Film Facts:

Cast:

Al Pacino- Lowell Bergman
Russell Crowe - Dr. Jeffrey Wigand
Christopher Plummer - Mike Wallace
Diane Venora - Liane Wigand
Philip Baker - Hal Don Hewitt
Lindsay Crouse - Sharon Tiller
Debi Mazar - Debbie De Luca
Stephen Tobolowsky - Eric Kluster
Colm Feore - Richard Scruggs
Bruce McGill - Ron Motley
Gina Gershon - Helen Caperelli
Michael Gambon - Thomas Sandefur
Rip Torn - John Scanlon
Lynne Thigpen - Mrs. Williams
Hallie Kate Eisenberg - Barbara Wigand

Crew

Michael Mann Director, Writer
Marie Brenner (Writer of original Vanity Fair article, "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
Eric Roth Writer

Shooting Schedule:

Filming began April 1998
Theatrical release: Nov 5, 2000
Video release: Apr 11, 2000

Location:

Mobile, Alabama; Berkeley and Los Angeles, California and Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Awards:

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Russell Crowe
Best Cinematography - Dante Spinotti
Best Director - Michael Mann
Best Editing - William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell, David Rosenbloom
Best Picture - Michael Mann, Pieter Jan Brugge
Best Sound - Andy Nelson, Doug Hemphill, Lee Orloff
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published - Eric Roth, Michael Mann

BAFTA Film Award Nomination:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Russell Crowe

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards:

Best Actor Award Russell Crowe
Nominated BFCA Award Best Picture

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Nominations:

Best Actor Russell Crowe
Best Picture

Golden Globes Nominations, USA:

Best Director - Motion Picture Michael Mann
Best Motion Picture - Drama
Best Original Score - Motion Picture Lisa Gerrard
Pieter Bourke
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Russell Crowe
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - Eric Roth, Michael Mann

Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination

Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Russell Crowe

Russell's Weight: 250+

Plot Summary:

Michael Mann (Heat) directed and co-wrote this suspense film based on the true story of Jeffrey Wigand, a whistle-blower in the tobacco company. When "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) approaches Wigland (Russell Crowe) about publicly discussing the malpractices of the tobacco industry he worked for, Wigland says no. But, eventually Wigland's conscience gets the better of him, and he agrees to be on 60 Minutes. Almost immediately afterwards, Wigland and Bergman feel the wrath of the tobacco company, which is not happy about Wigland exposing "insider" secrets--namely, that the industry knew exactly how addictive cigarettes are. Crowe was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading role for this fascinating film of plot twists.

Trivia:

Russell put on around 40 pounds to portray Jeffrey Wigand. He then had to lose the weight to play Maximus.

The Insider" (formerly known as "Man of the People") is based on the magazine article "The Man Who Knew Too Much" written by Marie Brenner for Vanity Fair.

In order for the gray wig to look right, Russell had his head shaved.

He speaks Japanese perfectly in a scene although he couldn't understand it and he spent hours analyzing and practicing a perfect golf swing for another scene.

Favorite Scenes:

Comments by Russell:

But he's not a hero in any easy sense. He's not the man with a white hat, ain't got no silver bullets baby, you know. He's just a bloke, you know. And he's a tertiary educated man and he's a very focused man and he's somebody who's level of concentration would be, I would say is bitterly annoying if you’re his other half [giggle]. You know, um, but at the end of the day we gotta be judged by what we've done, what we've actually done, you know. And I think he's a man who should be honored.

Listen to Russell talk about Wigand

Comments about Russell:

"No training, no prior training, no theatricality is going to take you through this moment if you're an actor. You build it in yourself and you go through it. If he does it, the camera will see it. If he doesn't, it won't. Now, you go back and look at the moment and you know what's going on with this guy. And there are no tears, no bullshit, no burlesque. And then he gets up and he just walks away. That's the quintessence of Russell Crowe." - director Michael Mann explaining Crowe's technical work on "The Insider," in particular, the scene where Crowe is told his interview will not air on "60 Minutes." - Michael Mann - Talk magazine May 2000"

Reviews:

Los Angeles Times ( Nov 5, 1999)

