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Shattered Glass
2003
SHATTERED GLASS recounts the rise and fall of Stephen Glass, the real-life journalist who ruined his career by writing fictional articles for The New Republic magazine. The film, set in scandal-frenzied Washington D.C. at the end of the Clinton era, portrays Glass (Hayden Christensen) as a mild-mannered, precocious, and .. Read more
| Starring | Hayden Christensen, Steve Zahn, Peter Sarsgaard, Rosario Dawson |
|---|---|
| Director | Billy Ray |
| Genres | Drama, Thriller |
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Shattered Glass
SHATTERED GLASS recounts the rise and fall of Stephen Glass, the real-life journalist who ruined his career by writing fictional articles for The New Republic magazine. The film, set in scandal-frenzied Washington D.C. at the end of the Clinton era, portrays Glass (Hayden Christensen) as a mild-mannered, precocious, and charismatic journalist whose successes quickly accrue. Glass is a darling to the magazine's staff and to the sources who feed his stories. But when Christopher Lane (Peter Sarsgaard), replaces editor Michael Kelly, Glass finds his work under much greater scrutiny. Glass's writing, in fact, has been fishy all along, and he is finally found out by an Internet-based media reporter (Steve Zahn) who does his own fact-checking, introducing the trope of what a good journalist can do. As more of the facts emerge, the film pits integrity, honesty, and trust against Glass and his desire to entertain. The film boasts a number of excellent performances from its youthful cast, and offers poignant commentary on the world of media.
| Starring | Hayden Christensen, Steve Zahn, Peter Sarsgaard, Rosario Dawson |
|---|---|
| Director | Billy Ray |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 30 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 20 Sep 2004 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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Hubris is at the heart of this true story about a high-flying young magazine journalist whose stellar scoops turn out to be figments of his imagination. Hayden Christensen, here thankfully released from the deadening direction of George Lucas, is unexpectedly excellent as a wheedling star reporter who masterfully manipulates his colleagues into helping him with his writing and defending him against his unpopular but rigorous editor, played with equal skill by Peter Sarsgaard. Debut director Billy Ray keeps the office-bound story rattling along like a good magazine article — appropriately enough since the director adapted it from a piece in Vanity Fair — and support is uniformly good, particularly from Steve Zahn and Hank Azaria. If there is a flaw, it's the screenplay's failure to provide any real explanation for Glass's motives, but with all the protagonists alive and no doubt armed with lawyers, perhaps that's not so surprising.
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Fast moving, slightly sanctimonious drama about unbridled ambition, based on a true story about a journalist who made up such stories as a teenager hacker blackmailing a software company.
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Most helpful member's review
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28 out of 29 people found this review helpful
Fancy something different ....
Fed up and bored with the usual buildings exploding ,time bombs being disabled with seconds to go ,the bad guy coming back to life after having been stabbed , shot and fallen 100 feet from a building , maniacal car chases and so on then you might enjoy this film.
There is no sex , no violence and.... err ... no action.
But it is a very enjoyable film with an unusual and refreshing theme.
It is well acted throughout and I recommend it. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Journalists Behaving Badly
This true story of a successful journalist who was found to have made up nearly all his stories was a much bigger scandal in the US than over here. After all, the revelation that reporters can sometimes be economical with the truth is not exactly earth-shattering is it?
It?s actually only when you watch the documentary short that goes with the DVD that you realise how far this journalists? fraud went; he was paid tens of thousands of dollars for his work when it was syndicated and he would often libel perfectly innocent people, causing great distress. Yet despite the fact that these facts are missing from the film, it is still surprisingly gripping for what seems such an innocuous topic.
But that?s not the reason most of us watch this film. No it?s because, the central character is played by Mr Darth Vader himself. Poor Hayden Christensen took a lot of criticism for his performance in the second Star Wars film. He seemed more like a Ewok trapped in the beams of a light-sabre than the incarnation of evil. Well, he?s certainly a lot better in this film. As the devious and lying reporter, Mr Christensen, performs with the sort of arrogance and wickedness that makes you realise what George Lucas saw in the first place. Maybe this bodes well for the final installment. -
News and features
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Christensen's brother arrested for assault
- 06 Sep 2009
Actor Hayden Christensen's producer brother Tove Christensen has been arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon. Christensen, 36, was arrested early on Wednesday morning (02Sep09) after dragging his girlfriend 30 feet (9.14 metres) as she clung to the side of his car after a heated argument, reports TMZ.com. Witnesses allege the Shattered Glass producer was behind the wheel when the unidentified woman reached in the vehicle to grab her purse, and Christensen hit the accelerator. The... Read more
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