‘The Insider’ – Official Trailer:

9 January, 2023 Siobhan Marie Day 0 Comments 2 categories

The Insider is a 1999 American d rama film directed by M ichael Mann, from a screenplay adapted by E ric Roth and Mann from Marie Brenner‘s 1996 Vanity Fair article “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. It stars Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, with supporting actors including Christopher Plummer, Bruce McGill, Diane Venora and Michael Gambon.

Directed by Michael Mann, Written by Eric Roth, and Michael Mann, Based on "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Marie Brenner, Produced by Michael Mann, and Pieter Jan Brugge, Starring: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse, Debi Mazar, with Cinematography by Dante Spinotti, Edited by William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell, and David Rosenbloom, Music by Lisa Gerrard, and Pieter Bourke, Production companies: Touchstone Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, and Forward Pass, Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. (1999)

Michael Mann filming the 1999 film, "The Insider" starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Writer Eric Roth arriving at Bimbo's on May 7, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Photo Credit: Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic

Marie Brenner attends the "Richard Jewell" premiere during AFI FEST 2019 Presented By Audi at TCL Chinese Theatre on November 20, 2019 in Hollywood, California. Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The May 1996 Vanity Fair article titled, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Marie Brenner and was the basis for the film and screenplay for the 1999 film, "The Insider" starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. Photo Credit: Vanity Fair Archives

Al Pacino as "60 Minutes" Producer Lowell Bergman In "The Insider" (1999).

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand, the Big Tobacco Whistleblower that changed Big Tobacco forever in the 1999 film "The Insider". in the 1999 film "The Insider".

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace, the "60 Minutes" anchor for CBS News in the 1999 film "The Insider".

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Bruce McGill as Mississippi States Attorney, Ron Motley in the 1999 film "The Insider".

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Diane Venora as Liane Wigand, Jeffrey Wigand's wife in the 1999 film "The Insider".

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Michael Gambon as Thomas Sandefur, the CEO of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, and Jeffrey Wigand's boss, in the 1999 film "The Insider".

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

While the 1999 film is a fictionalized account of a true story, it is based on the 60 Minutes segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco ind ustry, covering his and CBS producer Lowell Bergman‘s struggles as they defend his testimony against efforts to discredit and suppress it by CBS and Wigand’s former employer, Brown & Williamson.

The "60 Minutes" segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry, that resulted in his and CBS producer Lowell Bergman's struggling legally as they defend his testimony against efforts to discredit and suppress it by CBS and Wigand's former employer, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company. Photo Credit: 60 Minutes

Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, former VP for research and development at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., during a Denver Post interview. Wigand is the subject of the Oscar nominated film "The Insider" Photo Credit: Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Lowell Bergman of Berkeley was the producer with 60 minutes that broke the tobacco industries secretive practices for a piece that never aired after pressure from tobacco interests. His story is being told in a new movie starring Al Pacino who plays Bergman. Photo Credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Al Pacino as CBS News and "60 Minutes" producer, Lowell Bergman and Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand, the Big Tobacco Whistleblower that changed Big Tobacco forever in the 1999 film "The Insider". in the 1999 film "The Insider". Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand and Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace filming the infamous "60 Minutes" interview with the Big Tobacco Whistleblower in the 1999 film "The Insider". Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation was a U.S. tobacco company and a subsidiary of multinational British American Tobacco that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes. Its former vice-president of research and development, Jeffrey Wigand, was the whistleblower in an investigation conducted by the CBS news program "60 Minutes", an event that was dramatized in the film "The Insider" (1999). Wigand claimed that B&W had introduced chemicals such as ammonia into cigarettes to increase nicotine delivery and increase addictiveness. B&W had its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, until July 30, 2004, when the U.S. operations of B&W and BATUS, Inc. merged with R. J. Reynolds, creating a new publicly traded parent company, Reynolds American Inc. Some of its brands had been sold earlier in 1996 to the British tobacco company Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco. B&W was also involved in genetically modifying tobacco (notably the controversial Y1 strain)

The film was not considered a box office success, but it didn’t matter because The Insider received acclaim from critics, who praised Crowe’s portrayal of Wigand, and Mann’s direction. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role (for Russell Crowe).

Russell Crowe as Jeffery Wigand, the Big Tobacco Whistleblower that changed Big Tobacco forever in the 1999 film "The Insider". in the 1999 film "The Insider". Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

Jeffrey Wigand in his interview with "60 Minutes" and Mike Wallace in his whistleblower interview about Brown & Williamson and Big Tobacco. Photo Credit: 60 Minutes

"The Insider" Academy Award Nominations: 1. Best Actor - Russell Crowe 2. Best Picture 3. Best Director 4. Best Cinematography 5. Best Adapted Screenplay 6. Best Sound Mixing 7. Best Film Editing Photo Credit: google Images

(L to R) Michael Mann directing Al Pacino and Russell Crowe in his 1999 film, "The Insider" (1999)

Photo Credit: Touchstone Pictures

The 1999 Best Picture Nominees: 1. American Beauty 2. The Cider House Rules 3. The Green Mile 4. The Insider 5. The Sixth Sense Photo Credit: Reddit

Two-time Academy Award winner actor Dustin Hoffman (L) and Robert Rehme (R), president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, announce the nominations for Best Actor category for the Academy Awards in Beverly Hills 15 February, 2000. From L to R are: Russell Crowe in "The Insider," Richard Farnsworth in "The Straight Story," Sean Penn in "Sweet and Lowdown," Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty" and Denzel Washington in "The Hurricane." Photo Credit: MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images

The winner for the Best Actor category for the Academy Awards in Beverly Hills in 2000. From L to R are: Russell Crowe in "The Insider," Richard Farnsworth in "The Straight Story," Sean Penn in "Sweet and Lowdown," Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty" and Denzel Washington in "The Hurricane." The winner was Kevin Spacey for "American Beauty" Photo Credit:Google Images

The Insider is the Featured Blog for the month of January, which means you can expect a Critique of the 1996 Vanity Fair article “The Man Who Knew Too Much” by Marie Brenner, that was the basis for the 1999 film, as well as a Recommendation that looks at the history the film is centered on, Big Tobacco & Jeffrey Wigand, his position as a whistleblower and if he is protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 (WPA). Whistleblower retaliation is the taking, failing to take, or threatening to take a personnel action because of an employee’s whistleblowing. There will also be a Review of the 1999 film, The Insider, along with as the Interview from 60 Minutes with Jeffrey Wigand by Mike Wallace that the film’s story is told around. Finally, as with all Featured Blogs, I commemorate the film with a Top Ten List of my favorite films from the same genre, and for The Insider, the Top Ten List is: My Top Ten Favorite Journalism Movies!

Before we get to all of that though, as always with the Featured Blog of the month, I also provide the Official Trailer from the 1999 film, The Insider.

You can watch the 1999 Official Trailer for The Insider below: