Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)

Director:

Alex Gibney

Writer (WGA):

Alex Gibney (written by)

Release Date:

4 March 2011 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Money. Sex. Power. Betrayal.

Plot:

An in-depth look at the rise and fall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, including interviews with the scandalized, former politician.

Plot Keywords:

Governor | Scandal | Rise And Fall | Sex Scandal | Hubris

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Eliot Spitzer	...	Himself
Michael Schwendeman	...	Trumpet Player
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kim Allen	...	Times Square Lip-Sync Singer
Lloyd Constantine	...	Himself - Former Spitzer Advisor
Peter Elkind	...	Himself - Author
Wrenn Schmidt	...	Angelina
Laura Somma	...	Ashley Dupre
Hulbert Waldroup	...	Himself - Painter

Directed by
Alex Gibney

Writing credits (WGA)
Alex Gibney		(written by)

Produced by
Maiken Baird	....	producer
Sam Black	....	co-producer
David Boardman	....	co-producer: UK
Robert DeBitetto	....	executive producer
Peter Elkind	....	co-producer
Alex Gibney	....	producer
Alexandra Johnes	....	production executive
Mason Speed Sexton	....	executive producer
Robert Sharenow	....	executive producer
Molly Thompson	....	executive producer
Jedd Wider	....	producer
Todd Wider	....	producer

Original Music by
Peter Nashel

Cinematography by
Maryse Alberti

Film Editing by
Alison Amron		(co-editor)
Plummy Tucker

Production Management
Samara Levenstein	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Stéphane Barsalou	....	additional sound
Daniel Brooks	....	additional sound
Peter Eason	....	additional sound
Matt Geldof	....	additional sound (as Matthew Geldof)
Steve Giammaria	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
David Hocs	....	location sound
Michael Jones	....	additional sound
Lawrence Manchester	....	sound mixer
Tony Volante	....	sound re-recording mixer
Allan Zaleski	....	supervising sound editor
John Zecca	....	additional sound
Alexa Zimmerman	....	dialogue editor

Visual Effects by
Benjamin Murray	....	conforming hd editor

Camera and Electrical Department
K.C. Bailey	....	production photographer
Erin Barnett	....	additional cinematographer
Charlie Beyer	....	assistant camera
Ben Bloodwell	....	additional cinematographer
Ryan Bronz	....	gaffer
Brian Butnick	....	production photographer
Mariusz Cichon	....	additional cinematographer
Kenny Dixon	....	assistant camera
Kate Elson	....	additional cinematographer
Melissa A. Gomez	....	additional cinematographer (as Melissa Gomez)
Scott Jansson	....	assistant camera
Stephen Kazmierski	....	additional cinematographer
Ronan Killeen	....	assistant camera
Simon Kossoff	....	additional cinematographer
George Lyon	....	additional cinematographer
Alex Margineanu	....	additional cinematographer
William O'Marra	....	additional cinematographer
Antonio Rossi	....	additional cinematographer (as Tony Rossi)
William Striebe	....	additional cinematographer

Editorial Department
Brett Banks	....	assistant editor
Joe Gawler	....	supervising digital intermediate colorist
Rebecca Lane	....	first assistant editor
Jack Lewars	....	digital intermediate colorist
Benjamin Murray	....	on-line editor
William O'Marra	....	apprentice editor
Anoosh Tertzakian	....	assistant editor
Molle DeBartolo	....	digital intermediate project manager (uncredited)

Music Department
Brian Deming	....	music editor
Brian Deming	....	music score mixer
Andy Farber	....	orchestrator
Cameron Greider	....	orchestrator
Eric V. Hachikian	....	conductor
Eric V. Hachikian	....	orchestrator
M.E. Manning	....	composer: additional music
John McCullough	....	music supervisor
Peter Nashel	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Isa Alimonti	....	intern
Anne Avalon	....	intern
Paolo Avenati	....	intern
Erin Barnett	....	assistant to director
Maggie Borden	....	intern
Kamilla Bruus	....	intern
Doris Burke	....	research coordinator
Eu-hua Chua	....	intern
Ben Colman	....	intern
Graham Corrigan	....	intern
James Deforte	....	intern
Stamos Dimitropoulos	....	intern
Richard Dworkin	....	transcription
Jacqueline Eckhouse	....	production counsel
Kate Elson	....	assistant to director
Erin Finicane	....	intern
Alex Fischer	....	intern
Anthony Floris	....	intern
Melissa A. Gomez	....	production assistant (as Melissa Gomez)
Melissa A. Gomez	....	research (as Melissa Gomez)
Eline Gordts	....	intern
Amna Hafiz	....	intern
Brian Hedden	....	intern
Fred Heismeyer	....	intern
Nick Johnson	....	intern
Barbara Karen	....	production accountant
Greg Kulaga	....	intern
Raymond Le	....	intern
Ezekiel Martinez	....	intern
Nate McCallister	....	intern
Melissa Mergner	....	intern
Toby Nathan	....	intern
Dana O'Keefe	....	sales agent
William O'Marra	....	production assistant
William O'Marra	....	research
Daniela Hernandex Pedraza	....	intern
Nicholas Ray	....	intern
Sam Salvodon	....	intern (as Samuel Salvodon)
Ali Schmidt	....	intern
Angie Schmidt	....	intern
Zachary Skipp	....	intern
Robert Stein	....	counsel: e & o
Carr Tekosky	....	intern
Zach Valenti	....	intern
Edward Wintle	....	intern

