Cate Blanchett‘s new film, Truth, just received a massive shot of free publicity, thanks to the U.S. TV network CBS, who have turned down millions of dollars in advertising revenue by refusing to show commercials for it.
The film, which co-stars Robert Redford, Elisabeth Moss and Topher Grace, tells the story of a 2004 scandal that engulfed the network and its flagship current affairs program 60 Minutes.
Two months before that year’s election, the show broadcast information that was highly critical of George W. Bush‘s service in the Air National Guard in the early ’70s, from documents that were later alleged to be forgeries.
Though anchor Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes insist that the information they broadcast was true, CBS failed to authenticate their copies of the documents, and the originals no longer exist, allegedly having been burned by the source.
The Hollwood Reporter say that CBS were offered millions of dollars to air trailers for the film alongside The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, CBS This Morning, The CBS Evening News and even 60 Minutes, but straight-up said no.
The film reportedly portrays Rather and Mapes (Redford and Blanchett, respectively) as dogged investigative reporters who were sold out by their corporate higher-ups, but those aforementioned corporate higher-ups are having none of it.
CBS spokesman Gil Swhwartz, who himself is portrayed by Australian actor Steve Bastoni in the film, gave a sassy-as-fire quote to The Hollywood Reporter, saying:
“It’s astounding how little truth there is in Truth. There are, in fact, too many distortions, evasions and baseless conspiracy theories to enumerate them all. The film tries to turn gross errors of journalism and judgement into acts of heroism and martyrdom.”
… and with that, a film that had little to moderate buzz is now dominating the conversation, as people wonder what has gotten CBS so spooked. Truth, which is out now in the U.S., does not yet appear to have an Australian release date.
via The Hollywood Reporter
Photo: Karwai Tang via Getty Images
Photo: Karwai Tang via Getty Images
