THE INSIDER
THE INSIDER HOMEWORK QUESTIONS
1.
WHAT TV SHOW DO MIKE WALLACE AND AL PACINO’S
CHARACTERS WORK FOR?
2.
WHAT HEALTH PROBLEM DOES CROWE’S DAUGHTER HAVE?
3.
WHY DOES LOWELL (AL PACINO) FIRST CONTACT JEFFREY
WIGAND?
4.
DOES WIGAND TAKE THE JOB?
5.
WHAT WAS WIGAND’S JOB/WHO DID HE WORK FOR?
6.
WHY DOES THE TOBACCO COMPANY BRING WIGAND IN TO
TALK WITH HIM?
7.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS ON THE PAPERS WHILE HE IS
TALKING TO HIM?
8.
WHAT DOES BROWN AND WILLIAM START DOING TO
WIGAND?
9.
WHO ARE THE SEVEN DWARFS?
10.
WHY DOES TOBACCO NEVER LOSE A CASE?
2
11.
IS THERE ANY WAY TO GET AROUND THE CONFIDENTIAL
AGREEMENT?
12.
WHAT NEW JOB IS WIGAND TRYING TO GET?
13.
WHAT TWO THINGS HAPPEN TO WIGAND AT HIS NEW HOUSE
TO MAKE HIM SUSPICIOUS?
14.
WHY DOES LOWELL NEED TO KNOW INFO ABOUT WIGAND’S
LIFE AND WHY HE WAS FIRED?
15.
WHO IS RICHARD SCRUGGS?
16.
WHAT TWO THREATS HAPPEN NEXT TO THE WIGAND
DECADES TO DO THE INTERVIEW?
17.
CAN IT BE AIRED ON TV YET? WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FIRST?
18.
WHY IS WIGAND GOING TO MISSISSIPPI?
19.
WHAT DOES THE MAN IN THE AIRPORT THROW AT WIGAND?
20.
IF WIGAND TESTIFIES, WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO HIM?
21.
WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR WIGAND WHEN HE COMES BACK
TO KENTUCKY?
3
22.
WHAT IS TORCIOUS INTERFERENCE?
23.
IF CBS AIRS THE INTERVIEW WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO
THEM?
24.
WHAT DOES LOWELL DISCOVER ABOUT CBS, WHO WOULD
BENEFIT FROM THIS?
25.
IF THEY CUT A DIFFERENT VERSION OF THE SHOW, WILL
WIGAND BE ON TV?
26.
WHY DO YOU THINK MIKE WALLACE DOES NOT SUPPORT
LOWELL?
27.
WHY DOES WIGAND WANT IT ON THE AIR?
28.
WHAT DID THE INVESTIGATORS FIND OUT ABOUT WIGAND’S
PAST? (2)
29.
WHY IS BROWN & WILLIAM TRYING TO SMEAR WIGAND’S
REPUTATION?
30.
WHAT IS LOWELL TRYING TO DO TO HELP WIGAND?
31.
WHAT DOES LOWELL TELL THE NEW YORK TIMES?
4
32.
WHY DIDN’T WALLACE SUPPORT LOWELL?
5
MOVIE NOTES
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6
THE INSIDER
WORKSHEET
NAME____________________
DIRECTIONS: BASED ON CHAIRMAN WAXMAN’S OPENING STATEMENT,
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
1.
____________________ IS THE SINGLE MOST DANGEROUS CONSUMER
PRODUCT EVER SOLD.
2.
NEARLY __________ PEOPLE DIE EVERY YEAR AS A RESULT OF
TOBACCO.
3.
EACH DAY __________ CHILDREN WILL BEGIN SMOKING.
4.
IN MANY CASES THEY WILL BECOME __________ QUICKLY AND
DEVELOP A LIFE LONG __________ THAT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO
BREAK.
5.
LIST 5 DISEASES CAUSED BY TOBACCO.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
__________ TOBACCO SMOKE SICKENS MORE THAN __________ KIDS A
YEAR.
7.
THE MOST IMPORTANT LEGISLATION IN DISEASE PREVENTION THAT
WE COULD ENACT WOULD BE RESTRICTIONS ON SMOKING IN
_____________________.
8.
FOR DECADES ______________ COMPANIES ARE THE ONLY AMERICAN
COMPANY THAT HAS BEEN EXEMPT FROM STANDARDS OF
RESPONSIBILITY.
9.
