“Fair Game” Screening Honors LAC Supporters

Legal Action Center supporters were the honorees at an Oct. 6 director's premiere of "Fair Game," the newest film by director and LAC board member Doug Liman. The movie, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, centers on the events surrounding the exposure of CIA operative Valerie Plame's covert identity in the national media in 2003. It opens in select theaters on Nov. 5.

The event was an exclusive screening for supporters of the Legal Action Center, founded by Doug's father, Arthur Liman, and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale University. Mr. Liman dedicated much of his life to public service, including -- among many other accomplishments -- serving as Chief Counsel to the Attica investigation and Senate Counsel for the Iran Contra investigation.

"We are very grateful to Doug for recognizing the Legal Action Center at the opening of each of his past four films," said Paul Samuels, LAC's director and president. "This movie in particular resonates for us, as it depicts the impact of violations of privacy and basic human rights on the lives of Ms. Plame and Mr. Wilson. While of a very different nature, violations of rights and privacy also plague the clients of the Legal Action Center -- people with histories of addiction, criminal records or HIV/AIDS -- as they encounter discrimination when seeking jobs, housing, health care, and other necessities of life."

Doug Liman, left, and Paul Samuels before the screening.

Held at the Paris Theatre on West 58th Street in Manhattan, the screening was just blocks from the red carpet premiere happening simultaneously at the Museum of Modern Art. An added bonus for the crowd at the Paris Theater was the post-screening discussion panel with Mr. Liman, Valerie Plame Wilson, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Arthur Liman Professor of Law Judith Resnik, and Emily Bazelon of Slate Magazine.

In one particularly lively moment while discussing the movie's depiction of the events leading up to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Mr. Liman posed a question to the Wilsons: What about the contention by some in the White House that the CIA was to blame for the rush to war?

"There are some deep-seated problems with the intelligence community -- that's a conversation for another time," Ms. Wilson said, conceding that after Sept. 11, there were knee-jerk reactions from all corners. But, adding to Mr. Wilson's point that the CIA doesn't make the decision to go to war, she said, "It's so easy to blame the CIA, because what are they going to say: nothing! That's the easy way out."

On a lighter note, Ms. Resnik asked what the panelists would have liked to see more of in the film.

"Everyone knows that I'm a spy junkie," Mr. Liman said, referencing some of his earlier films. "I would have loved to have spent more time watching Valerie in the field, and watching the dynamics of how a marriage works when you maybe can't tell your husband when you're going to be home."

Indeed, the couple faced hard times, Mr. Wilson said, but "if there's a moral to the story, it's that good citizenship counts, and you can survive it."

A special treat for the audience after the screening: A panel discussion with, from left, Doug Liman, Valerie Plame Wilson, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Emily Bazelon of Slate Magazine and Arthur Liman Professor of Law Judith Resnik.

Many thanks to Doug Liman and Summit Entertainment for making this event possible.

 

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