History Film / TheInsider

Nominated for seven [[AcademyAward Oscars]] but didn't win any.

* ''Series/SixtyMinutes''

* PlayingAgainstType: Russell Crowe, who is best known for playing [[{{Gladiator}} heroic]], [[LAConfidential violent]] [[BadAss badasses]], as a timid and uncharismatic scientist.

* DawsonCasting: Inverted in that Russell Crowe was 34 when the movie was made, while the real Jeffrey Wigand was 52 when the original scandal happened.

* DyeingForYourArt: Crowe gained weight and shaved his head for a wig.

* FakeAmerican: Australian Russell Crowe as Jeffrey Wigand, Canadian Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace, and Brit Michael Gambon (as B&W boss Thomas Sandefur).

* IntrepidReporter: Bergman.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The CBS higher-ups, when confronted with the mere shadow of a possibility of a lawsuit from B&W, choose to kill the story, and only relent when it becomes impossible for B&W to bring a tort case against them.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Gambon, playing Wigand's boss, struggles.
** His accent only slipped during the delivery of one line: "It's spooky how he can concentrate!" He sounds English on "spooky" especially, but otherwise sounds like he's from Georgia, where his character is supposed to be from.

* PrecisionFStrike: "Fuck it. Let's go to court."

* BasedOnATrueStory: Broadly accurate. Some have suggested Wigand exaggerated his persecution at the hands of Brown & Williamson. The scene with a creepy guy stalking Wigand at a golf range is definitely fictional. Mike Wallace, as noted above, felt that the film lionized Bergman unfairly at his expense. Don Hewitt was also unhappy with his portrayal, but joked that if they'd had Creator/PaulNewman playing him, "I would've forgiven them anything." The real Bergman however claimed that the portrayal of Wallace was largely true to how he acted in real life.

* DrivenToSuicide: It's not stated, but it's heavily implied that Wigand's thoughts are turning to this towards the end as his life crashes around him.

* ExecutiveMeddling: In-universe. One of the main themes of the movie.
* FakeAmerican: Australian Russell Crowe, Canadian Christopher Plummer, and Brit Michael Gambon (as B&W boss Thomas Sandefur).

** Particularly notable, as this is one of the last sensationalist cases of a whistleblower ''before'' the Whistleblower Protection act in the US, which prevented retaliation from the company that's being called out. When Wiegand points out that B&W is fucking with his life, ''they are legally entitled to do so''[[note]]Or at least, have zero reason not to, because they can do it with impunity as long as they're not breaking any other laws[[/note]].

Nominated for seven [[AcademyAward Oscars]] but didn't win any. The real Mike Wallace of ''60 Minutes'', who didn't like Plummer's unflattering portrayal of him, took some pleasure in that.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Broadly accurate. Some have suggested Wigand exaggerated his persecution at the hands of Brown & Williamson. The scene with a creepy guy stalking Wigand at a golf range is definitely fictional. Mike Wallace, as noted above, felt that the film lionized Bergman unfairly at his expense. Don Hewitt was also unhappy with his portrayal, but joked that if they'd had Creator/PaulNewman playing him, "I would've forgiven them anything."

* ObstructuveBureaucrat: The CBS higher-ups, when confronted with the mere shadow of a possibility of a lawsuit from B&W, choose to kill the story, and only relent when it becomes impossible for B&W to bring a tort case against them.

** Bergman has one of his own when he finds out Wallace is siding with the bosses about not airing the story.

''The Insider'' is a 1999 film from Creator/TouchstonePictures starring Creator/RussellCrowe, Creator/AlPacino and Christopher Plummer. [[BasedOnATrueStory It tells the true story]] of Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe), a senior researcher at Brown & Williamson tobacco company. After Wigand is fired from B&W he goes to ''Series/SixtyMinutes'' and producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino) to spill the secrets he knows about the tobacco industry. Wigand's and Bergman's attempts to reveal the truth about Big Tobacco lead to resistance from B&W--and, surprisingly, from [[{{CBS}} their own network]].

