Not Approved
Insider
A producer of 60 Minutes wants to do a segment about a scientist named Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) who is willing to blow the whistle on the tobacco industry. According to Wigand, tobacco companies chemically enhance the nicotine content of their product, causing cigarettes to become addictive. At first he’s afraid to speak out against the powerful tobacco lobby, but Wigand is pressured by the forceful producer (Al Pacino) to speak out, even if it endangers his family. When a huge lawsuit threatens CBS, however, the story is killed at the last minute, leaving Wigand in a precarious position.
Much like All the President’s Men, it’s a conspiracy-frenzied thriller based on a true incident. The film is about journalistic integrity - a phrase that has lost a great deal of meaning over the past decad