Shattered Glass

Tuesday, Mar. 16 at 7:45 AM EDT
Tuesday, Mar. 16 at 1:05 PM EDT
Wednesday, Mar. 17 at 5:40 AM EDT
Wednesday, Mar. 24 at 7:35 AM EDT
Wednesday, Mar. 24 at 4:20 PM EDT

2003 | 95 min. | Director: Billy Ray | TV-14
Before Jayson Blair made headlines for his plagiarized New York Times reporting, Stephen Glass defamed the weekly current events magazine The New Republic with a series of eye-catching, entertaining, and completely fabricated stories. Now Glass' trail of lies gets the big-screen treatment in writer/director Billy Ray's Shattered Glass, featuring Hayden Christensen in the title role. The film chronicles Glass' time at the magazine in the late '90s, when his colorful coverage of a hedonistic Young Republican convention, superstar web hackers, and the circus surrounding the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal made him the toast of the publishing world, garnering attention from such national publications as George and Rolling Stone. Barely out of college, the eager Glass ingratiates himself with the office staff, including his mentor, managing editor Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria). But when Kelly is unceremoniously fired and replaced with editor Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard), Glass' pieces come under a greater degree of scrutiny, until one in particular threatens to expose his tall tales to the rest of the world. Based in part on a Vanity Fair article by journalist Buzz Bissinger, Shattered Glass premiered at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals before its limited fall theatrical release.

Neald

Yes the job of a journalist is to give the most accurate story as possible but look back in history some of the best writers have embellished the truth. Hunter S. Thompson arguably one of the greatest journalists of all time made a living of off heightening the story. In the industry as we say tweak the truth it is not uncommon. There is no escaping sensationalism even in journalism. But to bend the facts is a different animal & fabricate things that didn't actually take place is not right. Yes we have to make it entertaining as journalists after all it is story telling. Shattered Glass is a fascinating look into the world of journalism.

Neal Damiano
Film Journalist
Filmwad Magazine
www.filmwad.com