Shattered Glass


For the Transformers Shattered Glass, see Transformers: Timelines.
Shattered Glass

Theatrical poster
Directed by Billy Ray
Produced by Tove Christensen
Marc Butan
Gaye Hirsch
Adam Merims
Craig Baumgarten
Written by Based on an article by: H.G. Bissinger
Screenplay:
Billy Ray
Narrated by Hayden Christensen
Starring Hayden Christensen
Peter Sarsgaard
Chloë Sevigny
Hank Azaria
Melanie Lynskey
Steve Zahn
Music by Mychael Danna
Cinematography Mandy Walker
Editing by Jeffrey Ford
Distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment
Release date(s) October 31, 2003
Running time 94 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $6,000,000
Gross revenue $2,944,752 (Worldwide)

Shattered Glass is a 2003 American drama film written and directed by Billy Ray. The screenplay is based on a September 1998 Vanity Fair article by H.G. Bissinger.[1] In it he chronicled the rapid rise of Stephen Glass's journalistic career at the The New Republic during the mid-1990s and his steep fall when his widespread journalistic fraud was exposed. The film is based on real events and also captures the high-pressure world of national political journalism.

Contents

Plot summary

The film opens with Stephen Glass wandering through a trade fair featuring Monica Lewinsky memorabilia. In a voice-over, he criticizes reporters who show off and try to get ahead and recommends they try being humble and self-effacing instead. He is then seen giving advice to aspiring journalists in his former high school. The film cuts back to this scene occasionally throughout.

At The New Republic, Glass is known for his highly imaginative articles and amusing pitches at editorial meetings, although he expresses his lack of self-confidence to colleagues Caitlin Avery and Amy Brand. The staff is mentored by and respects editor Michael Kelly. They are less enchanted with fellow writer Charles Lane, who staunchly supports excluding photographs from the publication.

When Glass submits an article about the drunken antics and sexual escapades of Young Republicans at a convention, Kelly questions him about some of the facts in the story, particularly the mention of a mini-bar in the hotel room. Glass claims he erred by misdescribing what was in fact a small rental refrigerator. When the hotel confirms such appliances are available for guests, Kelly is satisfied the rest of the report is accurate. Kelly defends his staff against his boss, Martin Peretz, who had criticized them for using too many commas in an issue, and soon after is fired and replaced by Lane. Kelly's departure is very emotional and many question the decision.

In a later staff meeting, Glass emphatically discusses his latest article about teenaged Ian Restil, a hacker hired by Jukt Micronics, a high-tech software company in Silicon Valley, after he manages to compromise their system's security. Glass reports Restil is able to negotiate a lucrative compensation package and is celebrated by his peers at a hacker convention. After the article is printed, Adam Penenberg, a writer at Forbes Digital Tool, an online Forbes publication, has difficulty corroborating nearly all of the facts in the story and questions its legitimacy to his editor. His colleague Andy Fox helps in disproving elements of the story, ranging from the existence of Jukt Micronics to whether the hacker convention ever took place. In a conference call that includes Penenberg, Fox, their editor, Glass, and Lane, Penenberg raises his issues with the story, including the phone numbers Glass provided as source material and Jukt Micronics's supposed website, which is not representative of a sophisticated company. Glass's responses are so unconvincing Lane begins to doubt him. Glass eventually claims he was tricked by his sources.

After the call ends, Lane demands Glass take him to the location of the hacker convention and the restaurant where he and his sources allegedly dined afterwards. He discovers the Bethesda structure Glass claims was the site is closed on Sundays, and the restaurant where he claims they ate dinner closes at 3:00pm. Glass confesses he never attended the convention and relied on others for the information he used.

Lane is outraged by Glass' lies and supposedly sloppy reporting but, mindful of his own tenuous standing with the staff and of Glass' popularity among them, is uncertain how to proceed. He decides to place Glass on a two-year suspension. When more questions about the reporter's veracity arise, Lane orders Glass out of the office and confiscates his security access card. Searching through back issues of The New Republic, Lane realizes much, if not all, of Glass' previous work was partially or fully falsified, and decides to fire him. Upon his arrival at a staff meeting the following morning, Lane discovers the staff has written an apology for Glass' shenanigans to their readers. They spontaneously begin to applaud their editor, signifying their unity and determination to heal the magazine.

During a later meeting with Glass and his attorney, Lane begins reciting the names of magazine pieces he has concluded contain questionable material, and invites Glass to refute any of them. Glass sits silently as the titles are being read, and the screen dissolves to Glass' visit to his high school classroom, now revealed to be empty, another figment of Glass's imagination. Just prior to the closing credits, we learn Glass fabricated all or part of twenty-seven of the forty-one articles he wrote during his tenure.

