How did Mark Whitacre’s story get made into the movie, The Informant? A great question, and here’s the answer.
Screenwriter, Scott Z. Burns (who later wrote the screenplay for Bourne Ultimatum, which Matt Damon also starred in), was rumored to have been driving down the road in his car and listening to NPR’s “This American Life” a popular radio program on National Public Radio hosted by Ira Glass. On September 15, 2000, Glass’s program, “The Fix Is In,” aired. Mr. Burns is rumored to have been so captivated by what he heard that he pulled his car over to the side of the road to listen to the rest of the radio show without distraction. The rest, as they say, is history.
In “The Fix Is In,” Mr. Glass interviews (a) Mark Whitacre, who was by then already in prison, (b) Kurt Eichenwald, the former investigative reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES who wrote THE INFORMANT (Broadway Books, 2000), which became the basis for the screenplay which in turn became the basis for the movie, (c) Robert Herndon, the FBI agent who was one of Whitacre’s handlers, and (d) James Mutschnik, the Chicago-based U.S. Attorney who initially brought the price-fixing case against ADM. Burns allegedly (I have not confirmed it) called his friend Matt Damon and said, “we gotta make a movie out of this.”
Enjoy listening to this fascinating podcast/audio stream here.