THESE COMPANIES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO __________ CONSUMERS,
____________ EVIDENCE AND IGNORE SCIENCE AND GOOD SENSE.
10.
ALL _________________ OF THE TOBACCO COMPANY CEOS DECLARED
UNDER OATH THAT “__________ _____ _____ _________________.”
7
Testimony of the 7 CEOs of Big Tobacco
One of the most famous events depicted in
the motion picture "The Insider" was the
videotaped testimony of the "7 Dwarves" (as
they were described by Dr. Wigand) -- the 7
CEOs of Big Tobacco. Their "nicotine is not
addictive" testimony, part of the Waxman
Hearings, is detailed below.
This is an historic hearing. For the first time
ever, the chief executive officers of our
Nation' s tobacco companies are testifying
together before the U.S. Congress. They
are here because this sub- committee has
legislative jurisdiction over those issues that
affect our health. And no health issue is as
important as cigarette smoking.
Background
It is sometimes easier to invent fiction than
to face the truth. The truth is that cigarettes
are the single most dangerous consumer
product ever sold. Nearly a half million
Americans die every year as a result of
tobacco. This is an astounding, almost incomprehensible statistic. Imagine our
Nation' s outrage if two fully loaded jumbo
jets crashed each day, killing all aboard. Yet
that is the same number of Americans that
cigarettes kill every 24 hours.
From 1980 to 1994, Rep. Waxman served
as Chairman of the House Subcommittee
on Health and the Environment. To help
focus public attention on the dangers of
tobacco, Rep. Waxman invited movie stars
and celebrities to appear before his
committee. These hearings contributed to
the vast change in public opinion about
smoking.
Other hearings by the Waxman
subcommittee exposed the secret activities
of the tobacco industry, both through the
testimony of industry insiders and internal
tobacco company documents.
Sadly, this deadly habit begins with our kids.
Each day 3,000 children will begin smoking.
In many cases they become hooked quickly
and develop a life long addiction that is
nearly impossible to break. For the past 30
years a series of surgeons general have
issued comprehensive reports outlining the
dangers these children will eventually face.
The Waxman Hearings
April 14, 1994
House of Representatives
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Health and the
Environment
Hearing on the Regulation of Tobacco
Products
Lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema,
bladder cancer, and stroke are only some of
the diseases caused by tobacco causes.
And now we know that kids will face a
serious health threat even if they don' t
smoke. Environmental tobacco smoke is a
Class A carcinogen, and it sickens more
than 1 million kids every year.
Opening statement from Chairman Waxman
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice,
at 9:05 a.m., 2123 Rayburn House Office
Building, Hon. Henry A. Waxman
(chairman) presiding.
In fact, five former surgeons general of the
United States testified before this
subcommittee this year, that the most
important legislation in disease prevention
that we could enact would be restrictions on
smoking in public places. This
MR. WAXMAN. The meeting of the
subcommittee will come to order. I'd like to
ask our guests to please take your seats.
8
subcommittee will soon act on that
legislation, and it will consider other
measures as well. This hearing will aid our
efforts by presenting an important
perspective. But these hearings are
important for another reason as well.
me ask you first, and I'd like to just go down
the row, whether each of you believes that
nicotine is not addictive. I heard virtually all
of you touch on it. Yes or no, do you believe
nicotine is not addictive?
For decades the tobacco companies have
been exempt from the standards of
responsibility and accountability that apply
to all other American corporations.
Companies that sell that sell aspirin, cars,
and soda are all held to strict standards
when they cause harm.
MR. CAMPBELL (President of Philip Morris
U.S.A.).
I believe nicotine is not addictive, yes.
MR. WYDEN. Mr Johnston?
MR. JAMES JOHNSTON (Chairman and
CEO of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company).
Mr. Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine
clearly do not meet the classic definition of
addiction. There is no intoxication.
We don' t allow those companies to sell
goods that recklessly endanger consumers.
We don' t allow them to suppress evidence
of dangers when harm occurs. We don' t
allow them to ignore science and good
sense. And we demand that when problems
occur, corporations and their senior
executives be accountable to Congress and
the public.
MR. WYDEN. We´ll take that as a "no."
Again, time is short. I think that each of you
believe that nicotine is not addictive. We
would just like to have this for the record.
This hearing marks the beginning of a new
relationship between Congress and the
tobacco companies. The old rules are out,
the standards that apply to every other
company are in. We look for- ward to
hearing the testimony this morning, and to
working with these companies to begin to
reduce the extraordinary public health threat
that tobacco poses.
MR. TADDEO (President of U.S. Tobacco).
I don´t believe that nicotine or our products
are addictive.
MR. TISCH (Chairman and CEO of Lorillard
Tobacco Company).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
MR. HORRIGAN (Chairman and CEO of
Liggett Group).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
An old proverb says that a journey of a
thousand miles must begin with a single
step. Today is the first step. Many more are
to come as we deal with the most serious
health problem facing our Nation.
MR. SANDEFUR (Chairman and CEO of
Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
Tobacco company CEOs declare, under
oath, that nicotine is not addictive
MR. DONALD JOHNSTON (President and
CEO of American Tobacco Company).
And I, too, believe that nicotine is not
addictive.
MR. WYDEN. Let me begin my questioning
on whether or not nicotine is addictive. Let
9
About Jeffrey Wigand
The 1990’s marked an important turning point in the United States
for public health and the aggressive business tactics of one of the
country’s most powerful and pervasive industries; BIG TOBACCO.
At the forefront of these changes was Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, who
exposed corporate deceit and wrongdoing in spite of threats to his
career and the personal lives of those around him.
Jeffrey Wigand joined the upper echelon of the tobacco industry in
the late 1980’s, hoping to create a safer cigarette for smokers
around the world. Ten years later, he is emerging from hi
experience a hero – not because he created a safer product, but
because, along the way, he just happened to become the highestranking executive to go public with what he knew in the history of
the tobacco industry. Throughout his harrowing ordeal, however, Wigand was mostly vilified a
liar; the hero part has only come lately. To Vanity Fair magazine, he was “The Man Who Knew
Too Much.” Disney – whose movie about his travails was released in November 1999 – dubbed
him The Insider. His odyssey from tobacco top-brass turncoat has made him the subject of
documentaries and the object of death threats. Wigand’s revelations triggered one of the most
inglorious moments in the history of 60 Minutes, when CBS initially shelved an interview with
him, fearing a lawsuit from his former employer, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation.
“I knew that my life was going to change,” Wigand says of his decision to go public with what he
knew – a decision that ultimately turned his world inside out, “but this just wasn’t something you
could study for.”
-
Nicole Peradotto, The Buffalo Physician, Volume 34, #3
10
Tobacco trials' timeline
May 1994 -- Mississippi
becomes the first state to file
suit against the tobacco
companies to recoup Medicaid
costs.
November 21, 1995 -- Tobacco
industry whistleblower Jeffrey
Wigand sued by former
employer Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corp. for breach of
contract after an interview with
CBS' "60 Minutes."
March 15, 1996 -- Cigarette
manufacturer Liggett Group
settles with five states, agrees
to repay more than $10 million
in Medicaid bills for treatment of
smoking-related illnesses.
March 18, 1996 -- A former
Philip Morris scientist tells
federal regulators that the
company controlled nicotine
levels in cigarettes to assure
continued sales.
April 18, 1996 -- First nonprescription nicotine gum hits
market.
June 3, 1996 -- Eclipse, the first
smokeless cigarette, goes on
sale.
July 19, 1996 -- Connecticut
becomes 10th state to file suit
against tobacco companies for
Medicaid compensation in
tobacco-related illness
treatment.
outlining FDA's case for
regulating tobacco.
August 1996 -- The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration
proposes new regulations that
restrict tobacco advertising
targeting teen-agers and make
it harder for minors to purchase
tobacco.
December 1996 -- Florida
allows racketeering charge for
tobacco companies.
August 21, 1996 -- U.S.
President Bill Clinton approves
FDA regulations.
August 23, 1996 -- Clinton
declares nicotine addictive.
October 1, 1996 -- Utah
becomes 16th state to join
tobacco lawsuit.
October 1996 -- Tobacco
companies file a motion in a
North Carolina court asking for
a summary judgment to throw
out the FDA rules
October 1996 -- Pentagon
announces plans to end
tobacco subsidy at U.S. military
commissaries.
November 5, 1996 -- Florida
files criminal charges against
tobacco industry.
December 1996 -- Justice
Department files 149-page brief
11
February 1997 -- Oral
arguments presented in court
for both sides of the case.
March 20, 1997 -- Liggett
Group settles lawsuits with
another 22 states, agrees to
pay $750 million and becomes
first tobacco company to admit
that cigarettes are addictive and
can cause cancer.
March 26, 1997 -- Federal
Trade Commission asked to
probe whether R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co.'s "Joe Camel" ads
target children.
April 20, 1997 -- Negotiators for
tobacco companies and antismoking forces start meetings
to settle tobacco claims.
Reports say tobacco industry
could pay up to $300 billion
over 25 years into a
compensation fund for
smokers, seeks immunity from
future lawsuits in return.
April 25, 1997 - North Carolina
judge says FDA can regulate
access to cigarettes not
advertising or promotion of
tobacco.
'The Insider' goes public
Web posted on: Friday,
November 05, 1999 11:51:19
AM EST
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A
Miami judge Thursday ordered
jurors in a multibillion dollar
tobacco lawsuit not to see "The
Insider," the film opening on
Friday about Jeffrey Wigand, a
tobacco industry executive who
became a whistle-blower.
An attorney for Brown &
Williamson Tobacco Corp., for
whom Wigand worked, asked
Judge Robert Kaye to bar the
jury from the film, saying the
fictionalized account could
prejudice the panel.
Kaye, presiding over a
multiphase tobacco trial now
almost 18 months old, granted
the company's request. In the
Miami case, jurors are
determining how much cigarette
makers should pay to as many
as a million Florida smokers
whose illnesses are blamed on
smoking. The same jury found
in July that major U.S. tobacco
companies were liable for
ailments ranging from cancer to
heart and lung disease among
smokers.
Defendants in the case, which
some have said could yield a
$300 billion to $500 billion
damage award, include Brown
& Williamson, the nation's thirdlargest tobacco company;
Marlboro maker Philip Morris
Cos. Inc., the world's largest
cigarette firm and U.S. market
leader; and R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Holdings, the secondlargest U.S. tobacco company.
Flashback to the premiere
And on another Thursday, just
a couple of weeks earlier,
director Michael Mann is
walking the line of metal
stanchions at the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences theater on Wilshire
Boulevard.
The occasion is nothing new for
Mann. He's a filmmaker, a
Hollywood insider plugging
away at the late-October
premiere of his film "The
Insider." It's a docudrama and
thriller starring Al Pacino and
Russell Crowe.
But this time the stanchions
separate Mann from media
representatives set to grill him
about another line he's walked
of late -- the hard-to-define line
between truth and
dramatization, fact and fiction.
Mann has heard his share of
criticism even before his film
opens.
"The Insider" is based on a
major article about Wigand, a
former chief of research and
development at Brown &
Williamson in Louisville,
Kentucky. Mann and co-writer
Eric Roth have crafted their
screenplay on the exhaustive
May 1996 Vanity Fair article,
"The Man Who Knew Too
Much," by Marie Brenner.
Brenner's story, and this film,
are seated in the facts of
Wigand's (Crowe) dismissal by
12
Brown & Williamson. In her
article, Brenner wrote of
Wigand saying he recalled
issuing a 1992 memo for the
tobacco company's files -- a
memo about his concerns
regarding tobacco additives,
including one called coumarin.
In March 1993, Wigand was
fired.
Wigand was subsequently
contacted by "60 Minutes"
producer Lowell Bergman,
played in Mann's film by
Pacino. Bergman persuaded
the fired executive to tell his
story to CBS. Mann's film uses
Brenner's article as a map to
the events that follow on the
screen.
As documented by Brenner, the
Wigand story would come to be
one of the most divisive stories
essayed by "60 Minutes," at
times pitting correspondents,
producers, network officials and
outside observers against each
other.
Some filmgoers will say "The
Insider" shows both CBS News
and Brown & Williamson in an
unfavorable light. The
juxtaposition of corporations -media power and tobacco giant
-- gives the title a dual meaning.
Either of the main characters,
tobacco whistle-blower Wigand
or "60 Minutes" producer
Bergman -- could be
considered "the insider" in
question, according to Pacino.
"Yeah, that's true," he says. "I
hope it helps the film to have
those concurrent stories going
on. We go back and forth, so it
presents new ideas into the
movie with the tobacco thing
and '60 Minutes' paralleling
each other. So I think there's a
lot of stuff to stimulate you
when you're watching it."
'60 Minutes': The long hour
In the film's "60 Minutes" plot
thread, CBS News is
characterized as being less
concerned with breaking a
public health news story than
with the threat of litigation by
the tobacco company.
In one scene, "60 Minutes"
executives are shown in a
scene based on one described
by Brenner's Vanity Fair story.
Brenner wrote that CBS general
counsel Ellen Kaden believed
Brown & Williamson might sue
CBS for what's called "tortious
interference" if the Wigand
interview was aired.
