The Informant (Movie)

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The Informant

This article contains indepth information about 2009 dark comedy film, The Informant

The Informant is a 2009 dark comedy film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and based on true events and the 2000 non fiction book about Mark Whitacre, The Informant, by journalist Kurt Eichenwald. The script was written by Scott Z. Burns and the film stars Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale and Melanie Lynskey.

Plot

The Informant! is about Mark Whitacre (Damon), a rising star at Decatur, Illinois based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in the early 1990s who wound up blowing the whistle on the company’s price-fixing tactics, only after his wife forced him to. Matt Damon portrays the bipolar whistleblower dubbed "The wacky little brother of Erin Brockovich". In the film, Whitacre displays bizarre behavior including recklessness and grandiosity.

One night in early November 1992, the high-ranking ADM executive confessed to FBI agent Brian Shepard (Bakula), present only to install a wire tap on Whitacre's phone, that ADM executives — including Whitacre, himself — had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, a food additive. As the highest-ranked executive to ever turn whistleblower in US history, Whitacre secretly gathered hundreds of hours of video and audio over several years to present to the FBI. He assisted in gathering evidence by clandestinely taping the company’s activity in business meetings at various locations around the globe such as Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, and Hong Kong, eventually collecting enough evidence of collaboration and conspiracy to warrant a raid.

Whitacre’s good deed dovetails with his own major infractions and struggle with bipolar disorder. The film focuses on Whitacre's meltdown resulting from the pressures of wearing a wire and organizing surveillance for the FBI for three years, insinuated by increasingly manic overlays of Whitacre's reaction to various trivial magazine articles he reads. In a stunning turn of events immediately following the covert portion of the case, headlines around the world reported that the whistleblower defrauded $9 million from his own company at the same period of time he was secretly working for the FBI and taping his co-workers, while simultaneously hoping to be elected as CEO following the arrest and conviction of the remaining upper management members. After being confronted with evidence of his fraud, Whitacre's claims in his defense begin to spiral out of control, including an accusation of assault and battery against Agent Shepard. Because of this major infraction and Whitacre’s bizarre behavior, he was sentenced to a prison term three times longer than the white-collar criminals he helped to nab.

Cast

Matt Damon portrays Archer Daniels Midland executive Mark Whitacre.
Scott Bakula portrays FBI agent Brian Shepard.
Joel McHale portrays FBI agent Robert Herndon.
Melanie Lynskey portrays Mark's wife Ginger Whitacre.
Thomas F. Wilson portrays Mark Cheviron.
Allan Havey portrays FBI Supervisor Dean Paisley.
Jimmy Pardo and Paul F. Tompkins announced on episode 309 of the Never Not Funny comedy podcast that they both have unannounced parts in the film.
Patton Oswalt portrays Ed Herbst.
Scott Adsit portrays Sid Hulse.
Eddie Jemison portrays Kirk Schmidt.
Clancy Brown portrays ADM's attorney Aubrey Daniel
Tony Hale portrays Mark's attorney James Epstein
Andrew Daly portrays ADM vice-president Marty Allison
Frank Welker portrays Mr. Whitacre

Production

In 2002, after completing Ocean's Eleven, Soderbergh announced his intent to adapt the book The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald, a former journalist for The New York Times. Scott Z. Burns wrote the script based on the book.

Production began in May 2008 in Decatur, Illinois. Filming was also done at the former Whitacre mansion in Moweaqua, Illinois, a small town about 25 miles from Decatur. Some exterior shots were done in Mesa, Arizona, in November 2008. The film was released on September 18, 2009. Damon gained 20-30 pounds for the role in order to look like the doughy Whitacre.

Reception

Critical

The film currently has a 76% 'Fresh' Rating from 111 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of 20 September 2009. Film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film 4 stars out of 4.

Box office

The film opened at #2 behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with $10,545,000.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Informant" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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