Shattered Glass (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: May 19, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Billy RayRelease Date(s)
2003 (March 26, 2025)Studio(s)
Lions Gate Films (Imprint Films/Via Vision Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: A
Review
[Editor’s Note: This is a Region-Free Australian Blu-ray import.]
Dramas about journalism often border on mysteries as reporters dig for the facts in order to present verifiable accounts. All the Presidents Men, Spotlight, Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Insider all show the lengths to which reporters go to obtain as much accurate information as possible. Shattered Glass, in contrast, is the true story of a young reporter who makes a name for himself at a prestigious news magazine by fabricating engaging, detailed fictions and presenting them as factual.
Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones) writes for The New Republic. Affable and smart, he’s popular and respected among the staff. He enjoys the camaraderie at the office and is well regarded by the editor, Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria, The Simpsons Movie). The stories he pitches often are accepted and the articles he writes typically are published. When disagreements arise between Kelly and the magazine’s publisher, Marty Peretz (Ted Kotcheff, Weekend at Bernie’s), he fires Kelly and replaces him with staff writer Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard, The Batman). The other reporters have little rapport with Lane and resent this new arrangement.
Glass’ latest story, about a hackers’ convention, arouses the suspicion of online journalist Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn, Dallas Buyers Club), who has been covering hackers for years, and he contacts Lane to ask for clarification of many apparent discrepancies. Lane asks Glass to gather his notes for a conference call with Penenberg. In their lengthy conversation, Lane becomes uneasy about the story. He checks Glass’ notes and finds phone numbers and e-mail addresses that don’t pan out and facts that cannot be verified. Methodical in sifting through the evidence, he even asks to see the locations Glass wrote about. The staff are sympathetic to Glass, insist that his story was checked diligently, and feel that Lane is unjustly picking on the young reporter.
Writer/director Billy Ray has created a highly suspenseful tale based on these true events. Drama builds when suspicion about Glass’ story gives rise to his stand that, though some of his notes may have been sloppy, he got the facts right. Staff politics enter the equation because Lane replaced a well-loved editor and lacks the support that his predecessor enjoyed. Aware of this, Lane goes to extremes to make sure what he suspects is true—that Glass fabricated the entire story, including the event that it purports to describe.
Hayden Christensen is excellent as Glass. When we first see Glass, he’s at the top of his game, all charm and smiles as he ingratiates himself with his colleagues, joking with them, offering sympathy and coffee, and entertaining them in staff meetings. Glass is energetic, a terrific storyteller, but lacks confidence. He repeatedly reveals this by asking “Did I do anything wrong?” or “Are you mad at me?” Hayden perfectly conveys Glass’ social anxiety and need to belong. Later, when reality starts closing in on Glass, Christensen’s whole aspect changes as his character becomes increasingly frantic to defend his indefensible conduct by providing misleading phone numbers to nonexistent contacts and creating a fake corporate website. He seems unable to face reality and accept responsibility for having tarnished the magazine’s reputation.
Sarsgaard’s performance as Lane is mostly internal. Lane is a taciturn character, so doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but the camera on Saarsgard’s face reveals exactly what he’s thinking as the crisis unfolds. Concerned about lack of journalistic integrity, he’s also sympathetic, knowing this scandal could ruin a young reporter’s future. You can almost see the gears turning in Lane’s head as he comes to realize the extent of Glass’ duplicity.
Azaria, Zahn, and Chloe Sevigny (Love Is Blind) as a fellow reporter deliver first-class work in solid supporting performances in well-written parts. Ray’s script, based on an article by H.G. Bissinger, captures the vibe of a young, idealistic staff, the distinctive characters of these people, office politics, and especially Glass’ audacity and hubris contrasting with his insecurity, anxiety, and desperation. In an early scene, Glass’s first editor, Kelly, questions him about one fact in an article, stressing the responsibility of journalists to get all aspects of a story correct. Though this should have been a wake-up call to Glass, it apparently just signaled him to be more careful in his deceptions.
Shattered Glass was shot by director of photography Mandy Walker on 35 mm film with Panavision Panaflex Platinum cameras and Panavision Primo lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Clarity is mostly very good, though in some places the resolution isn’t up to the rest of the print’s standard. There are a few light scratches visible but no discernible dirt specks, emulsion clouding or other imperfections. In the sequence when Lane and Glass go to the locations claimed in Glass’ hackers-convention story, Montreal streets stand in for Washington, D.C.
