Synopsis

Nick Naylor is the polished spokesman for the tobacco industry, defending cigarettes with charm, wit, and carefully engineered arguments. As he battles an anti-smoking senator, courts Hollywood executives, and faces a dangerous kidnapping, Nick also tries to be a worthy father to his young son. His talent for persuasion makes morality seem negotiable, especially when the facts are inconvenient.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film adapts Christopher Buckley's 1994 satirical novel. Mel Gibson's Icon Productions acquired the screen rights before the book was published, but the project spent years without financing.

• The production was made for approximately $8.5 million, with much of the financing supplied by David O. Sacks, a former PayPal executive making his first feature-film investment.

• The screenplay was deliberately kept close to the novel's satirical tone. Studios had reportedly wanted a more conventionally moral ending in which Nick changed his ways and rejected his career.

• No one is shown smoking a cigarette in the film's contemporary scenes. Smoking appears only in older footage watched by the characters, reinforcing the movie's argument without turning cigarettes into visual product placement.

• The ice cream shown during the Ferris-wheel scene was actually mashed potatoes. The substitute held its shape better than real ice cream under hot movie lights.

• The production used real political locations and Washington, D.C., settings to give the lobbying and Senate sequences a more authentic atmosphere.

• Jason Reitman sent personal letters to his preferred cast members explaining why he thought each performer suited the role. His first choices accepted the parts.

• Sam Elliott initially wanted the Captain to refuse Nick's money. Reitman reportedly spent several hours persuading him to play the scene as written.

• Author Christopher Buckley makes a cameo as a man reading a newspaper article about Nick at a metro station.

• Elon Musk appears briefly as the man closing a car door as Nick boards a private plane. Musk owned the plane and also served as an executive producer.

• The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival before Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired its distribution rights.