''The Insider'' is a 1999 film from Creator/TouchstonePictures starring RussellCrowe, AlPacino and Christopher Plummer. [[BasedOnATrueStory It tells the true story]] of Jeffrey Wigand, a senior researcher at Brown & Williamson tobacco company. After Wigand is fired from B&W he goes to ''Series/SixtyMinutes'' and producer Lowell Bergman to spill the secrets he knows about the tobacco industry. Wigand's and Bergman's attempts to reveal the truth about Big Tobacco lead to resistance from B&W--and, surprisingly, from [[{{CBS}} their own network]].

* BasedOnATrueStory: Broadly accurate. Some have suggested Wigand exaggerated his persecution at the hands of Brown & Williamson. The scene with a creepy guy stalking Wigand at a golf range is definitely fictional. Mike Wallace, as noted above, felt that the film lionized Bergman unfairly at his expense.
** Don Hewitt was also unhappy with his portrayal, but joked that if they'd had PaulNewman playing him, "I would've forgiven them anything."

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Brown & Williamson CEO Thomas Sandefur, played by MichaelGambon.

* WithOrWithoutYou: "We're doing this with or without you, Lowell."

** Bergman has one of his own when he finds out Wallace is siding with the bosses about not airing the story.

* {{Irony}}: A particularly cruel example; the hotel room Wigand is forced to live in as his life collapses all around him is located directly opposite the officers of the legal department of Brown and Williamson -- the very people whose machinations forced him into that hotel room in the first place.

''The Insider'' is a 1999 film starring RussellCrowe, AlPacino and Christopher Plummer. It tells the true story of Jeffrey Wigand, a researcher at Brown & Williamson tobacco company. After Wigand is fired from B&W he goes to ''60 Minutes'' and producer Lowell Bergman to spill the secrets he knows about the tobacco industry. Wigand's and Bergman's attempts to reveal the truth about Big Tobacco lead to resistance from B&W--and, surprisingly, from their own network.

Nominated for seven [[AcademyAward Oscars]] but didn't win any. Mike Wallace of ''60 Minutes'', who didn't like Plummer's unflattering portrayal of him, took some pleasure in that.

* ButNowIMustGo: Bergman quits at the end, believing that what went wrong at CBS can't be fixed.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Thomas Sandefur.

* HeroicBSOD: Wigand has a pretty memorable one when the abridged [[SixtyMinutes 60 Minutes]] program airs.

* ''[[SixtyMinutes 60 Minutes]]''

* WithOrWithoutYou: "We're doing this with or without you, Lowell."

''The Insider'' is a 1999 film starring RussellCrowe, AlPacino and Christopher Plummer. It tells the true story of Jeffrey Wigand, a researcher at Brown & Williamson tobacco company. After Weigand is fired from B&W he goes to ''60 Minutes'' and producer Lowell Bergman to spill the secrets he knows about the tobacco industry. Weigand's and Bergman's attempts to reveal the truth about Big Tobacco lead to resistance from B&W--and, surprisingly, from their own network.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Broadly accurate. Some have suggested Weigand exaggerated his persecution at the hands of Brown & Williamson. The scene with a creepy guy stalking Weigand at a golf range is definitely fictional. Mike Wallace, as noted above, felt that the film lionized Bergman unfairly at his expense.

* HonestCorporateExecutive: Weigand.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Gambon, playing Weigand's boss, struggles.

''The Insider'' is a 1999 film starring RussellCrowe, AlPacino and Christopher Plummer. It tells the true story of Jeffrey Weigand, a researcher at Brown & Williamson tobacco company. After Weigand is fired from B&W he goes to ''60 Minutes'' and producer Lowell Bergman to spill the secrets he knows about the tobacco industry. Weigand's and Bergman's attempts to reveal the truth about Big Tobacco lead to resistance from B&W--and, surprisingly, from their own network.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Insider_3318.jpg