Greg Mitchell @ E&P: Leaked... Previews Of Upcoming Film Based On Valerie Plame Case

[Hissyspit]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004031062

Leaked: Previews of Upcoming Film Based on Plame Case

By Greg Mitchell

Published: October 28, 2009 2:25 PM ET

NEW YORK Like everyone who covered extensively the CIA leak case, Judy Miller and the Scooter Libby trial, I am anxiously awaiting, with appropriate skepticism, the pending release of the first Hollywood treatment, which has the wonderful title, if you remember the scandal well, "Fair Game."

- snip -

First, let's go back five weeks to a posting by Liman at the popular blog which he directs, 30 Ninjas. It's gotten surprisingly little play. And I quote:

"I auctioned off a preview of Fair Game at a celebrity auction and got the funniest collection of people together to watch the movie. It wasn't your standard audience for a movie. Only six people attended the screening. Of those six, one was a contract employee of the CIA and one was Scooter Libby's appeals lawyer, Alan Dershowitz! It was kind of funny, given that we are trying to be as factual as possible on this film, and these are some of the people who can best judge how closely our film adheres to the facts.

- snip -

So it will be interesting to see if he successfully "shows" that Cheney was behind it all without really showing it--or perhaps it will fall flat. Stay tuned. Liman has said this is not an "art" film but aimed at a large audience.

Just this week arrived an anonymous review of the film from that test screening, which naturally must be taken with a grain of salt (for one thing, films are often changed after getting feedback at such events). But the attendee calls it "a tremendous, thought provoking film," a 9 on a scale of 10, with great performances by the leads.

As for plot: "We're led to believe that the order of the leak was made by Karl Rove to Scooter Libby (played by a hilariously serious David Andrews), and the rest is history. Plame's career is destroyed, her marriage (and life) nearly go along with it, and a major investigation into corruption in the Bush White House is launched, ultimately leading to the fall of Libby." More:

"The film clocked in at roughly 1:50, and paced tremendously well. There was a side-plot they spent a bit too much time on involving an Iraqi family and Plame's valiant efforts to save them from the invasion, but that was really the only downfall of the film. Watts is excellent, at least as good as she was in Eastern Promises, and Penn is as good here as I've seen him. It's directed by Doug Liman who did an excellent job of it, and I believe he also served as DP, so kudos to him as I often forgot the camera was even rolling. Truly a wonderful human drama with political suspense that should interest anybody no matter how they vote."

MORE