The legal term "tortious
interference" refers to urging
someone to breach a contract.
Wigand had signed a
confidentiality, non-disclosure
agreement with Brown &
Williamson. The film's scene
submits that "60 Minutes" was
advised by CBS that the show
might be accused of such
interference, of encouraging
Wigand to violate his
agreement.
"60 Minutes" did end up airing a
version of the tobacco segment
in February 1996. But what may
embarrass CBS anew with this
film's release is the
screenplay's implication that if
the network had been the target
of a tobacco lawsuit at the time,
the litigation might have
influenced the impending sale
of CBS, eventually to
Westinghouse.
Allegations of threat
More provocative, perhaps, are
sequences in the picture in
which Brown & Williamson
comes across on screen as
playing a game of corporate
hardball with Wigand. Key
scenes deal with alleged
intimidation, implied violence -even death threats. The most
pointed of these scenes shows
Crowe, as Wigand, discovering
a single bullet standing upright
in his mailbox.
The controversy has been
mounting for Mann and his
colleagues at Touchstone
Pictures, the Disney Company
arm releasing "The Insider" in
the United States on Friday.
"Very little of it is untrue," Mann
says of the screenplay's
account. "But it's all
dramatized."
The film's official Web site from
Touchstone carries this notice
prominently, at the top of its
main page: "Although the film
'The Insider' is based on a true
story, certain events depicted in
the film have been fictionalized
for dramatic effect."
"The test," Mann says, "is
whether it's authentic. It's
authentic," he adds for
emphasis. "This is the way it is
-- in the big pieces and in a lot
of the little pieces."
It's that declaration of
dramatization that has drawn
fire from public relations
departments at CBS and at
B&W.
13
In a statement issued by CBS,
the network turns Mann's words
back on him. "It's important to
point out," reads the CBS text,
"that the producers of the movie
'The Insider' have admitted, in a
disclaimer, to adding, for
dramatic effect, 'fictionalized
events' to its Hollywood
version. So it's obvious that the
film is not true to the real-life
events surrounding the '60
Minutes' tobacco piece that was
broadcast on February 4th,
1996."
"It's probably not the best
circumstances for all of
journalism," says onetime
Brown & Williamson executive
Wigand. "I mean CBS definitely
did capitulate" to pressure not
to air the segment. "But I think
they redeemed themselves."
The CBS representative most in
contact with Wigand, producer
Bergman, left the network after
14 years to become a special
correspondent for PBS'
"Frontline." He's also affiliated
with the New York Times and
with the graduate school of
journalism at the University of
California.
"My impression of it?" says
Bergman. "It's a subjective
impression of what went on.
Just the same as '60 Minutes'
and CNN's reports on various
reports are subjective. You
know, when people talk about
filmmaking and the techniques
of filmmaking, we use them all
the time in network television
news in order to make our
stories simpler, tighter and
more understandable to the
general public."
B&W calls the question
In its reaction, Brown &
Williamson has issued a
statement that the company will
"reserve comment" until "after
we've seen the movie." The
company has also addressed
the issue on its Web site.
The B&W main page contains a
crawl reading, "Previously
Sealed FBI Investigation
Exposes the Real Truth Behind
the Movie 'The Insider.'"
Double clicking on an icon of a
newspaper vending machine
next to the moving copy takes
readers to an October 29 press
release. Its first paragraph
reads: "Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corporation said today
that a previously sealed FBI
investigation uncovered by the
news media has now exposed
the truth behind the soon to be
released film 'The Insider' and
shows that the government's
key witness lied to federal
agents and fabricated death
threats. 'The question now,'
said Brown & Williamson, 'is
how can Disney continue to
promote a film based on
fabrications and lies?'"
The Brown & Williamson
release goes on to state: "As
far back as April 1998, we
informed Disney and
Touchstone Films that Brown &
Williamson did not threaten
Wigand. Last summer, we sent
to them copies of investigative
journalism reports that quoted
Wigand's wife as stating the
threatening messages were
'total fiction.' And now this
morning, we have sent copies
of the FBI's sworn affidavit to
Disney and Touchstone with
the expectation that they will
cease from falsely and
maliciously portraying Brown &
Williamson as threatening
Wigand."
Mann cast Moore to play
himself in the film.
In the upper left-hand corner of
the page, another link
highlighted in blue directs
readers to a copy of a
document, apparently a warrant
filed on February 15, 1998, by
an FBI agent named Edmund
V. Armento, seeking to search
Wigand's house in B&W's home
base of Louisville. This warrant
falls, according to its date, in
the time period covered by the
film.
