The Insider

Filmed - May 20, 1998 – Oct 9, 1998

Pictures

Best Actor Nominee

Al Pacino &  Russell Crowe are intensely good in this story about the greed & frightening immorality of big business. In The Insider, Crowe plays Jeffrey Wigand, a scientist working for a major tobacco company who feels the need to tell the truth about what the corporation is really putting in their products.

As revisionist history, Michael Mann's intelligent docudrama The Insider is a simmering brew of altered facts and dramatic license. In a broader perspective, however, the film (cowritten with Forrest Gump Oscar-winner Eric Roth) is effectively accurate as an engrossing study of ethics in the corruptible industries of tobacco and broadcast journalism. On one side, there is Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), the former tobacco scientist who violated contractual agreements to expose Brown & Williamson's inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes, casting himself into a vortex of moral dilemma. On the other side is 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), whose struggle to report Wigand's story puts him at odds with veteran correspondent Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) and senior executives at CBS News.

As the urgency of the story increases, so does the film's palpable sense of paranoia, inviting favorable comparison to All the President's Men. While Pacino downplays the theatrical excess that plagued him in previous roles, Crow is superb as a man who retains his tortured integrity at great personal cost. The Insider is two movies--a cover-up thriller and a drama about journalistic ethics--that combine to embrace the noble values personified by Wigand and Bergman. Even if the details aren't always precise (as Mike Wallace and others protested prior to the film's release), the film adheres to a higher truth that was so blatantly violated by tobacco executives seen in an oft-repeated video clip, lying under oath in the service of greed. --Jeff Shannon

The Insider was an ironic movie for Russell Crowe to star in, considering his notorious smoking habits! Russell has said he finds the irony "amusing." He played the part of Jeffrey Wigand, the man who blew the whistle on "Big Tobacco." Russell co-starred with Al Pacino, who chews sceneray here like a starving man.

Russell's heartbreaking performance finally won over the commercial critics, and he was nominated for several awards, including an Oscar. While he lost to Kevin Spacey (American Beauty), no one could now doubt or question his acting skills. Many people were shocked that the pudgy, gray haired, fiftiesh character was being played by Russell Crowe, thirtiesh cowboy. Russell gained nearly 50 pounds to play the role, eating a steady diet of cheeseburgers, and drinking whiskey daily. After filming stopped, Russell needed to get in shape for Gladiator. Much to his surprise, after several months of exercising, he had only lost five pounds. He credits his eventual weight loss to running his farm (very hard work-I know from first hand experience), chasing down cows, putting up fence, etc.

I thought this was a great movie. Russell is such a good actor that I must admit that up until late last year I thought he was an American. Imagine my surprise when I found out he was Australian! His command of accents and American nuance is astounding. This movie brought it all home

Filming Notes:  

Nominations: :   Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, 72nd Annual Academy Awards; Best Dramatic Picture, Best Dramatic Actor (Crowe), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score, 2000 Golden Globes.

Awards:   Best Actor (Russell Crowe), #4 Film of the Year, National Board of Review 

Insider Scene