The Insider (1999) - Lowell Bergman

A Vanity Fair magazine article by Marie Brenner; "The Man Who Knew Too Much" led Michael Mann to produced and directed The Insider (1994), a film that tells the true story behind the broadcast of a controvertial CBS "60 Minutes" episode on malpractices in the tobacco industry. The episode originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because CBS' parent company Westinghouse and the owner, Laurence Tisch, objected, and was later aired on February 4, 1996.

The Insider took a viewpoint through the eyes of Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco company executive who decided to appear on the 60 Minutes show to revealed the infamous secret that the tobacco industry was not only aware that cigarettes are addictive and harmful, but deliberately worked on increasing that addictiveness. For his appearance in 60 minutes, Wigand comes under personal and professional attack. Big tobacco company hire PR firm to initiates a smear campaign against him. He also receive death threats, e.g. one where he finds a bullet in his mailbox with a threatening note.

Al Pacino, who had worked with Mann previously in Heat (1995), was Mann’s only choice to play "60 minutes" producer Lowell Bergman, as well as Christopher Plummer who selected to play Mike Wallace. Both did not have to audition to cast in the film. On the other side, Russell Crowe was the second choice for the role of Jeffrey Wigand after Val Kilmer. For the role, the 33-years old Crowe transform himself into mid-50s Wigand apperance by shaved back his hairline, put on 35 pounds for the role, and listened repeatedly to a six-hour tape of Wigand's voice to resemble the man’s voice and how he talked.

The Insider was nominated for seven Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Mann), Best Cinematography (Dante Spinotti), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Russell Crowe), Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth and Michael Mann), but the film won nothing. However, The Insider gave Roth and Mann the Humanitas Prize in the Feature Film category in 2000. Russell Crowe's performance as Jeffrey Wigand ranked #23 in 2006 Premiere list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time, and Christopher Plummer won awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics.

Despite gaining much critical praises, The Insider was in fact a box office flop. It only make a total of $60.3 million worldwide for the $90 million budget. The film fail to catch attention of younger audiences.