The Insider (1999)

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.

Director:

Michael Mann

Writers:

Marie Brenner (article), Eric Roth

Stars:

Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 50 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Al Pacino	...	Lowell Bergman
Russell Crowe	...	Jeffrey Wigand
Christopher Plummer	...	Mike Wallace
Diane Venora	...	Liane Wigand
Philip Baker Hall	...	Don Hewitt
Lindsay Crouse	...	Sharon Tiller
Debi Mazar	...	Debbie De Luca
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Eric Kluster
Colm Feore	...	Richard Scruggs
Bruce McGill	...	Ron Motley
Gina Gershon	...	Helen Caperelli
Michael Gambon	...	Thomas Sandefur
Rip Torn	...	John Scanlon
Lynne Thigpen	...	Mrs. Williams
Hallie Eisenberg	...	Barbara Wigand

Storyline

Balls-out 60 Minutes (1968) Producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand (Russell Crowe), won't talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honor a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up. Trusting Bergman, and despite a crumbling marriage, he goes on camera for a Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) interview and risks arrest for contempt of court. Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. 60 Minutes (1968) and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. Will the truth come out?

---

Plot Keywords:

whistleblower | tortuous interference | 1990s | tobacco | cbs news | 

---

Taglines:

Two men driven to tell the truth... whatever the cost.

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eric Kluster (Stephen Tobolowsky) and Helen Caperelli (Gina Gershon) were based on Eric Ober and Ellen Kaden, the respective President of CBS News and general counsel for CBS during the events of this movie. In early drafts of the script, they were explicitly named as being Ober and Kaden.

---

Goofs

When Dr. Wigand comes home, there is a van parked in the driveway. The phone number on the van is 1-800-CLOCK, which doesn't have enough digits to be a real phone number.

---

Quotes

Lowell Bergman: You go public, and 30 million people hear what you gotta say, nothing - I mean nothing - will ever be the same again. You believe that?
Jeffrey Wigand: No.
Lowell Bergman: You should. Because when you're done, the judgement is gonna go down in the court of public opinion, my friend. And that's... the power you have.
Jeffrey Wigand: You believe that?
Lowell Bergman: I believe that? Yes, I believe that.
Jeffrey Wigand: You believe that because you get information out to people, something happens?
Lowell Bergman: Yes.
Jeffrey Wigand: Maybe that's what you've been telling yourself all these years to justify having ...
[...]

---

Alternate Versions

The TV version is actually longer than the theatrical version and was extended over two nights. The edit was supervised by director Michael Mann.

---

Connections

References Return to Paradise (1998)

---

Soundtracks

Sacrifice
Written and Performed by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke
Courtesy of 4 AD Limited/Warner Bros. Records Inc.

User Reviews

Very Good!

Finally, now here is a movie where everybody seems to agree on the same verdict. It is a very rare occasion that most of the major critics, the Academy and myself all agree on the judgment of the quality of a motion picture. This only goes to say that this film really has to be good. It also goes to show that the best movies are almost always based on true stories. Truth always trumps fiction.

This movie was very well directed and well filmed, but above all it was well acted. Both Crowe and Pacino deliver memorable, believable performances, creating characters for which we can feel for, with whom we can identify. I agree on most of the Oscar Nominations, but I also feel that maybe an Oscar was warranted for best screenplay which is probably the best part of this motion picture.

Thumbs up!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese Arabic Persian

Release Date:

5 November 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

60 Minutes

Filming Locations:

Long Beach Polytechnic High School - 1600 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,712,361, 7 November 1999

Gross USA:

$29,089,912

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,289,912

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Forward Pass, Blue Lion Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

157 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1