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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRemember Gary Webb?
I'm hoping Hollywood won't fuck up his amazing story:
Democracy Now segment reg. his suicide (at around 45:30):
me b zola
(19,053 posts)Thanks for the post.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)Consider yourself lucky if you're simply dismissed as a crackpot. Countless others have met far worse fates.
I hope I never forget Gary Webb. I was living in the Bay Area when those stories broke. I remember them well.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)at the very least, that someone in hollywood thought this was the time to tell this story, actually says something about the times we live in. finally we're looking back on the Reagan years and realizing just how criminal they were.
doesn't matter if it brings in box office, or if it's a work of art. it's being MADE. wow.
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)sexier, and more of a "leading man" in the sex scandal department...and his paramour, another Jennifer, was sexier, too. And, face facts--sex sells.
http://tca-reference-desk.blogspot.com/2004/04/jennifer-fitzgerald-described-as-george.html
...He had never been a compulsive womaniser. Rather, he maintained a few flirtatious relationships which his wife Barbara had tolerated because he never humiliated her. He chose his involvements very carefully (usually out of town) so as not to threaten his marriage.
Then along came Fitzgerald, who started out as his secretary and became so much more. Short, blonde and pretty, Jennifer Ann Isobel Patteson-Knight Fitzgerald was 42 years old and divorced when Bush first met her in Washington during the tumultuous months of the Watergate scandal. He was chairman of the Republican National Committee; she worked for one of the committees officials.
Professionally, Bushs move from Washington to Beijing would enhance his credentials as he clawed his way to the presidency; but personally it would discombobulate his 30-year-old marriage, prompt his wife to burn her love letters and eventually lead to her severe depression.
It wasnt just another woman, said someone close to the situation, discussing the wedge that came between Bush and Barbara. It was a woman who came to exert enormous influence over George for many, many years . . . She became in essence his other wife . . . his office wife. ..... I dont know what particular skills she brought to the job, recalled one former member of the mission. She certainly couldnt type. ...
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)Mention Jennifer Fitzgerald and you'll get blank looks from nearly everyone. Mention Gennifer Flowers on the other hand...
MADem
(135,425 posts)You'd think that they were actually being (gasp) a bit POLITICAL in their selective outrage!
Whoodathunkit?
ReRe
(10,597 posts)lame54
(35,295 posts)progressoid
(49,992 posts)Just saw this a couple weeks ago:
valerief
(53,235 posts)progressoid
(49,992 posts)Perfect. Expose some of the Reagan/Bush era slime.
karynnj
(59,504 posts)The cocaine and arms came into an airport in Arkansas. I would guess that the Arkansas government knew the actions were connected with the CIA and for that reason prudently ignored it.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)elias49
(4,259 posts)Thanks?
karynnj
(59,504 posts)however, we all know the various RW CT - which are really nasty as well as untrue.
I did hesitate a long tome writing this - it SHOULD be something that reflects on GHWB (no, I don't believe he had just left the room whenever the Contras were spoken about) and Reagan. Given that Reagan did have Alzheimer's he might have been truthful when he spoke of not knowing that he had approved things with Iran that it was proven he did.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)I most certainly do! And I do NOT believe he committed suicide. This is one movie I'm going to drag my nearest and dearest family and friends to see.
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)However, I think it's almost certain that he was driven to suicide.
Either way you look at it, he lost his life because he told the truth.
(The same applies to J. H. Hatfield, I might add.)
Webb's situation was not quite as dodgy as Danny Casolaro's for example, where the verdict of suicide seems pretty ridiculous.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... (Gary Webb) an offer he couldn't refuse. Like they wasn't going to do him in, but go after his dearly beloved family if he didn't do it for them. And he knew they meant it. Will be interesting how the movie depicts his demise in the end.
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)By then, the damage was done:
He wrote one of the most important stories of the 1990s and yet couldn't even land a job at a daily paper. He couldn't support his family and he lost his house.
