Mike Wallace Is Here

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.

Mike Wallace Is Here
Directed byAvi Belkin
Produced byRafael Marmor
Peggy Drexler
John Battsek
Avi Belkin
Chris Leggett
StarringMike Wallace
Edited byBilly McMillin
Production
companies
Drexler Films
Delirio Films
Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment
Release date
CountryUnited States
Box office$277,589[1][2]

The film premiered on 27 January 2019 at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for Grand Jury Prize – Documentary. After the premiere, the film was nominated for Best Documentary at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Docaviv, and Cleveland International Film Festival. The film has received positive reviews from film critics, with review-aggregation websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic giving a 94% and 73% of positive reviews, respectively.

Synopsis

Mike Wallace Is Here follows the career of American journalist Mike Wallace. It depicts Wallace as he starts the show 60 Minutes and experiments with its format. He interviews celebrities including Bill O'Reilly, Donald Trump, Ruhollah Khomeini, and Oprah Winfrey, shown through archive footage of the show.

Cast

Other appearances:[3][4]

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".[5] He approached CBS News, producer of 60 Minutes, which provided Belkin with more than 1,400 hours of archival footage,[6] including "never-before-seen footage of Wallace prepping for interviews, chatting with colleagues and pontificating about his life's work".[5] This was the first time CBS News had allowed someone to use their 60 Minutes archival footage.[7] Belkin spent several months watching Wallace's interviews, writing down the ideas he had,[8] and then spent about a year editing the film alongside Billy McMillin and his team.[6]

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. But it also made his character so much more compelling because you saw him overcome those difficulties in his life.

— Avi Belkin, Cinema76[7]

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".[9] The title also hints to the ongoing legacy that Wallace leaves with the viewing of this archival footage.[5]

Release

Mike Wallace Is Here premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2019. It was nominated for Grand Jury Prize – Documentary.[10] The film had a special screening on 16 July 2019 in the United States.[11]

Box office

In its opening weekend, Mike Wallace Is Here was screened in three theatres, grossing $19,437 with an average of $6,479 per theatre.[1][12] In its second weekend, the film was screened in 21 theatres, grossing $49,129 with an average of $2,339 per theatre. In its third weekend, the film was screened in 32 theatres, grossing $38,550 with an average of $1,205 per theatre. In its fourth weekend, it grossed $51,935, with an average of $1,332 per theatre.[13]

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 80 reviews, and an average rating of 7.57/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As solidly compelling as its subject's best reporting, Mike Wallace Is Here is a worthy tribute and an engrossing look at the changing landscape of modern news".[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, rated the film 73 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]

Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "This is a time capsule—an expertly crafted time capsule—of an astonishing career".[16] Leah Pickett of Chicago Reader wrote: "Director Avi Belkin employs many creative strategies to reveal the inner workings of Mike Wallace, the formidable reporter best known for grilling celebrities and political dignitaries on 60 Minutes".[17] Josh Modell of The A.V. Club wrote: 'To be blunt—which Wallace, who died in 2012, always was—Mike Wallace Is Here is fascinating but scattered, and never quite decides what its target should be".[18] Amy Nicholson of Variety wrote: "As Belkin's brisk and compelling documentary fades to black, the director seems to hope that the Wallace quotation audiences cling to isn't one of his fanged questions, but his optimism for the profession to which he dedicated his life".[19]

Lisa Jensen of Good Times criticised the film, writing that "Belkin never really discovers the man behind the public persona. Nor does he find (in what must have been hundreds of hours of footage) any particular 'aha!' moment with an interview subject that would cap Wallace's legacy".[20] Norman Wilner of Now wrote: "Maybe that's Belkin's point: that contemporary journalism has settled for easily digestible, context-light sound bites rather than discourse or dialogue that's intended to find the inarguable truth of a thing".[21] Nora Lee Mandel of Film-Forward wrote: "Director Avi Belkin's debut English-language feature documentary opens with its most intriguing setup and then takes a while to reach that insight again".[22]

