Shattered Glass (2003)

The true story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was found he had fabricated over half of his articles.

Director:

Billy Ray

Writers:

Buzz Bissinger (article), Billy Ray

Stars:

Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 12 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hayden Christensen	...	Stephen Glass
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Charles 'Chuck' Lane
Chloë Sevigny	...	Caitlin Avey
Rosario Dawson	...	Andy Fox
Melanie Lynskey	...	Amy Brand
Hank Azaria	...	Michael Kelly
Steve Zahn	...	Adam Penenberg
Mark Blum	...	Lewis Estridge
Simone-Élise Girard	...	Catarina Bannier
Chad Donella	...	David Bach
Jamie Elman	...	Aaron Bluth
Luke Kirby	...	Rob Gruen
Cas Anvar	...	Kambiz Foroohar
Linda Smith	...	Gloria (as Linda E. Smith)
Ted Kotcheff	...	Marty Peretz

Storyline

This film tells the true story of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen), who rose to meteoric heights as a young writer in his 20s, becoming a staff writer at "The New Republic" for three years (1995-1998), where 27 of his 41 published stories were either partially or completely made up. Looking for a short cut to fame, Glass concocted sources, quotes and even entire stories, but his deception did not go unnoticed forever, and eventually, his world came crumbling down...

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Plot Keywords:

writer | journalist | washington d.c. | the new republic | stephen glass | 

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Taglines:

Read between the lies.

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual references and brief drug use

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 December 2003 (Greece)

Also Known As:

A hazugsággyáros

Filming Locations:

Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£46,921 (UK) (14 May 2004)

Gross:

£46,921 (UK) (14 May 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lions Gate Films, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Baumgarten Merims Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer/director Billy Ray initially had a great deal of difficulty convincing the real life Michael Kelly to assist in the production of the movie. Kelly felt a great deal of embarrassment over Stephen Glass's fraudulent articles, especially because he was editor of the New Republic when many of Glass's articles were published. Ray eventually persuaded Kelly to help him by telling him that he was approaching this story as a journalist who wanted the script to be as factually accurate as possible. This convinced Kelly to help with the project.

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Goofs

When Chuck confronts Stephen in his office after realizing that Stephen's brother was the voice of George Sims. An expletive describing the voice mail was dubbed over to preserve the film's PG-13 rating.

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Quotes

Chuck Lane: You're fired, Steve.
Stephen Glass: What?
Chuck Lane: You're fired, Steve. You've lost your job.
Stephen Glass: But you can't do that.

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Connections

Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Wild Thing"
(1965)
Written by Chip Taylor
Performed by X. (as X)
Used by permission of EMI Blackwood Music Inc.
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

User Reviews

An impressively compelling film

The public-at-large loves a good scandal, and in 1998, the scandal involving Stephen Glass was a pretty darn good one. It turned out that Glass, a young prodigy who was writing for several magazines, but primarily for the prestigious 'New Republic' ('the in-flight magazine of Air Force One') had fabricated some or all of 21 of his 41 well-received stories; a scandal that rocked the journalism world and was picked up by the general public and was later repeated with Jayson Blair.

'Shattered Glass', co-written and directed by Billy Ray examines this true-life story, with Hayden Christensen playing Glass and Peter Sarsgaard as his editor, Chuck Lane. I have never seen Christensen's work in anything else until this point, and I was impressed by his acting chops. He was able to handily express Glass's desperate need for acceptance and his compulsive and repulsively cunning nature so well that the viewer, when faced with the dilemma of how to feel about this man, can only watch numbly as the train wreck that becomes his life careens further out of control. Sarsgaard, as usual, is fantastic as the fair and decent-minded Lane, the editor who first tries to help and protect Glass, but then, after digging deeper, finds that there is a lot more to the man than sloppy journalism.

It is actually surprising to me that 'Shattered Glass' became a film. I remember reading a Vanity Fair piece on Glass back when the scandal broke, and that, and the myriad other articles seemed to be sufficient exposure. The fact that 'Shattered Glass' was released five years after the scandal settled down, and that it is a compelling screenplay and film is a testimony to Ray's (a first time director) talent. 'Shattered Glass' is gut-wrenching in that it is difficult to watch because the viewer knows how deep Glass digs himself, and it's not necessarily fun to watch. 'Shattered Glass' is an intelligent, well-done film and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who appreciates that a film doesn't have to be showy in order to make an impact.

--Shel