Some of us may be made of sterner stuff, but, frankly, I think this would be enough to push a lot of people over the edge.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... as there are stars in the sky. Gary Webb may be dead, and maybe some here are too young to remember or weren't even born yet, but Mr Gary Webb and his story lives on.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Sad to say, his San Jose Mercury News was sold to something called Bay Area News Group. Its highest and best use these days is as cat box liner.
elias49
(4,259 posts)I look forward to this.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)and the San Jose Merc. Unambiguous message: You're too close.
Response to Guy Whitey Corngood (Original post)
grasswire This message was self-deleted by its author.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)How many have we never heard of?
Delphinus
(11,835 posts)Will look at this later.
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)yodermon
(6,143 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Thanks for the heads-up, Compay! Look forward to seeing the film.
DU remembers Gary Webb:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6267541
DU remembers the Big Players, too:
Know your BFEE: Dope Dealers & Money Launderers
Anyone who wonders why banksters and money launderers seldom go to jail should remember Gary Webb, too.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)....if you have not heard the story of Sante (Sandy) Bario, I urge you to look it up for your files. Tangentially, his first wife worked in the WH press office, and his second wife's attorney (trying desperately to protect Sandy from his own rogue agency after he was poisoned) is Richard ben Veniste (a highly connected Watergate prosecutor).
777man
(374 posts)777man
(374 posts)10.6.14 Q&A: NKU Kill the Messenger premiere panel discussion
http://www.thenortherner.com/news/2014/10/06/qa-nku-kill-the-messenger-premiere-panel-discussion/
Photo by Kody Kahle
(PHOTO)
Michael Cuesta, Scripps CEO Rich Boehne, and Sue Bell-Stokes take part in a panel discussion lead by President Mearns after an NKU screening of 'Kill the Messenger'.
Q&A: NKU Kill the Messenger premiere panel discussion
Carrie Crotzer, Sports Editor
October 6, 2014
Filed under News
After a special NKU screening of Kill the Messenger on Thursday Oct. 2, President Mearns lead a discussion panel with Michael Cuesta, director of the film, Sue Bell-Stokes, Gary Webbs ex-wife, and Scripps CEO Rich Boehne.
Mearns focused the discussion on a feedback of the movie from the three different perspectives that each panelist hold.
Mearns: Sue a question for you, do you think this film has vindicated Gary Webbs reputations? And if so, did you think this day would ever come?
Bell-Stokes: I did think this day would come, I always thought that he would be vindicated. I talked to Gary about it, probably the last time in 2003, and we had a conversation about it, and he really truly thought that there had been movie deals that we had discussed, or had been in the works, and had some fall thru. And I said I think one day a movie will be made, and youll be vindicated. And he said No, its not going to ever happen, no one cares, and itll be an old story and no ones going to pay attention to it. And I said, I think it will.
Maybe because it was so wrong what happened to him, and I knew he was right, and I knew it was a great story, and he was a great reporter.
Mearns: So what was it like, you supported Michael and others in the production of the film, what is it like after that work is done, to see your family and yourself portrayed in film?
Bell-Stokes: It means a lot to me, and I found it comfortable with the producers, and Focus Features, and with Michael, and Jeremy playing Gary, I felt comfortable with it. My family and I had discussions before we signed to Focus, you know
Peter Landesmen had written a wonderful script, I trusted him, I trusted Michael, I trusted Jeremy Renner, I felt comfortable where I trusted Focus. I knew they would to the movie the way we it needed to be done to vindicated Gary, and to tell the truth, what really happened. So you have to tell that story in two hours, so obviously things have been changed a little bit and certain things didnt happen in that time frame, but once again you have to tell the story in two hours, so you have to condense things a little bit. But I think they did a great job.
Mearns: Michael, so a question for you. Youve had extraordinary experience, extraordinary success in both film, directing and producing, as well as some very accomplished television dramas. Taking off on what Sue said, what challenge of taking a very complex story, a story that was complex at many levels, personal, professional, political, and telling that story in a two hour time frame?
