15 years ago today, Michael Mann‘s "The Insider" arrived in theaters, and while there’s no doubt it received a plethora of critical acclaim, it’s staggering to think it was nominated for seven Oscars and won nothing. But time hasn’t dampened the intensity of the film, and we figured it was good time to take a look back at "The Insider" and the people who inspired and made it.
But first, a bit of context. In 1996, Jeffrey Wigand, who worked in research and development at Brown & Williamson, appeared on "60 Minutes" and made the explosive claim that Big Tobacco had, among other things, knowingly increased the amount of nicotine in their cigarettes. What followed nearly tore Wigand’s life apart and provided the dramatic backbone of Mann’s film, but it’s easy to forget how eye-opening the original report was. Watch it in full right here.
As we noted in our Michael Mann retrospective, "The Insider" is "pure, gripping human drama" and one of his very best. Below you can watch the director talk extensively with Charlie Rose about the movie, with the host also chatting with the real Jeffrey Wigand in a separate interview. There’s also a more recent conversation with Mann about the film at LSU Film School. Watch it all below, followed by the last scene of the film.
