The Insider
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a “60 Minutes” expose on Big Tobacco.
- Director: Michael Mann
- Genre:Biography / Drama / Thriller
- Runtime:158 minutes
Cast
Al Pacino : Lowell Bergman
Russell Crowe : Jeffrey Wigand
Christopher Plummer : Mike Wallace
Diane Venora : Liane Wigand
Philip Baker Hall : Don Hewitt
Official Site:-
In Lebanon, Hezbollah militants escort producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino) to Hezbollah founder Sheikh Fadlallah, where Lowell convinces him to be interviewed by Mike Wallace (Plummer) for CBS show 60 Minutes. In Louisville, Kentucky, Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) packs his belongings and leaves his Brown & Williamson office, returning home to his wife Liane (Venora) and two children, one of whom suffers from acute asthma. When Liane asks about the boxes in Wigand’s car, he reveals that he was fired from his job that morning.
Returning home to Berkeley, California, Bergman receives an anonymous package containing documents relating to tobacco company Philip Morris, and approaches a friend at the FDA for the name of someone who can put the information in layman’s terms. Bergman is referred to Wigand, and calls him at his home only to be steadfastly rebuffed. Curious with Wigand’s refusal to even speak to him, Bergman eventually convinces him to meet at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. In the privacy of their hotel room, Wigand agrees to translate the tobacco documents, but stresses that he cannot talk about anything else because of his confidentiality agreement. After leaving with the documents, Wigand appears at a meeting with Brown & Williamson CEO Thomas Sandefur (Gambon), who orders him to sign an expanded confidentiality agreement, under threat of revoking his severance pay and medical coverage and initiating legal proceedings. Wigand, enraged at the threats and believing that Bergman notified Sandefur about their confidential meeting, calls and accuses Bergman of treachery.
Bergman visits Wigand’s house the next day and maintains that he did not reveal anything to Brown & Williamson. Reassured, Wigand talks to Bergman about the seven CEOs of “Big Tobacco” perjuring themselves to the United States Congress about their awareness of nicotine’s addictiveness, and that the CEOs should fear Wigand. Bergman says Wigand has to decide for himself whether to blow the whistle on big tobacco. Bergman returns to CBS Headquarters in New York City, where he and Wallace discuss Wigand’s situation and the potential damage he could do to Big Tobacco. A lawyer at the meeting claims that Wigand’s confidentiality agreement, combined with Big Tobacco’s unlimited checkbook, would effectively silence Wigand under mountains of litigation and court costs. Bergman proposes that Wigand could be compelled to speak through a court of law which could give him some protection against Brown & Williamson should he do an interview for 60 Minutes.
The Wigand family move into a newer, more affordable house, and Wigand begins teaching chemistry and Japanese at a Louisville high school. One night while asleep, he’s alerted by his daughter to sounds outside the house. Upon investigation, he discovers a fresh shoe print in his newly planted garden, and begins to become paranoid. The next night, Wigand and Bergman have dinner together, where Bergman asks Wigand about incidents from his past that Big Tobacco might use against him. Wigand reveals several incriminating incidents before declaring he can’t see how they would affect his testimony. Bergman assures him they will. Read more
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