There are two soundtrack options: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 LPCM. Subtitles are included in English SDH. Speech is clear and distinct in this dialogue-driven drama. There isn’t much in terms of directional movement, with most sound centered. Ambient office noise establishes a believable magazine office environment, and voices and messages on telephones are crucial to the plot. Michael Danna’s score is alternatively lighthearted and tense, as dictated by the scene.
Bonus materials on the Region-Free Blu-ray release from Imprint Films include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Billy Ray and Chuck Lane
- Evolution and Education (28:28)
- Every Quote, Every Detail (17:14)
- Editorial Integrity (20:46)
- 60 Minutes Interview with Stephen Glass (12:36)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:13)
Audio Commentary – Writer/director Billy Ray and Chuck Lane, former editor of The New Republic, discuss the film, its depiction of Stephen Glass, and the filmmakers’ careful efforts to present an authentic version of events. Lane speaks about his personal relationship with Glass, office politics when he was editor, and how the revelation of the fabricated stories Glass wrote impacted the magazine. They speak about journalistic integrity and why Glass’ story is so fascinating. Ray discusses Hayden Christensen’s performance and how pleased he was with it. He talks about Peter Sarsgaard’s ability to convey his thoughts merely through facial expression as he puts together information that he’s garnered from Glass himself as well as an outside journalist. The film is very much about a fall from grace, career embarrassment, and self-destruction. Ray and Lane speculate as to Glass’ motives in going to such extremes when he knew how diligently the publication fact checked to ensure that stories were error-free. Having the real Lane, a major character in Shattered Glass, contribute his thoughts adds considerable heft to the commentary.
Evolution and Education – In this interview with writer/director Billy Ray, he notes that he enjoys telling true stories. He was disappointed with his work prior to Shattered Glass, his first feature film. “Are you mad at me?” was a key line and a hook to Glass’ character. He thought, “What happens if the least popular kid in high school takes down the most popular kid?” A screenwriter has a buffer between eventual success or failure, and that buffer is the director, so Ray was eager to direct in order to protect his vision. He talked to many established directors before undertaking the responsibility and asked for advice. The actors, knowing Ray wanted a confident performance, were trusting and dedicated. “It was surrounding Hayden with race horses and watching him keep up.” Ray has made other films about real people, but most were heroes. Glass’ story is fascinating because “we’re a nation of second chances.”
Every Quote, Every Detail – Producer Craig Baumgarten was at Fox when Billy Ray pitched an idea for a film that was never made. The film Hidden Assassin had a terrible script, so Ray was hired to rewrite it. The article about Glass in Vanity Fair attracted Baumgarten, who understood the pressure Glass was under to succeed. The project was sold to HBO originally, but a new regime at HBO no longer wanted it. Ray made a formal pitch to direct. A decision was made never to talk to Stephen Glass. Baumgarten and Ray took responsibility for making everything in the script 100% accurate. They sat with lawyers and looked at every scene. The film was shot in Montreal for tax purposes and had a limited release. Hayden Christensen was hot because he had just been in his first Star Wars movie and was about to make his second. “Every day was about getting things right.”
Editorial Integrity – Editor Jeffrey Ford says that as kids, he and his friends made Super-8 movies in his back yard. He points out similarities between journalism and filmmaking. The Yards was his first film. It needed re-cutting, went through several previews, and was eventually nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes. He was drawn to Shattered Glass because of how different it was and because it dealt with many of his interests. Before the Internet, magazines were a major source of information. The film changes tone in photography, music, and point of view. Ford speaks about challenges in editing certain sequences. In the final scene, Glass has to face up to what he’s done.
60 Minutes Interview – Steve Kroft interviews the real Stephen Glass, introducing the story as the “greatest journalistic fraud.” Glass notes that a few lies led to completely phony articles. He confesses that he loved the electricity of people loving his stories, and he was “aching to please.” By 1998, he was earning more than $1000,000 a year. Glass’ method of fact checking is explained. For every lie, there was a series of lies. Chuck Lane explains how he tried to corroborate Glass’ story. After the scandal at The New Republic, Glass received a law degree and wrote a book called The Fabulist, about a young journalist who makes up stories. A critic of Glass says “he’s a worm. His contrition is a career move... we got really suckered.”
Shattered Glass is an absorbing exploration of journalistic integrity. The success of the film hinges on its fine screenplay and superb performances by Hayden Christensen and Peter Sarsgaard. The film addresses not only a reporter’s basic responsibility, but a line that can never be crossed. The editor is an unlikely hero, a man who knows that a young reporter’s career is at stake yet must not only consider the reputation of his own publication, but also defend a basic principle of journalism.
- Dennis Seuling