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The 20 best journalism movies
Sometimes the story behind a story can be just as compelling as the actual narrative itself. Cinema's rich history of films chronicling the real and fictionalized accounts of journalists chasing the stories they believe deserve to be told have continued to entertain us for years — investigating imbalances in power, newsrooms generating fraught relationships, and cynical writers learning to look at the world in a new way from the idealization of their subject. Through it all, tales of journalism are ripe for dramatic tension and complex characters.
As She Said hits theaters detailing the shocking story of the New York Times report by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor that exposed the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein and kick-started the #MeToo movement, we take a look at some of the best movies with the newsroom and reporting at the forefront. The films range from dramatic retellings of history's biggest breaking news stories, like Spotlight and All the President's Men, to 20th-century classics such as Citizen Kane and modern-day marvels like The Post. These are EW's picks, in no particular order, for the most memorable journalism movies.
<i>Spotlight</i> (2015)
Winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, Spotlight is an outstanding dramatization of the tenacious Boston Globe writers who investigated the shocking revelations of child molestation and cover-up in the Catholic Church. Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, and John Slattery are some of the high-profile actors who embody the true-to-life, painstaking journalistic efforts that shocked the world. Spotlight does an incredible job of showing the lengths investigative reporters go to when they feel passionate about a story.
<i>Almost Famous</i> (2000)
William Miller is a teenage boy who gets the chance of a lifetime to go on tour and write a Rolling Stone article about up-and-coming rock band Stillwater, but he soon learns that the real life of a rock star isn't as glamorous as it appears in this funny, heartfelt, 1970s-set coming-of-age story. Patrick Fugit stars as William accompanied by a perfect ensemble cast featuring Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, and Zooey Deschanel.
Almost Famous captures the complexity of writing so well in its excitement and disappointment that can come along with a story that isn't what it first seemed. Still, watching a frustrated band come together to sing Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" on their tour bus is a timeless moment of movie magic from director Cameron Crowe.
<i>Network</i> (1976)
Network follows a fictional television network, UBS, and the producers who exploit a deranged former anchor, Howard Beale, to continue his ravings and rantings about the media for their own profit. Peter Finch (who won the first, and still only, posthumous Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Beale), Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Beatrice Straight, and Ned Beatty are some of the stars that each give a tour-de-force performance in this Sidney Lumet-directed classic satirical dramedy that helped shape American film as a medium and remains one of the quintessential movies from the 1970s.
<i>Safety Not Guaranteed</i> (2012)
"WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid when we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed." Three magazine employees (Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni) go on an assignment to interview a man (Mark Duplass) who placed an advertisement seeking a companion for time travel in this indie flick from Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, the team behind Jurassic World. Safety Not Guaranteed puts characters first, allowing them to discover joy in pursuing the unimaginable, both physically and emotionally.
<i>Citizen Kane</i> (1941)
Orson Welles' magnum opus is well remembered for its pioneering cinematography and ambitious plot structure. The use of flashbacks effectively allows the audience to follow reporters trying to uncover the meaning of Kane's final word: "Rosebud."
With interviews and countless hours of research in the high-vaulted library room, Citizen Kane employs journalistic investigation to help propel the mystery forward in its discovery. It's easy to feel like an investigative journalist while trying to find out for ourselves what made the publishing tycoon tick.
<i>The Insider</i> (1999)
Russell Crowe and Al Pacino shine in this earnest and entertaining thriller about ex-tobacco industry chemist Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe), who comes under attack after breaking an NDA and appearing in a 60 Minutes piece on Big Tobacco produced by the show's Lowell Bergman (Pacino).
Director Michael Mann is a master of the crime drama, The Insider is no exception in his catalog of intriguing films that peel back the layers of those in power trying to stifle stories before they are told.
<i>The Year of Living Dangerously</i> (1982)
A year after his war film, Gallipoli, director Peter Weir re-teamed with his Australian star, Mel Gibson, in this historical drama about a reporter covering the political turmoil in Indonesia in the 1960s.
Gibson stars as a foreign reporter who falls in love with a British photographer, played by Sigourney Weaver. Juggling professional romance with political intrigue, The Year of Living Dangerously is a complex film about the lengths reporters will go to get the story they're after.
<i>Good Night and Good Luck</i> (2005)
George Clooney co-wrote, directed, and starred in this biopic about CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow (in a career-best performance from David Strathairn) who challenges the fear-mongering of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Clocking in at just above 90 minutes, Good Night and Good Luck tidily, and expertly, showcases the integrity of Murrow during a restless 1950s. Using archival footage of McCarthy helps place the film in a time and place and accurately display broadcast news in the middle of the 20th century.