Moore told the press last month
that he was anxious to get
Wigand's testimony because, "If
we could get Jeffrey (Wigand)
as a witness, and get his
testimony down, then it really
would shake the tobacco
industry." Moore calls Wigand
"a witness who could bring to
life all these Brown &
Williamson documents that we
already had from another
source. It was important to get
that deposition taken."
The search referred to in this
warrant is represented in the
film. "The Insider" goes to
considerable lengths to
illustrate what it characterizes
as an orchestrated smear
campaign waged in various
media against Wigand, in an
effort to discredit him.
Moore's colleague, Scruggs,
was involved in conducting that
deposition and was on hand
when Wigand traveled to
Mississippi to testify. After
viewing the film, Scruggs was
asked to rate its accuracy in
describing events as he knew
them.
The big tobacco trials
Wigand's importance to the
CBS story on "60 Minutes" was
coupled with his significance in
another matter, Mississippi's
lawsuit filed against the tobacco
industry to recover medical
costs the state said it incurred
in treating patients with
smoking-related illnesses. That
element of the story now
resonates with Thursday's
ruling against letting jurors in
Florida's tobacco case see the
film.
Two primary figures in the
Mississippi case, Attorney
General Michael Moore and
attorney Richard Scruggs,
participated in the film's Disneysponsored publicity weekend
held in Los Angeles in October.
14
"In terms of the dramatic impact
in the fidelity to the facts and
events that unfolded and that
we lived through," Scruggs
said, "I think the movie gets an
11 on a 10-point scale."
A scene in the film related to
Wigand's appearance at the
Mississippi deposition involves
a motorcade of lawenforcement vehicles, driving in
formation, all colored lights and
urgency.
It's as if every police car in that
corner of the state had been
assigned to protect Wigand on
his way to give testimony. Was
it overkill? Scruggs says
Wigand's welfare was a primary
consideration, but he draws his
own line where Brown &
Williamson is concerned.
"We were concerned about his
safety," Scruggs says, "but I
don't think anyone was
concerned that Brown &
Williamson would make a
corporate decision for violence.
But because of the importance
of tobacco to the economy of
Kentucky, we took every
reasonable measure to protect
Jeff from the acts of anyone
who decided to try to silence
him."
and educational organizations
followed. Today, Wigand lives
in South Carolina and runs his
own nonprofit organization,
Smoke-Free Kids, based in
Charleston.
Wigand today, and the film
"Yes," he says. "No regrets. ...
Most days I come home at the
end of the day, and I feel good.
I know I make a difference, and
it's a time of my life that I'm
enjoying very much."
The former tobacco executive
whose reputation was assailed
in an effort to lessen the impact
of his testimony now is reviled
in one corner and praised in
another.
The Kentucky educational
community selected Wigand its
teacher of the year (he went
into teaching in Louisville after
he left Brown & Williamson).
More honors from charitable
How does Wigand feel about
his decision to go public with
what he had to say about
Brown & Williamson and the
tobacco industry? Was it worth
it?
The spotlight is likely to be
focused on Wigand more in the
days ahead, as the film opens.
Once again, the lines may be
drawn by the parties involved -but this time with a new
contingent weighing in with its
15
own impressions: a filmgoing
public.
Mann says he wants his
audience to walk in the shoes
of his characters, to experience
"that relationship with these
events.
"That's drama," the director
says, a former executive
producer of TV's "Miami Vice"
and director of films including
"Heat" (1995) and "The Last of
the Mohicans" (1992).
"And so, the challenging thing,"
says Mann, "is that you're going
to have to change things in
drama, of course. Either that, or
you're doing a phone book. But
at the same time, they have to
mean the same thing. ... You
can't take creative license as a
license to be untruthful."
MOVIE REVIEW
NAME____________________
DATE____________________
TITLE OF MOVIE_____________________________________
STARRING:
______________________________________
______________________________________
THE BASIC PLOT OF THIS MOVIE WAS: ________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2 THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: ________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2 THINGS I DISLIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY ACCURATE _______
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
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2 THINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT LOOKED HISTORICALLY INACCURATE _____
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
ON A SCALE OF 1-5 STARS, I WOULD GIVE THIS MOVIE __________ STARS
BECAUSE ___________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
I WOULD OR WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO A FRIEND BECAUSE
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
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