“From the superintendent of Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen†might tell you everything you need to know about the sales pitch for Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant. Based on the true story of Mark Whitacre, played by Matt Damon, who blew the whistle on price-fixing policies at grain processing conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland, the film adapts the book of the same name by means of Kurt Eichenwald. But the trailer promises anything but a dry boardroom battle. Cut to ‘Flight of the Valkyries’ and pop song ‘Would I Lie To You?’ and featuring some great moments from co-stars Scott Bakula and Tony Hale, this looks like The Insider meets Top Secret. Watch the trailer after the jump.
In 1992, Whitacre confessed to an FBI agent (played through Bakula) that he and other company execs had fixed the price of lysine, a grain-based food to be added.. Soderbergh is evidently casting the story as a sharp, perhaps flat vile corporate comedy in which Whitacre is bipolar, bumbling and delusional. Whitacre worked with the FBI against all but three years, was responsible for hundreds of hours of audio and video inspection, and helped lock down what was at the time the largest price-fixing case in history. But he also stole $9m from ADM, and went to penitentiary for a longer boundary than any one of the execs he helped convict.
The Informant opens October 9, but there’s a good chance it devise show up in early September at the Toronto Film Festival. This is just the sort of non-commercial film that a studio like Warner Bros. loves to take to the fest. (See the TIFF debuts of Michael Clayton and The Assassination of Jesse James in ‘07 and RockNRolla and Appaloosa last year.) There are some other great bit players to look forward to in this one, too: Patton Oswalt, Joel McHale, Andrew Daly and Frank Welker are all on board.
See the trailer in acceptable definition below, or in high def at Apple.
[Dave's note: To examine judicially some incredible rendition of Whitacre's story, check out the digression of "This American Life" called "The Fix Is In"]
