Thank You for Smoking (2005)

Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writers:

Jason Reitman (screenplay), Christopher Buckley (novel)

Stars:

Joan Lunden, Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Lunden	...	Herself
Eric Haberman	...	Robin Williger
Aaron Eckhart	...	Nick Naylor
Mary Jo Smith	...	Sue Maclean
Todd Louiso	...	Ron Goode
Jeff Witzke	...	Kidnapper
J.K. Simmons	...	BR
Marianne Muellerleile	...	Teacher
Cameron Bright	...	Joey Naylor
Alex Diaz	...	Kid #1
Jordan Garrett	...	Kid #2
Courtney Taylor Burness	...	Kid #3 (as Courtney Burness)
Jordan Del Spina	...	Kid #4 (as Jordan Orr)
Maria Bello	...	Polly Bailey
David Koechner	...	Bobby Jay Bliss

Storyline

The chief spokesperson and lobbyist Nick Naylor is the Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies. He is talented in speaking and spins argument to defend the cigarette industry in the most difficult situations. His best friends are Polly Bailey that works in the Moderation Council in alcohol business, and Bobby Jay Bliss of the gun business own advisory group SAFETY. They frequently meet each other in a bar and they self-entitle the Mod Squad a.k.a. Merchants of Death, disputing which industry has killed more people. Nick's greatest enemy is Vermont's Senator Ortolan Finistirre, who defends in the Senate the use a skull and crossed bones in the cigarette packs. Nick's son Joey Naylor lives with his mother, and has the chance to know his father in a business trip. When the ambitious reporter Heather Holloway betrays Nick disclosing confidences he had in bed with her, his life turns upside-down. But Nick is good in what he does for the mortgage.

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Plot Keywords:

business | tobacco | reporter | lobbyist | health | 

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Taglines:

Where there's smoke, there's Nick Naylor

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gracias por fumar

Filming Locations:

The Prince - 3198 W. Seventh Street, Koreatown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$19,447 (Chile) (22 September 2006)

Gross:

$35,206 (Chile) (29 September 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Room 9 Entertainment, TYFS Productions LLC, ContentFilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Leading up to its release, it was reported by numerous trade magazines that Tom Cruise had demanded a sex scene involving his wife, Katie Holmes, be cut from the movie. At the 2006 Hay-On-Wye book festival, Jason Reitman dismissed this report as complete rubbish, explaining that these reports came from the film's first festival screening where an overzealous projectionist had accidentally cut the scene when splicing the film together (an easy mistake to make, as the scene came at the end of a reel and followed a couple of seconds of black). At a Q&A that followed said screening, Reitman mentioned to the festival audience that there was a missing sex scene in the version they just saw, which was somehow seen by (equally overzealous) reporters as being a result of Tom Cruise and/or Scientology's involvement.

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Goofs

Nick tells Jeff that lighting a cigarette in a space station would cause an explosion because it's an all-oxygen environment. This is only partially correct. In real spaceships, there is a pure oxygen environment but at a reduced pressure (about 5 psi) so there is no danger of run away explosions. The Apollo I incident, where three astronauts died in a similar situation caused by an electrical spark, was a ground test and so the pure oxygen environment was about 15 psi - hence the run away fire.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Joan Lunden: Robin Williger. He is a 15 year old freshman from Racine, Wisconsin. He enjoys studying history; he's on the debate team. Robin's future looked very, very bright. But recently he was diagnosed with cancer, a very tough kind of cancer. Robin tells me he has quit smoking, though, and he no longer thinks that cigarettes are "cool."

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are styled to appear as cigarette boxes.

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Connections

References To Have and Have Not (1944)

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Soundtracks

"The Joan Lunden Show Theme"
Written and Produced by 'Matt Messina (I)'

User Reviews

"Thank You" for a good satire!

First of all, sorry for the cheesy title. I couldn't help myself. Second of all, "Thank You for Smoking" is, in fact, a darn good satire

• one of the best I've seen since "Election". Aaron Eckhart holds the

picture together with a witty, charismatic performance as a tobacco lobbyist. The film is basically about his profession as he spins the news, pitches a movie idea, dodges a subpoena, has an affair with a reporter (Katie Holmes), tries to spend time with his son (Cameron Bright), and has lunch with an alcohol lobbyist (Maria Bello) and a firearms rep (David Koechner) - where they literally compare body counts. The performances are excellent across the board, from William H. Macy's crusading Senator to Rob Lowe's smirking Hollywood agent who struts around his office in a kimono. Even Adam Brody is enjoyable as Lowe's hyperactive assistant whose in-joke with a co-worker earned one of the biggest laughs of the movie.

The majority of the credit, however, needs to go to first-time feature director Jason (son of Ivan) Reitman. Adapting from Christopher Buckley's novel, Reitman has fashioned an enormously clever script, consistent and strong in character, yet not forgetting to be incredibly funny. The style is also perfect - brisk, light-hearted, with impeccable timing marred only by a tangental subplot including Sam Elliott that is, sadly, not very funny. Overall, however, the pace is fast enough where the laughs keep coming.

Reitman also does the unthinkable: he keeps the satire dark and funny to the very end. While most comedies stray blindly into the sentimental, "Thank You" avoids unnecessary emotional tripe and - thankfully - avoids sermonizing about the dangers of smoking or of the flaws of the political process. Eckhart's flawless performance and Reitman's wonderful screenplay anchor an uncommonly perceptive comedy, provided you take yours black. If you need a little cream and sugar, "Fun with Dick and Jane" might still be at the dollar theater.