As with Selma last year, there has already been backlash to “true story” films in 2015. Many close to Steve Jobs claimed the film of the same name fabricated many facts to up the drama. Now CBS, the network behind the news program 60 Minutes, is claiming the upcoming film Truth is missing many of the facts from the 2004 Rathergate scandal and won’t be running any ads for the film.
The film follows the scandal where 60 Minutes falsely reported that then-President George W. Bush, who was up for re-election at the time, used his father’s political standing to get himself out of the draft for the Vietnam War. The scandal resulted in producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett, Carol) and Dan Rather’s (Robert Redford, All the President’s Men) resignation.
“It’s astounding how little truth there is in Truth,” CBS Spokesman Gil Schwartz told the AP, ” 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 judgment into acts of heroism and martyrdom.”
While the lack of advertisements on CBS could hurt the film’s ability to reach their traditionally older audience (as well as football fans), the controversy could hurt the film’s awards chances. Many believe Selma‘s lack of Oscar nominations came from the controversy over the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson in the film’s depiction of the civil rights movement.
Truth is currently showing in New York and L.A. and will roll out to more cities in the coming weeks.
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