Thanks
Alix Colow	....	special thanks: Fortune Magazine
Claudia Emde	....	special thanks
James Folts	....	special thanks: New York State Archives
Gil and Charlayne Haroche	....	special thanks
John and Melanie Hess	....	special thanks
Mike Huckman	....	special thanks: CNBC
Ron Lasko	....	special thanks
Aryana Law	....	special thanks
Sean MacPherson	....	special thanks
Brad Maione	....	special thanks
Janio Marrero	....	special thanks
Robin Popelsky	....	special thanks
Andy Serwer	....	special thanks: Fortune Magazine
James Siegel	....	special thanks
Mike Spain	....	special thanks: Albany Times-Union
William Walsh	....	special thanks
Lynne Wheeler	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• A&E IndieFilms
• Jigsaw Productions
• Wider Film Projects

Distributors

• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Video Service Corporation (2010) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Madman Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (all media)
• Magnolia Pictures (2011) (USA) (all media)
• Roco Films (2010) (Non-USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Avatar Studios  sound post-production
• Bigstar Motion Design  main titles design
• C5  audio post-production facilities
• Deluxe New York  post-production facilities
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Duotone Audio Group Ltd.  sound post-production
• Fortune Magazine  special thanks
• Marsh Risk Insurance Services  production insurance
• New York Network (NYN)  special thanks
• Sound Lounge  audio post-production facilities
• W Hotels  special thanks (as W Hotel Montreal)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual material, nudity and language

Runtime:

USA:117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #46287) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Company:

A&E IndieFilms

Surprisingly holds your attention---but i'm not sure what the point was

Film manages to maintain interest without seeming overtly like a propaganda piece which is what i honestly thought it would be going in. *honestly why else would the ex governor have even participated if it wasn't for the opportunity to rehabilitate his image went my logic--an idea i'm sure many other people have thought when wondering if they should bother checking this one out. I can't really say whether you should check it out or not---it will help if you have a tolerance for smirking, and self justification (and yet somehow Spitzer doesn't indulge in the latter--remaining completely on point that he had no one to blame but himself for his own actions...what can i say? i was hoping for someone who sees conspiracy theories everywhere.)

Can't help but wonder how this is going to hold up in the coming decade or two. Will it hold together as a film? will it hold as a narrative that years from now people whom have never heard of Spitzer will be able to watch this and have interest in it?, sadly i think it probably will to a certain extent---not so much because of Spitzer's fall from grace (that will inevitably repeat itself in another high ranking politician and this will if anything just seem like business as usual.) but because of the various people--wall streeters, and gov. officials interviewed throughout who take delight in seeing Spitzer smeared. Its all kinds of creepy to see these guys and gals taking such glee in being interviewed about Spitzer as well as defending themselves from Spitzer's previous accusations against them when he was a crusading governor/state attorney---you kind of start to wonder what kind of documentary these guys thought they were being interviewed for exactly.

I mean in what capacity did these guys rationalize themselves into being interviewed for this doc? Was it this same rationality that led to Spitzer thinking he could continue seeing these prostitutes indefinitely without any ramifications? Why do such high ranking guys of both the governmental kind and the wall street kind think they can rationalize every action they take away as if they had a perfectly logical reason for doing what they do?) If anything can be taken away from this documentary, its not that you should be careful how you conduct yourself, its not that you should be careful whose feathers you ruffle (in the metaphorical sense of course), its not even that you shouldn't have sex with prostitutes if you're a government official (you especially shouldn't have sex with prostitutes who recognize you from the news)---its that very successful high ranking people of all professions can sell themselves on anything, especially when they really shouldn't. Throughout the film the director keeps coming back to an interview with the giggling young woman who ran the prostitution ring in the first place...and she still so obviously thinks that she did nothing wrong running such a business and making a lot of money doing so. Perhaps that's even why these people are so successful in the first place. That they're such good salesmen, that they can even fool themselves into thinking they can do anything and get away with anything because they'll always be able to rationalize it away. That they're such good salesmen that even after getting caught, they can still feel like they didn't do anything wrong at all. Overconfidence kills. (also a potential question---why are all the super successful people in this movie all seem to be sociopaths as well? and what is that supposed to mean?)