: Rupert Troskie
Executive Producer: Martin Weitz