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The story does not, at first glance, seem like the stuff of high cinema.
so that do so, Wigand must break an ironclad nondisclosure agreement he signed with the company.
And yes, it does involve a lot of talking.
Were going to call this movieThe Phone.
My wife and I watched it, and I remember it vividly, Mann says.
It just hit me like a bolt of lightning.
I called Lowell and I said, Forget Sarkis, man.
What youre going through thats a movie.
Then I called my good friend Eric Roth and said, Lets write this thing.
To avoid any potential lawsuits, the movie had to be rock solid when it came to accuracy.
Every line of description in the script was subject to the most rigorous kind of fact-checking.
Some of the individuals involved in the events cooperated with the filmmakers.
Mike Wallace was heroic in some ways, but not in this instance, Roth says.
Still, I wish more television journalists would be so hard-hitting with people like he was.
He invented the hard interview and he was great at it.
What really motivated me was a real journey into the internal zones of these two people, Mann says.
Lowell Bergman is unselfconscious and comfortable in his own skin.
He is so centered.
Thats at the core of his ability to find out and get what he needs.
you’re able to sense traces of this in the films opening counterpoint.
The characters inThe Insiderarent opponents, exactly, but their clashing personalities help drive the narrative.
The expressive energy of the frantic camerawork provided a key to unlockingThe Insiders drama.
Such jarring images enhance the noirish peril of the scene, while also evoking Wigands growing paranoia.
And Pacino is … well, hes Pacino.
Hes probably the American actor most adept at grandiose arias of scenery-chewing emotion.
Pacino is actually relatively reserved for most ofThe Insider.
He spends the first half ever-watchful, the very model of a journalist on the hunt for a story.
And yet, Pacinos acting never feels outsized; it matches the sudden heartbreak of what were watching.
Here, it expresses a genuine moral calamity.
But perhapsThe Insiders most resounding highlight belongs to one of its supporting actors.
This is not North Carolina, not South Carolina, nor Kentucky.
This is the sovereign state of Mississippis proceeding.Wipe that smirk off your face!
Its a deliciously cathartic moment.
(Mann tells me that McGill actually ruptured an intestine delivering those lines.
He didnt realize it until the next day!)
I distinctly recall the audience 20 years ago bursting into applause when McGills Motley delivered his speech.
Journalism is a through line from the very beginning and then it becomes the main subject.
Maybe thats whyThe Insiderstill feels not only relevant, but downright prophetic.
But that phenomenon didnt start with the Wigand case.
Its also quite striking to see (and to remember) the power and widespread popularity that60 Minutesonce had.
Thats when investigative reporting became, if you will, fashionable.