Accolades

In 2019, the film won Video Source Award awarded by International Documentary Association.[23] Mike Wallace Is Here received various nominations including, Grand Jury Prize – Documentary at Sundance Film Festival, and Sheffield International Documentary Festival.[10][24] The film was also nominated for Best International Film at the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival,[25] Best Documentary at the Cleveland International Film Festival,[26] Phoenix Award at Film Festival Cologne,[27] Best Archival Documentary, and Best Biographical Documentary at the Critics' Choice Movie Award,[28] and Outstanding Achievement in Editing at Cinema Eye Honors.[29]

Year Award Category Result Ref(s).
2019 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize – Documentary Nominated [10]
Sheffield International Documentary Festival Grand Jury Award – Best Documentary Nominated [24]
Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival Best International Film Nominated [25]
Cleveland International Film Festival Best Documentary Nominated [26]
International Documentary Association Video Source Award Won [23]
Film Festival Cologne Phoenix Award Nominated [27]
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Documentary Feature Best Archival Documentary Nominated [28]
Best Biographical Documentary Nominated
2020 Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Achievement in Editing Nominated [29]

References
  1. "Mike Wallace is Here (2019) – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. "Mike Wallace Is Here (2019) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  3. "Before Jim Acosta, There Was Mike Wallace". National Review. 24 July 2019. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  4. "Mike Wallace Is Here". Moxie Cinema. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  5. "Behind the scenes of the new documentary about '60 Minutes' legend Mike Wallace". From the Grapevine. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  6. "'Mike Wallace Is Here' Filmmaker: Doc Tells a "Bigger Story" About Broadcast Journalism". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  7. "Interview with Mike Wallace Is Here Director Avi Belkin". Cinema76. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  8. "'He Was Just Relentless': Director Avi Belkin On 'Mike Wallace Is Here' Documentary". CBS Boston. 24 July 2019. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  9. "Mike Wallace is here". CBS News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  10. Brooks, Brian (26 July 2019). "Awards-Hopeful Documentaries 'Mike Wallace Is Here', 'Honeyland' & 'For Sama' Hit Theaters – Specialty Box Office Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  11. ""Mike Wallace Is Here" Screening". wbur. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  12. "Weekend Box Office Results for July 26–28, 2019 – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  13. "Mike Wallace is Here (2019) – Weekend Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  14. Mike Wallace Is Here (2019), archived from the original on 24 July 2019, retrieved 17 August 2019
  15. Mike Wallace Is Here, retrieved 17 August 2019
  16. Roeper, Richard (1 August 2019). "'Mike Wallace Is Here': Footage from the past says it all in insightful bio of a journalism great". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  17. Pickett, Leah. "Mike Wallace Is Here". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  18. Modell, Josh. "Mike Wallace Is Here tells a fascinating cautionary tale, but tells it too late". Film. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  19. Nicholson, Amy (27 January 2019). "Sundance Film Review: 'Mike Wallace Is Here'". Variety. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  20. Jensen, Lisa (13 August 2019). "Film Review: 'Mike Wallace Is Here'". Good Times Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  21. Wilner, Norman (7 August 2019). "Review: Mike Wallace Is Here delivers an editorial collage of the veteran journalist". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  22. "Mike Wallace Is Here". film-forward.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  23. "International Documentary Association (IDA) announces Leah Remini as Truth to Power winner and more". AwardsWatch. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  24. "Sheffield Doc/Fest: Sheffield International Documentary Festival". Sheffield International Documentary Festival. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  25. "Mike Wallace Is Here – Docaviv 2019". דוקאביב 20 Docaviv. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  26. "Cleveland International Film Festival (2019)". IMDb. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  27. "Film Festival Cologne (2019)". IMDb. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  28. "Fourth Annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Nominations Unveiled". SHOOTonline. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  29. "Outstanding Production - Cinema Eye Honors: 'American Factory,' 'Apollo 11' Lead Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
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