The Insider
directed by Michael Mann / shot by Dante Spinotti
“The unlimited checkbook. That's how big tobacco wins every time on everything, they spend you to death. Six hundred million a year in outside legal - Chadbourne-Park, uh, Ken Starr's firm, Kirkland & Ellis? Listen, GM and Ford, they get nailed after eleven or twelve pickups blow up, right? These clowns have never, I mean ever...”
“Not even once.”
“... not even with hundreds of thousands dying each year from an illness related to their product, have ever lost a personal injury lawsuit! On this case, they'll issue gag orders, sue for breach, anticipatory breach, enjoin him, you, us, his pet dog, the dog's veterinarian, tie 'em up in litigation for ten or fifteen years, I'm telling you, they bat a thousand every time! He knows that, that's why he's not gonna talk to you.“
/
“I can’t seem to find the criteria to decide. It’s too big a decision to make without being resolved in my own mind.”
“Maybe things have changed.”
“What’s changed?”
“You mean since this morning?”
“No, I mean since whenever.”
/
“And you wish you hadn’t come forward? You wish you hadn’t blown the whistle?”
“Yeah, at times I wish I hadn’t done it. There were times I felt... compelled to do it. If you ask me would I do it again, do I think it’s worth it? Yeah, I think it’s worth it.”
