Fair Game (2010)

CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration.

Director:

Doug Liman

Writers:

Jez Butterworth (screenplay), John-Henry Butterworth (screenplay)

Stars:

Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sonya Davison

4 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Naomi Watts	...	Valerie Plame
Sonya Davison	...	Chanel Suit
Vanessa Chong	...	Tabir Secretary #1
Anand Tiwari	...	Hafiz
Stephanie Chai	...	Tabir Secretary #2
Sean Penn	...	Joe Wilson
Ty Burrell	...	Fred
Jessica Hecht	...	Sue
Norbert Leo Butz	...	Steve
Rebecca Rigg	...	Lisa
Brooke Smith	...	Diana
Tom McCarthy	...	Jeff
Ashley Gerasimovich	...	Samantha Wilson
Quinn Broggy	...	Trevor Wilson
Nicholas Sadler	...	CIA Tour Leader

Storyline

Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed by White House officials allegedly out to discredit her husband after he wrote a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece saying that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

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Plot Keywords:

iraq | cia | new york times | bush administration | interview | 

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Taglines:

Inspired by true events.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Full Production Notes - MS Word [Australia] Official site

Country:

USA United Arab Emirates

Language:

English Arabic French

Release Date:

3 December 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Plame and Wilson Biopic

Filming Locations:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$651,802, 7 November 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$9,528,092, 13 February 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

River Road Entertainment,Participant Media,Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Zuckers, producers Janet Zucker and Jerry Zucker, commissioned screenwriter Jez Butterworth and his brother John-Henry Butterworth to craft a screenplay based on the experiences of Mr and Mrs Wilson - Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson. The Butterworths, who are British, had no idea who Valerie Plame Wilson was when they were first contacted. Jez Butterworth said: "We also knew nothing at all about the US political system, except for the most general knowledge. But the story was so intriguing, we were eager to learn more about it."

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Goofs

When Valerie is leaving the house, she tells her husband that it is 3:45 in the morning, however when she opens the door, it is clearly daytime.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Valerie Plame: [arriving at Kuala Lumpur airport] Jessica McDowell, Gnosos Chemicals.
Chanel Suit: [on elevator] When do you leave Kuala Lumpur, Miss McDowell?
Valerie Plame: I fly to Taiwan Tuesday, then back to Düsseldorf.

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits, the last names of some of the characters (Hafiz, Jack, Bill, Dr. Zahraa, Paul, Ali, Hammad, Beth and Pete) are redacted.

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Connections

Features Hardball with Chris Matthews (1997)

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Soundtracks

Taps
(uncredited)
Written by Daniel Butterfield

User Reviews

Redressing a small but nasty piece of political bastardry

In retrospect, the George "Dubyah" Bush administration seems to have been more incompetent than evil, but this movie holds the Bushies to account for what was a completely malicious and unjustified act, the outing of the covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, which put numerous undercover operations and informants at risk, solely because her husband former Ambassador Joe Wilson IV had the temerity to dissent publicly from the White House line that the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Niger for bomb-making purposes. It is also evident that the CIA's soundly based advice that Saddam's bomb-making activities had ceased after the first Gulf War in 1991 was studiously ignored by the White House in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The actual leaker, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage got away scot-free, a crucial matter not discussed in the film , but "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Chaney's chief of staff carried the can and nearly spent 30 months inside for lying to investigators before being pardoned by the President. The film focuses on Libby and implies he was the leaker, acting with the knowledge of Karl Rove, the man who described Valerie Plame as "fair game", and Vice President Cheney.

Director Doug Liman is best known as a producer of thrillers ("Bourne Ultimation" etc) but here he and the Butterworths (Jez and John Henry) as scriptwriters have focused not only on the political intrigue but also the effect the Bushies' bastardry had on Joe and Valerie's personal lives. This gives some great acting possibilities to Sean Penn as Joe and our very own Naomi Watts as Valerie, and they both rise to the occasion, although Sean Penn might be a little self-righteous for some tastes. The personal impact aside, what the leakers did was a good deal worse than anything Julian Assange has done, and it is ironic that some of the conservative commentators who tried to discredit Joe and Valerie are now in the front line of those attacking the Wikileaks founder.

Regardless of the politics, this movie is entertaining enough to pass the watch test despite some dodgy hand-held photography. Near the end Valerie has a meeting with a very senior CIA officer glimpsed earlier, on a park bench in front of the White House. This man, played by Bruce McGill, bears a remarkable physical resemblance to the then director of the CIA, George Tenet. He warns her that she and Joe are up against the most powerful men in the world and asks her to stay silent for the sake of the agency. Valerie points out the agency won't even give her family any protection against death threats, to which Tenet, if that's who it's meant to be, merely shrugs his shoulders. What are the film makers trying to say here - that the agency doesn't look after its own?

Both Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame were patriots and, I believe, from Republican backgrounds. This did not bother the leakers who clearly couldn't care less who they hurt in the propaganda battle over the Iraqi invasion they were determined to launch. This film is based on two books by Joe and Valerie so I suppose it is a somewhat partisan account. Nevertheless it is hard to imagine a film treatment justifying what was done to them. George Bush in his memoirs mentions the Libby pardon issue but is otherwise silent on who did what. Never mind, his place in history as one of the lesser presidents is assured.