"Man of the People" (CAST)
"Man of the People" (LINKS)
"Man of the People" (IMDb)
"Man of the People" (Rave Central)
"Man of the People" (Maximum Crowe)
"Man of the People" (Upcoming Movies)
"Man of the People" (Personal Pictures)
"Man of the People" (MOVIES)
Al Pacino (Lowell Bergman)
Russell Crowe (Jeffrey Wigand)
Robbie Tomlin (Sammy Bergman)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Winfree Bergman)
Genre: Drama/Biography.
Studio: Touchstone Pictures. (Former Paramount Pictures)
Production Company: Forward Pass Inc.
Project Phase: In The Can.
Who's In It: Al Pacino (Lowell Bergman); Russell Crowe (Jeffrey Wigand); Christopher Plummer (Mike Wallace); Diane Venora; Robbie Tomlin (Sammy Bergman; Lindsay Crouse (Sharon Bergman); Gina Gershon; Rip Torn; Bruce McGill (Ephraim Margolin); Leonardo DiCaprio (Winfree Bergman); Alicia Silverstone (Hallie Wigand). Who's Making It: Michael Mann (Director); Eric Roth (Screenwriter); Michael Mann, Pieter Jan Brugge (Producers); Dante Spinotti (Director of Photography); Based on The Man Who Knew Too Much, a Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner.
Premise: The true story of tobacco executive-turned-whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and his relationship with 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman. Wigand, the former head of research and development for Brown & Williamson, was fired from his $300,000-a-year job under questionable circumstances and has since become a key witness in lung cancer cases against tobacco companies across the country. It focuses on the relationship between two men trying to reveal the truth -- tobacco execs claimed they were unaware smoking is addictive or cancer-causing -- against great odds and under great pressure.
Original Premise: The original "Man of the People" story had it that Sammy Bergman (Robbie Tomlin) & Winfree Bergman (Leonardo DiCaprio) were stay in a dogfight battle for the forbidden love title of Hallie Wigand (Alicia Silverstone) The results were Sammy's death. After all is over, Hallie is looking at a bouquet of roses that Sammy gave to her a week prior to his death & remember's him saying "my love will last for you only until the last rose die's". In the middle of the dead bouquet is a beautiful silk rose with a tear on it's leaf. What a tear jerker of a storyline.
When Touchstone bought the movie from Paramount Pictures, the whole story took on a new turn. Some of these characters mentioned will not even seen in the final version.
Original Release Date:January 17, 1999.
Release Date:November 5, 1999.
Comments: One of the weirdest thing of this project is the fact that Christopher Plummer is playing famous 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace. The question we ask is: Why the hell can't Wallace play himself on the big screen?
But the fact that this is Michael Mann's next flick should perk up your interest. Creator of Miami Vice, the television series that defined the Eighties fashion style, Mann's rejuvinated both his cinematic style and career in the Nineties with his last outing, Heat. Whether you loved or hated that film, its fifteen-minute gun fight in Los Angeles' downtown core was riviting, chilling and also quintessential Mann filmmaking.
(And we don't care what you say -- The Keep and Band of the Hand were cool to us. Nyah.)
Rumors: People think that the reason that Leonardo DiCaprio, Robbie Tomlin & Alicia Silverstone were cut from the film were due to age.
Scoop Feedback: [Page draft submitted by chain-smoking fool 'Deadpool'.]
May 3, 1999... An excellent example of what we consider to be a grade-A script review has been submitted to us. In scooper Rain 'Lickidy Split' Murphy's coverage of the next Michael Mann movie, he gives Mann's script a high grade but does warn that some minor spoilers are revealed in his review. Read and see why you should be paying attention to the progression of this project...
"Besides being a viseral experience, Michael Mann's films cannot be easily pegged, but character studies of men on a mission seem to be a connecting linc. From the prison to society progression of The Jericho Mile to Thief to Heat, through the cryptic castle of The Keep, tracking the mind of a killer in Manhunter and facing love in a battle zone in The Last of the Mohicans, Mann's lone hero has undertaken multiple identities. Now with 'Untitled Michael Mann Project', he offers us an entirely new and different hero. One without a gun or a badge, but with the same drive and passions as his predessors.
