Mike Wallace Is Here

Mike Wallace Is Here (2019)

For over half a century, 60 Minutes' fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world's most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Wallace's storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today’s precarious tipping point.

Date of release
2019-07-26
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 30m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Avi Belkin

Casting

Interesting facts

Mike Wallace Is Here is a 2019 biographical documentary film directed by Avi Belkin. It was produced by Rafael Marmor, Peggy Drexler, John Battsek, Avi Belkin, and Chris Leggett, under the banner of Drexler Films, Delirio Films and Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment. The film follows the life and career of American journalist Mike Wallace, using never-before-seen archival footage of the journalist preparing for and speaking about his work.

Production

Director Avi Belkin told From the Grapevine: "I had this idea. I wanted to do a Mike Wallace interview with Mike Wallace. But Mike was obviously dead, so I had an idea of doing this through the archives". He approached CBS News, producer of 60 Minutes, which provided Belkin with more than 1,400 hours of archival footage, including "never-before-seen footage of Wallace prepping for interviews, chatting with colleagues and pontificating about his l…

Belkin said he did not plan to explore Wallace's personal life. He explained:

I knew the surface-level stuff about Mike. Meaning, he was this legendary newsman and tough interviewer. But that's it. So I really didn't expect to see so much depth to his personality. The fact that he was prone to depression. The fact that he was so insecure. That he lost his son in a tragic accident in Greece. That he tried to commit suicide. All of those things were amazing to discover.

The film title refers to the legendary fear that Wallace's name evoked in his interview subjects. According to Belkin, these were "the four most-dreaded words in the English language back then". The title also hints to the ongoing legacy that Wallace leaves with the viewing of this archival footage.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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