Principal cast

Production

The film was developed following detailed research and interviews with major players in the story. Some scenes, based on recordings, are almost verbatim. Both Charles Lane and Hanna Rosin, who inspired the character of Caitlin Avery, worked as advisers to screenwriter/director Billy Ray[2][3].

Reaction

Shattered Glass premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was shown at the Telluride Film Festival, the Boston Film Festival, the Woodstock Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, and the Austin Film Festival before opening on eight screens in New York City and Los Angeles on October 31, 2003. It grossed $77,540 on its opening weekend. It eventually earned $2.2 million in North America and $724,744 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $2.9 million.[4]

Critical reception

A. O. Scott of the New York Times called the film "much more than a knowing, insidery docudrama about a magazine that has long prided itself on its inside-the-Beltway knowingness", "a serious, well-observed examination of the practice of journalism", and "an astute and surprisingly gripping drama". He added, "A more showily ambitious film might have tried to delve into Glass's personal history in search of an explanation for his behavior, or to draw provocative connections between that behavior and the cultural and political climate of the times. Such a movie would also have been conventional, facile and ultimately false. Mr. Ray knows better than to sensationalize a story about the dangers of sensationalism. Shattered Glass is good enough to be true".[5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and felt the film was well-cast and "deserves comparison with All the President's Men among movies about journalism".[6] Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" rating and Owen Gleiberman praised Hayden Christensen's performance: "Right from the start, Hayden Christensen is a revelation, and not just because his performance, all mind games and subliminal facial tics, transcends the rinky-dink teen heroics of the Star Wars universe. It's because he lets us see that it's Glass himself who's playacting the role of an elite young Washington journalist".[7]

USA Today gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praised Peter Sarsgaard's performance: "Sarsgaard deserves more credit than he'll probably get for his multi-layered performance".[8] In his review for the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "Shattered Glass begs a larger question: What sort of culture elevates Glass for his entertainment value, punishes him for being too entertaining, rewards his notoriety, and then resurrects him again as a moral object lesson?"[9] Premiere magazine's Glenn Kenny wrote, "it’s Peter Sarsgaard, as the editor who serves Glass his just deserts, who walks away with the picture, metamorphosing his character’s stiffness into a moral indignation that’s jolting and, finally, invigorating".[10] In his review for the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter wrote, "I particularly like the way Ray made no excuses for Glass and makes us see how shallow and cynical were his persistent cries of victimization. Ray makes us believe that we shouldn't care for Glass any more than he cared for his colleagues, his friendships or his profession. Which is to say, not a bit".[11] Sight and Sound magazine's Edward Lawrenson wrote, "The results make for the most gripping mainstream US film about journalism since Alan J. Pakula's 1976 All the President's Men (the latter's crisp, unfussy visuals are emulated here by DoP Mandy Walker)".[12]

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ "Shattered Glass," Vanity Fair, September 1998
  2. ^ New York Times, October 31, 2003
  3. ^ Slate Magazine, September 20, 2003
  4. ^ BoxOfficeMojo.com
  5. ^ Scott, A.O. (October 31, 2003). "A Young Writer's Ambition, With Loyalty and Betrayal". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/movies/31GLAS.html?ex=1244952000&en=d43260871b37f0c3&ei=5070. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  6. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 7, 2003). "Shattered Glass". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031107/REVIEWS/311070305/1023. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  7. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 9, 2003). "Shattered Glass". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,490189,00.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  8. ^ Clark, Mike (October 30, 2003). "Glass puts the pieces together". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2003-10-30-shattered-glass_x.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  9. ^ Hoberman, J (October 28, 2003). "Telling Lies in America". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-10-28/film/telling-lies-in-america/1. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  10. ^ Kenny, Glenn (October 29, 2003). "Shattered Glass". Premiere. http://www.premiere.com/Review/Movies/Shattered-Glass. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  11. ^ Hunter, Stephen (November 7, 2003). "Shattered Glass Pieces Together A Mosaic of Lies". Washington Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/440016731.html?dids=440016731:440016731&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+7%2C+2003&author=Stephen+Hunter&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=C.01&desc=%27Shattered+Glass%27+Pieces+Together+A+Mosaic+of+Lies. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 
  12. ^ Lawrenson, Edward (June 2004). "It didn't happen here". Sight and Sound. http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/882. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. 

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