"The Eric Roth first draft script is dated August 26, 1997. The story has been adapted from a Vanity Fair article entitled 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'. In it we learn about the two men responsible for this story: tobacco whistle blower Jeffery Wigland and his relationship with '60 Minutes' producer Lowell Bergman. Wigland was a scientist who worked for Brown and Williamson as Corporate Vice President in charge of Research and Development, believing he was hired to develop a 'safe' cigarette. They pay him double his previous job, but his lab is underequipped and the company decides to pull back funding. Basically Wigland is window dressing and this begins to take effect of his job principles. He sends a memo to the top brass condemning their use of 'certain' chemical additives and the unwillingness to develop a safe cigarette. This gets him fired. Wigland must sign a confidentiality agreement in order to receive his benefits package, which includes health coverage for his ailing daughter.
"Lowell Bergman is a traveling story finder. We first see him in Lebanon wearing a blindfold while waiting to interview Sheikh Fadlallah. We also learn this is nothing new for the adventurous producer. While Lowell is researching a new story, he comes into contact with Wigand, who is hesitant about revealing any information, at least at first. Then men in suits starts following him around. He receives various threats. His family life is uprooted by mysterious forces who DO NOT want him to reveal anything. Wigland is a victim from every angle. The little guy who's life will be distorted and destroyed in the media and press.
"What is Wigand hiding? He knows all about Brown and Williamson's process known in the industry as 'tobacco boosting'. The extensive use of this technology known as 'ammonia chemistry' allows for nicotine to be more rapidly absorbed in the lungs, and therefore affects the brain and the central nervous system. This manipulates the high and the rapid fall off so you'll light up another one right away. Bottom line: the tobacco companies manipulate and adjusts the 'nicotine fix' not by artificially adding nicotine, but by enhancing the effect of the nicotine through the use of chemical additives like ammonia. This doesn't change the total nicotine, but converts bound nicotine to free nicotine. And the free nicotine has a pharmacological effect, acting as a drug on the body.
"This 'secret' is why all early lawsuits against the tobacco companies never had a chance, because those charges were based on raised nicotine levels in cigarettes, something the Tobacco companies can deny. Wigland knows the Tobacco companies are lying, and he's put in the difficult position of revealing this to the public, even though he risks everything by doing it.
"On and off for over 18 months, Bergman and Wigand team up and try to figure out a way to bring this story to the public. Bergman's pal Mike Wallace eventually interviews Wigand. But the story is put on indefinite hold.
"Wigand's secrecy agreement is not the only complication. In Fall '95 when the Wigland piece is being prepared, rival ABC eats crow in a battle with Big Tobacco and eventually issues an apology and pays Philip Morris $16 million in legal fees to settle the suit. ABC's investigative report on the manipulation of nicotine in cigarettes was seen by many observers as a fight over semantics. But with ABC's upcoming mega-merger with Disney, the company easily surrenders.
"CBS is also in the multibillion-dollar merger business with Westinghouse, which has no interest in buying a nasty lawsuit with Big Tobacco. So CBS lawyers put the clamps on the Wigland interview, warning of possible 'tortious interference' with Wigland's contractual obligations.
"This highly publicized retraction proves to be a major embarrassment for CBS and sends Lowell Bergman on a personal crusade.
"The script is very good but a hard one to define in terms of fitting the story into a comfortable category, which is to say it 's a fresh read that doesn't immediately recall any other film. Comparisons to All the President's Men and JFK are sure to bloom, as both are closest examples of 'true life' stories involving reporters and court cases. Since this is a first draft, I'm sure changes will be made. Plenty of juicy acting roles, including Al Pacino as Bergman and Russell Crowe as Wigand. Overall, this project proves to be a perfect match to Michael Mann's talents and will probably be much discussed and debated when released."
[Script review submitted by Rain 'Lickidy Split' Murphy, who hasn't met the surgeon general.]
May 4, 1999... According to our scooper the producers and Mr. Mann want a title change, and Man of the People will NOT be used as the title for this movie. Stay tuned. [Submitted by 'Mr. J'.]
May 8, 1999... An anonymous reporter tells us the production if considering the following titles as possible replacements for Man of the People: 'The Insider', 'Ticking Clock', 'Wigand', and 'The Whistle Blower'. The title of choice seems to be 'The Insider' at this point. [Covert intel provided by 'THE Insider'.]
May 27, 1999... 'THE Insider' comes back to tell us they've decided on a title: The Insider. It's got a familiar ring to it... [Scooped by 'THE Insider', no relation to the film's title.]
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