Tim Jenison & Teller On ‘Tim’s Vermeer’

Tim Jenison introduced his idea for an experiment in which he’d try to recreate a painting by Joannes Vermeer – using technology he believed that the Dutch painter used – to his longtime friend Penn Jillette. Before long, his passion project was in development as a documentary called Tim’s Vermeer with Teller at the helm.

Jenison was drawn to Vermeer’s paintings for their near-perfect photorealism, and was determined to figure out what the catch was. “You see a Vermeer on the wall next to a bunch of paintings and it jumps out. They have a very different look to them,” Jenison told Uinterview exclusively. “Even among the Dutch masters, who all painted extremely well, there’s something about the Vermeer. It’s like when a little kid brings in a picture he made of a superhero and you go, ‘Oh, did you lay this over the top of a comic book and trace it?’ ‘Yes, I did. How did you know?’ It just has this look that it can’t be right. It’s just too good; it’s superhuman.”

When Jillette told Teller about his idea to turn Jenison’s experiment into a documentary, Teller jumped at the chance to direct it. “’Oh boy, this might change art history! I want to be involved!’” Teller said, recreating his initial reaction to the project. “I got really excited about it. Because I know that Tim is a deep thinker and a really smart guy, and I thought this is a detective story that I want to be a part of.”

Tim’s Vermeer is currently in limited release.