The Informant! is an upcoming 2009 dark comedy thriller film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and based on the 2000 non fiction book The Informant, by journalist Kurt Eichenwald. The script was written by Scott Z. Burns and the film stars Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale and Melanie Lynskey.

Plot summary

The Informant! is about Ivy League Ph.D. Mark Whitacre (Damon), a rising star at Decatur, Illinois based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in the early 1990s who wound up blowing the whistle on the company’s price-fixing tactics. Matt Damon portrays the bipolar whistleblower in the film as Whitacre displays bizarre behavior including recklessness and grandiosity.

One night in early November 1992, the high-ranking ADM executive confessed to FBI agent Brian Shepard (Bakula) that ADM executives — including Whitacre himself — had routinely met with competitors to fix the price of lysine, a food additive. As the highest-ranked executive to ever turn whistleblower in US history, Whitacre secretly gathered hundreds of hours of video and audio over several years to present to the FBI.  He assisted in gathering evidence by clandestinely taping the cartel’s activity in business meetings at various locations around the globe such as Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, and Hong Kong. During Whitacre’s undercover work that spanned almost three years, the FBI collected hundreds of hours of video and audio tapes that documented crimes committed by high-level executives from around the world fixing the prices of food additives in the largest price-fixing case in history at the time.

In the upcoming film — a dark comedy/thriller in director Steven Soderbergh’s hands — Whitacre’s good deed dovetails with his own major infractions and struggle with bipolar disorder.  The film focuses on Whitacre’s meltdown resulting from the pressures of wearing a wire for three years. In a stunning turn of events immediately following the covert portion of the case, headlines around the world reported that the whistleblower defrauded $9 million from his own company at the same period of time he was secretly working for the FBI and taping his co-workers. Because of this major infraction and Whitacre’s bizarre behavior, he was sentenced to a prison term three times longer than the white-collar criminals he helped to nab. However, ten years later (2008), the former FBI supervisor of the price fixing case, Dean Paisley (played by Allan Havey), with backing from the two other FBI agents and a former prosecutor, went public with praise about Whitacre. “Had it not been for the fraud conviction, he would be a national hero”, Paisley stated. “Well, he is a national hero”, he further stated.

Production

In 2002, after completing Ocean’s Eleven, Soderbergh announced his intent to adapt the book The Informant by Kurt Eichenwald, a former journalist for the New York Times. Scott Z. Burns wrote the script based on the book.

Production began in May 2008 in Decatur, Illinois. Filming was also done at the former Whitacre mansion in Moweaqua, Illinois, a small town about 25 miles from Decatur. Some exterior shots were done in Mesa, Arizona in November 2008. The film will be released on September 18, 2009.

Damon gained 20-30 pounds for the role in order to look like the doughy Whitacre.

Cast

Matt Damon portrays Archer Daniels Midland executive, Mark Whitacre.

Scott Bakula portrays FBI agent Brian Shepard.

Joel McHale portrays FBI agent Robert Herndon.

Melanie Lynskey portrays Mark Whitacre’s wife, Ginger.

Thomas F. Wilson portrays Mark Cheviron.

Allan Havey portrays FBI Supervisor Dean Paisley.

Jimmy Pardo and Paul F. Tompkins announced on episode 309 of the Never Not Funny comedy podcast that they both have unannounced parts in the film.

Scott Adsit portrays Sid Hulse.

Eddie Jemison portrays Kirk Schmidt.

Clancy Brown in an undefined role.

Tony Hale in an undefined role.