Warner Bros.' critically acclaimed satire The Informant!, based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history, will be shown soon exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma).
Starring
Matt Damon, The Informant! is directed by Academy Award® winner
Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean's Eleven) from a screenplay by
Scott Z. Burns, based on the book The Informant (A True Story), written by Kurt Eichenwald. The
film is a dark comedy about corporate espionage, multinational price
fixing, wiretapping, embezzlement, FBI investigations and a high-level
company whistleblower. What's so funny about that? In the hands of director Steven Soderbergh, pretty much everything.
The
film follows the somewhat strange and unpredictable journey of Mark
Whitacre from corporate golden boy to FBI informant in the years from
1992 to 1996. "The more I learned about the story, the more I responded to the material," Soderbergh says. "But I knew there have been serious films done on similar subject matters by great filmmakers. I thought one way to do something distinctive was to play the irony of the situation. Everything fell into place once that decision was made."
Matt Damon, who stars in the role of Mark Whitacre, observes, "It's like peeling an onion. You
start with a certain set of assumptions and then realize you can't
assume anything as the situation becomes utterly ridiculous. It's a great story and a really incredible character."
The plot of The Informant! was first told in-depth in a book by Kurt Eichenwald, who also served as a producer on the movie. Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns was introduced to the story when he heard an interview with Eichenwald on the radio. He tells, "I was on my way to a brunch and I ended up driving around the restaurant for the entire hour. I went directly from there to buy the book and spent the rest of the day reading it."
The
screenwriter recalls that when he and Soderbergh first began talking
about how to adapt the book, "Steven said he wanted to make it a comedy. At
first I wasn't sure what to make of that, but as we started working on
the script, I realized that most of the things that happened were
pretty outrageous."
Burns ultimately hit on the concept that became the key to finding the film's overriding humor. Soderbergh reveals, "It was Scott who came up with the idea of the voiceover. Once that happened, it was clear which direction the movie was going. Little by little it reveals what's going on beneath the surface with Mark, and what's fun is how it doles out that information. It's a unique perspective and I think it's what makes this script so intriguing."
In
fact, as Damon remarks, Whitacre's narration is not only unreliable, it
is also not necessarily related to the scene unfolding on the screen. "It's more of a stream of consciousness, a kind of digressive thinking," he says. "He
might be in the middle of a conversation with someone when something
triggers this inner monologue that can spin off in any direction: ties,
polar bears, frequent flier miles...whatever."
The Informant! is distributed by Warner Bros., a Warner Entertainment Company.