…Not only is "The Insider" fiercely directed, not only does it have memorable starring performances from Al Pacino and the marvelous Russell Crowe, but it has a tale to tell that is both substantial and significant… Able to match him [Pacino] stride for stride is the virtuoso Australian actor Crowe. Known to art-house viewers for his award-winning roles in that country's "Proof" and "Romper Stomper," Crowe's ability to project internal complexity electrified a wider audience as the love of Kim Basinger's life in "L.A. Confidential." A powerhouse actor who joins an old-fashioned masculine presence with an unnerving ability to completely disappear inside a role, Crowe not only has made himself look like Wigand, he even duplicates the complex personality journalist Brenner described as "prickly, isolated and fragile… There's a wary quality in his face, a mysterious darkness." – Kenneth Turan

New York Times (Nov 5, 1999)

…And Russell Crowe, a subtle powerhouse in his wrenching evocation of Mr. Wigand, takes on the thick, stolid look of the man he portrays. -- Janet Maslin

The Washington Post ( Nov 5, 1999)

Crowe, the 33-year-old Australian who played the volatile cop in "L.A. Confidential," virtually disappears inside the 53-year-old Wigand's thick, stiff body. There's no trace of youth or hope in the weariness with which he drinks his Scotch, no discernible difference in the way he kisses the wife or pulls on his socks. Yet Crowe's minimalist performance gives us clear insight into this opaque being. -- Rita Kempley

The Dallas Morning News (Nov 5, 1999)

Mr. Crowe added 30 pounds and a gray wig to play someone 19 years older than his own age of 34. He is a superb Wigand. He captures the man's stubborn integrity and righteous anger, balanced by an inevitable sadness. He forges a touching trajectory from comfortable executive to divorced, middle-aged schoolteacher who probably will always rue the misery that truth-telling can bring. – Philip Wuntch

San Francisco Examiner (Nov 5, 1999)

Crowe has been made up to look like such an ashen-gray, middle-aged, Middle-American schlub that the occasional emergence of the actor's Australian accent doesn't matter. His performance is an unraveling knockout. Wigand, whose life is in a constant state of siege, finds himself increasingly degraded and humiliated and the object of both media and corporate scrutiny. Crowe's sullen, trenchant, beleaguered demeanor makes you grateful that it's Wigand and not you. -- Wesley Morris

LA Weekly Film Review ( Nov 5-11, 1999)

The Insider , director Michael Mann's potent thriller about a pudgy, middle-aged whistle blower and the secrets he spilled about the tobacco industry, is a big film about some of the biggest issues of our time -- corporate malfeasance, government collusion, mass-marketed death, bottom-line news. It's about a lot of things not immediately visible, but the issue at its heart is free will -- to smoke, to make right and wrong decisions, to sell out, to not sell yourself out and everyone along with you. -- Manohla Dargishttp://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/50/film-dargis.php

Rolling Stone

The New Zealand-born Crowe, so strong in L.A. Confidential and the Aussie-made Romper Stomper, cuts to the heart of an isolated man who seems to close off his emotions for fear of what might happen if they should spill out. Crowe plays Wigand like a gathering storm. This is acting of the highest level, and fully deserving of award attention. -- Peter Travers

Efilmcritic (Dec 15, 1999)

The 35-year old Crowe, born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, speaks with a thick Australian lilt. Coupled with intense blue eyes and a winning smile, he could make any female of any species swoon. When asked about his expert turn at incorporating the cadences of the real Dr. Wigand, Crowe says, “I found out a long time ago if I’m going to do an accent it’s really good to have someone around because I have lots of other things to think about, you know? Especially after the ‘action!’ You want to put certain key elements into your head so you’re not searching for that stuff. It's just apparent and you know it really well."

To make himself look like the 50+ year-old Wigand, Crowe put on 30 pounds, donned on oversized aviator glasses, and eventually had to shave his head in order to fit the hairpiece that would transform him into Dr. Wigand. He even learned to speak Japanese for a scene and while he pronounces it perfectly, he didn’t understand what he was saying. Ever the perfectionist, Crowe also spent hours practicing his golf swing for a brief scene in the film.