Cuesta: That was the hardest thing about making the film for me. When Peter Landesman did the patient he got whats in the film is the script and basic structure, as far as the investigation, the turning point, going out of Garys point of view, and seeing the machine build up and see how it out of control, and then seeing it on the defensive to clarify what he really wrote and to see him sticking to the story as the
I focused on that, that was the structure, and from him the character, from Gary Webb, its more subjective, and I had to get on his shoulders emotionally, and at the beginning of the film which is very much a procedure
Its sort of a heroes journey as far as your dramatic structure.
Mearns: So Rich, let me ask you a question. The movie portrays a newspaper, and on the one hand theres this very constructive relationship, the partnership between a reporter, an editor, and management, and then as it starts to fall apart, that partnership becomes adversarial. Was that an accurate portrayal in your extensive experience?
Boehne: Yeah, it was. I could hardly sit, I thought it was intense, I thought it was realistic, the tensions in the newsrooms, youve got to get it right, youve got to get sources. I thought it was just very hard to watch, as we talked about earlier, the scene in the awards program and how you told that story was just really difficult to watch. I thought you really got it right as to how the newsroom works.
Mearns: Where is the future of investigative journalism? Where is it going?
Boehne: Well, its under duress. If you think about a market like Cincinnati today, when I was at the post, there were several hundred reporters who were on the streets, today I dont know how many reporters there are, but its probably a third of what it was. But the economics are difficult, and the papers, many of them have disappeared, including the post. And investigative reporting, theres just not near enough of it. I think this is an opportunity for us to look in the mirror and say, We need to step up.
Mearns: Michael, you were talking about the film was really based upon a character, how does that change the dynamic of you, a director, of working with the leading actor, Jeremy Renner, does it change your relationship?
Cuesta: Jeremy didnt do a lot of research. I know the family sent me a bunch of videos, and I mean Gary wasnt in a lot of it, but I watched them, and I just wanted to submerse myself in it. Jeremy didnt watch a lot of it. I think he trusted me, and he just wanted to know emotionally where the character was, and then he says the words, thats how a lot of actors work.
Mearns: So Sue, some of the most moving scenes for me, where the scenes where Gary interacts with your oldest son, so how does he feel about it, because that relationship between a father and a son is so important?
Bell-Stokes: Ian has seen the movie twice, all the kids have, and they love it. And I was relieved that they loved it
they were moved by it. The relationship they show, Ian wasnt that old at the time, they made his character older, and Peter Landesman did that because youre trying to show this father-son relationship, and thats easier to do with an older son. And they have that relationship with the bikes, and that was after Ian was 16, and that was a very important part of their relationship. So Peter would take parts of Garys timeline and move them around, so I think it was important.
Mearns: So Rich, as I mentioned earlier, you knew Gary as a young reporter, at that time were you able to anticipate the trajectory of Garys career?
Boehne: At that time we were freshman and sophomores falling asleep in class, so
I mean he jumped in quick, and was very passionate about what he did. I pulled some of Garys files at Scripps which we still have, and I was reading a lot of the stories that we he wrote, and I enjoyed reading some of the comments back and forth, between Gary and his editors, and there was this one great line, Hey look, I didnt become a newspaper man to make friends. And its just a classic journalism line.
Mearns: Michael, what are you hoping to accomplish as you think about the film, beyond just its artistic complex, is there something that you hope this film will accomplish?
Cuesta: I didnt make the film to accomplish anything, but you know its funny, a filmmaker doesnt realize their movie until youre very close to finishing it at the end. So what I found in the end was that, with the story that we told, that he made a sacrifice, and the film goes off like that, and he kept going and kept going to keep this thing alive, and its not as satisfactory in the end, because I like to think that theres some power in vindication, but he got people talking. He got the CIA director to that town hall meeting, and he got the CIA to release two reports on what happened. So I see that as a thing of. See it does work, and dont give up, and we need guys like this.