Kill the Messenger - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Kill the Messenger or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Kill the Messenger

[lonnie]

This major motion picture's opening title card states: "CALIFORNIA 1996".

[violet]

Director Michael Cuesta commented: "Gary [Gary Webb, played in the film by Jeremy Renner] was like a Doberman. His scrappy, insistent way of getting at the facts, and his ardent belief in the public's right to know the truth, was paramount to him. He was a reporter of the people, of the proletariat. He had a pure sense of what truth and justice means. He was a real guy that liked punk bands and hockey. He was not afraid to go toe-to-toe with the bigwigs. We need guys like this, especially in today's labyrinth of media noise and reckless political media punditry."

[tom]

For the newsroom scenes, journalist Nick Schou sent along boxes of his files on the CIA's Contras / cocaine connection, which were vetted by the production, and then "used for set dressing purposes, appropriately enough," he noted.

[ivan]

Being in the newsroom scenes with Jeremy Renner was "exciting because you never knew exactly what Jeremy was going to say or how he was going to say it," revealed actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays opposite the actor as Mercury News editor Anna Simons. Winstead added: "Gary Webb would have people around him wondering, 'What's he going to do?' and Jeremy embodied that charismatic-rebel spirit."

[claude]

To get at the true story while also firmly placing it in a narrative context, screenwriter Peter Landesman had contacted source author Nick Schou before the latter's book was even published. Landesman began work on the script in 2006, culling material from the film's two source books, but also from his own research. Landesman recounted: "I was an investigative journalist for The New York Times Magazine for many years, and I came to realize that there are some stories that are simply just too true to tell; Gary Webb wanted to do his job and expose a corruption the government didn't want exposed, and the public, ultimately, was uncomfortable knowing. "This screenplay became a personal mission for me. Gary's not succumbing to personal and professional pressure to walk away from what he'd discovered, and the price he paid for holding his ground, is a cautionary tale among professional investigative reporters. Also, I had a similar experience with a 2005 Times Magazine cover story on sex trafficking and slavery that caused a similar firestorm. The difference was that the story, and I, were ultimately vindicated. Gary was a heroic, complicated, flawed man I could relate and connect to. His story needed to be a movie." Schou remarked: "As a former journalist, Peter had his own sources who could weigh in on all of this. But I made myself available to him to answer any questions he had about things I published, and things I hadn't published."

[morris]

Director Michael Cuesta commented: "Gary [Gary Webb] was accused of asserting that the CIA's objective was to drug the African-American community into submission but he never made such a claim. His accusers stooped lower still by tagging the community's reactions to Gary's revelations as being steeped in paranoia; this besmirching of an entire community just to discredit one man was grotesque."

[edgar]

Jeremy Renner and Robert Praglo have both co-starred in blockbuster films opposite Tom Cruise, Renner in Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol and Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, Robert Praglo in American Made (2017)

[charlie]

Various members of the cast and crew have admitted to receiving government-level "push back" to the film, both during filming and in post-production.

[carl]

Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt worked closely with director Michael Cuesta and production designer John Paino on the look of the movie. Bobbitt revealed: "We shot this movie on film, which gives a gravitas and scale that can be missing on digital. Because of the texture, film also gives 'Kill the Messenger' a feel which felt right and believable for this story of recent history, it was already the last century, yet it was less than twenty years ago . . . ".

[jesse]

Intelligence agencies featured and/or referenced in the film include the DEA and the CIA.

[jessica]

Actor Tim Blake Nelson, who portrays defense attorney Alan Fenster, said: "You're following Gary [Gary Webb played by Jeremy Renner] down this road as he uncovers a wealth of information. That makes you, as an audience member, want to know more yourself."

[linda]

Actor Michael Kenneth Williams, cast as convicted Stateside drug kingpin Richard Donnell "Freeway Rick" Ross, had worked with both director Michael Cuesta and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt prior to this picture and pointed out that "Michael cares about the scene as well as the shot. He's fun to work with because he loves actors and he'll film things guerrilla-style, which Sean can do so well."

[victoria]

Spike Lee expressed interest in directing the film before director Michael Cuesta signed on to direct Kill the Messenger (2014).

[ivan]

The name of the drug which was cocaine mixed with baking soda was "Ready Rock".

[tom]

Second cinema movie collaboration of actor Jeremy Renner and director Michael Cuesta who had previously collaborated on 12 and Holding (2005) around nine years earlier. Cuesta had also directed Renner in an episode of the television series The Oaks (2008) [See: The Oaks: Pilot (2008)].

[kylie]

Actor Lucas Hedges, cast as Ian, Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner)'s oldest child, concurred that "Michael [director Michael Cuesta] knows exactly what he wants, and he made sure to talk with me about the Webbs' father/son relationship, but he leaves you a little freedom to find it. What matters to him is your telling him what you're feeling about the scene; he wants to get at its reality, and it's always the actor first."

[lonnie]

Director Michael Cuesta noted: "Gary [Gary Webb]'s story was among the first to use the internet in a cutting-edge way. There were posted links to sources and references, essentially allowing the reader into Gary's notebook. What could be more transparent than that? Yet he was attacked, prey for mob mentality. He was a fighter; even with the piling-on, he landed some punches. The best journalists are soldiers, putting their reputations and their lives on the line every day. If there is a silver lining to Gary's journey, it would be that despite his downfall, he did get the CIA talking: he got a CIA Director to go in front of the African-American community, which was unprecedented. He actually made a difference, poking through the stonewalls of big media and big government."

[richard]

Lucas Hedges sought out advice from Jeremy Renner, who encouraged the young actor to be comfortable riding and re-tooling motorcycles because his character would be doing so on-screen. Hedges then "took riding lessons and researched the Triumph motorcycle, because that's what Ian rides in the movie. It's given to him by his father, so it's significant for both of them all through what they experience, a lot is shown by what they do, or don't do, with the motorcycle.

[nicholas]

Both Oliver Platt and Mary Elizabeth Winstead had important roles on the series Fargo (2014). He was cast in the first season and she was cast in the third.