In discussing the tobacco industry, Crowe goes on to say, "What is added to tobacco is some ways criminally irresponsible, I think. To take additives that have only been tested in a dry form, mix it with tobacco where it's going to be ingested in a burnt form… In terms of chemistry it's a vast difference. It's like saying salt in dry form is the same as salt in a pile of water or worse still, burning salt." While both Eric Roth and Michael Mann both quit smoking after writing this script, Crowe admits he still indeed smokes. “I never accused myself of being smart,” Crowe says.
…
Finally comfortable in his suit of dented and battle-worn armour, Wigand can now sit back and even critique the actor that portrays him. “Russell’s done a magnificent job,” says Wigand. “He (Crowe) wanted to do this in a way that was very viable and he’s lived up to that.” As for life after Brown & Williamson? "Everyday is great now," says Wigand. http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=2773

Salon.com (Nov 4, 1999)

From an article/interview with Michael Mann

It's a wonderful ensemble, but to me Crowe gives the most original performance. He's got this crabbed intensity that comes out in an unpredictable, stop-and-go style. How did you work with him on that? Did you go moment to moment?

First of all, I don't talk about some of that. Some of this stuff, it's just not right to be public about. It's how we work, it's what we do; the Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to it!

But it's not moment to moment, it's all in preparation. It's in really understanding the character and then finding ways to build on that understanding. In the hands of an actor like Al Pacino or Russell Crowe, that's a great exploration. And the way I work you have to form most of the character, ideally, before you rehearse. You test it in rehearsals, you modify it on rehearsals, so by the time you're on the set, you're executing, and if you can do it like that, then you're open for spontaneity.

And that's the gold. It's when what you didn't plan is suddenly occurring because the actor is in the moment, because he's being the moment. The look in Russell's eye when he rolls his head a little bit; the way he delivers the soliloquy he's got when he stands against the window and tells his wife it's gonna be better: "Can you imagine what it's gonna be like for me coming home from work and feeling good at the end of the day?" -- Michael Sragow
http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/1999/11/04/mann/

"Russell Crowe and Al Pacino both rise to the peak of their talents in this gripping yarn based on fact, a story that touches on some of the more essential aspects of a free press and a well informed society. The Insider restores faith in the historical documentary-turned into drama, because it takes such care with the context and the details of the story - as all good journalists (and movie makers) should. [Excuse the righteous tone.] It does so by engaging us with the personalities involved, their motivations and the sense of enormous personal cost of their public-minded (but not pompous) activities, so we see the big picture as well as the small. The dialogue is often sparse, filled with the crucial spaces and silences, where what is unsaid is mountainous. This is reflected in and aided by the lighting camerawork. Shadows, dark spots, side shots, half lit faces, jump cuts to ECUs of a patch of face, tantalising yet accessible and speaking volumes, progressing the emotional story - stories - that underpin this giant human drama involving small individuals (like young daughters of the whistle blower) as well as the world's largest corporations. Handled with assurance, the material is revealed in stages, like a giant painting, or a long story, each piece (scene) making sense in context of its neighbours. Music also plays a powerful role, and the score is notable for its eclecticism and vibrancy, ranging from ambient dread, to choral to jazz to timpannic, with stylish flexibility. A satisfying and important film with the power of a giant locomotive, it sits well as an icon of movies that document how we all might make a difference in this world." -- Andrew L. Urban http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?Article_ID=3053

"Russell Crowe. Russell Crowe. Russell Crowe. What a revelation. Certainly he's managed to pull off some tough guy roles in the past but this guy's a real actor. Al Pacino is a great actor. He does all the emotional stuff well and is always reliable in carrying a picture as its star. But he has never shown the range of character that Russell Crowe displays in this film. Compare his roles in such films as LA Confidential and Romper Stomper with his portrayal of Jeffrey Wigand here. These characters are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yet Crowe is fully convincing in each. His Wigand is quietly intelligent but ever so gentle. He has little control over his life. The one piece of control he does have will risk all and thus is hugely terrifying. We see it all through Crowe in this immensely engaging true story. He is, of course, ably supported by Pacino in another star turn and a wonderfully witty, wry performance by Christopher Plummer as real life 60 Minutes superstar, Mike Wallace. It would be interesting to know Wallace's reaction to his portrayal here as it's unusual to see someone with such a competent profile depicted with such flaws. Overall the film is fascinating, a grippingly told story by director/co-writer Michael Mann (Heat). As is his way, The Insider is long but not laboured. If the idea of the story doesn't grab you, see it for Crowe's performance alone. It's a knockout." -- Lee Gough

Web Related Links:

Jeffrey Wigand's Web Site - With an intro of Russell speaking about him

Transcript of PBS's Frontline on Wigand, the censored 60 Minutes show, the tobacco industry, and media.

Fast Company article on Wigand

Corporate Accountability International - Tobacco