<i>The Post</i> (2017)
When modern day events mirrored a similar threat to journalism and truth, Director Steven Spielberg fast-tracked his dramatic retelling of The Washington Post's involvement in the publishing of the Pentagon Papers that declassified over 20 years of government documents relating to the Vietnam War.
Starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, and Matthew Rhys, The Post is a powerful film of the first female newspaper publisher and her editors to ensure democracy took precedence over power and corruption
<i>Nightcrawler</i> (2014)
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a sociopathic con man who, armed with a video camera and a police scanner, dives into the LA crime world to make money and a name for himself. He deals with a TV executive (Rene Russo) to sell exclusive crime videos straight to the news, no matter the cost. Nightcrawler provides a thrilling look into the shady secrets of modern-age news with a pulse-pounding third act that shows all that can go wrong.
<i>The Parallax View</i> (1974)
While investigating the assassination of a presidential candidate, reporter Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) uncovers a secret organization that lurks in the shadows and deals in political assassinations. The Parallax View is a taut political thriller that puts a resolute reporter at the center of a story that shows the crucial role journalism plays in thwarting corruption.
<i>Shattered Glass</i> (2003)
Stephen Glass was a hotshot young reporter at The New Republic until it was discovered that he had fabricated over half of his articles. Hayden Christensen traded in his lightsaber for reading glasses as the infamous reporter who fell from grace in this impressively acted and intense drama — also starring Chloë Sevigny and Peter Sarsgaard — that sheds light on the importance of integrity and consequences of lacking any.
<i>The French Dispatch</i> (2021)
Distinctly Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch follows an American newspaper in a French town and the eclectic lives of the citizens that unfold in three uniquely charming tales. Hailed as a "love letter to journalists," Anderson's recent film is one of his best, weaving the prose and stories that makes journalists breathe.
The story unfolds in multiple acts that features an impressive cast including Timothée Chalamet, Benicio del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Owen Wilson, and too many others to name.
<i>His Girl Friday</i> (1940)
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell star in this workplace comedy about a newspaper editor who does everything in his power to stop his ex-wife, who is also one of his reporters, from remarrying. Aside from its famous and utterly memorable star leads, His Girl Friday was innovative for its sound design and the use of the now-commonplace overlapping dialogue. Eighty years later and the film's comedy and depiction of the newsroom holds up well.
<i>Zodiac</i> (2007)
When a serial killer in the Bay Area taunts police by sending letters and cryptic messages, an amateur cartoonist joins the investigative reporters in the spine-tingling case to find the murderer, starting an obsession that leads him to the brink of becoming a victim.
Jake Gyllenhaal joins Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, and Brian Cox in this expertly crafted thriller from David Fincher, which centers on the journalists in the newsroom in their terrifying quest for the unknown identity of the namesake killer that plays out with such tension that it haunts us long after the credits roll.
<i>All the President's Men</i> (1976)
Telling the infamous story of the breaking of the Watergate scandal, All the President's Men is a richly detailed and exhaustive fictionalization of the two famed reporters from The Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford step into the shoes of the inspirational reporters in a classic film that deftly walks us through the determination of Woodward and Bernstein as they unravel their story.
<i>Frost/Nixon</i> (2008)
On the other side of the Watergate scandal is Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard's exhilarating drama about the post-Watergate interviews between former President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen).
The two actors who originated the roles in London and on Broadway return to the big screen in a film that is superbly acted and earnestly detailed. Frost/Nixon smartly interweaves archival footage within these complex characters and their game of cat-and-mouse for the truth amidst political scandal.
<i>Philomena</i> (2013)
A septuagenarian joins a world-weary journalist to find her long-lost son who she was forced to give away by the Catholic Church over 50 years ago in this powerful true story. Judi Dench and Steve Coogan star in Philomena, an Oscar-nominated tale about two vastly different protagonists that sheds light on important societal differences in a lighthearted way. No matter how spent and over it the journalist Martin Sixsmith becomes, his profile subject has the power to inadvertently change his heart.
<i>Broadcast News</i> (1987)
Broadcast News interweaves complex narratives about the behind-the-screens dealings that make broadcast TV happen and the dimensional characters at the heart of the story. William Hurt, Albert Brooks, and Holly Hunter play three journalists in a love triangle, delivering memorable characters and an insightful look into the industry.
<i>Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy</i> (2004)
Great Odin's Raven! Is there a fictional anchor more of a big deal than the classy, mustachioed, number one local news anchor in San Diego? Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy immediately became a pop culture phenomenon in this quirky comedy from Adam McKay about an old-school news anchor who falls in love with his ambitious co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) in a male-dominated field. Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn, and Fred Willard round out the stellar cast in this oft-quoted comedy that is a surprisingly astute observation of the chauvinistic '70s workplace (and beyond).
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