Thank You for Smoking

This article is about the film. For the novel, see Thank You for Smoking (novel).

Thank You for Smoking
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jason Reitman
Screenplay by	Jason Reitman
Produced by	David O. Sacks Edward R. Pressman
Starring	Aaron Eckhart Cameron Bright Katie Holmes Maria Bello David Koechner Rob Lowe Adam Brody Sam Elliott William H. Macy J.K. Simmons Robert Duvall
Cinematography	James Whitaker
Edited by	Dana E. Glauberman
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Production companies	Room 9 Entertainment ContentFilm
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates	September 9, 2005 (2005-09-09) (TIFF) January 20, 2006 (2006-01-20) (Sundance Film Festival) March 17, 2006 (2006-03-17) (United States limited release)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$39,232,211

Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 political satire film directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart. The film is based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley, which follows the efforts of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son. Supporting roles are portrayed by Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons and Robert Duvall.

The film was released in a limited run on March 17, 2006, and had a wide release on April 14. As of 2007, the film has grossed a total of more than $39 million worldwide. On November 24, 2006, NBC announced that it is developing a television pilot based on the film. The film was released on DVD in the US on October 3, 2006, and in the UK on January 8, 2007.

Plot

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a handsome, smooth-talking tobacco lobbyist and the Vice President of a tobacco lobby called The Academy of Tobacco Studies, which for fifteen years has been researching the link between nicotine and lung cancer. They claim that their research—funded primarily by tobacco companies—has found no definitive evidence of the linkage. Naylor's job consists mainly of reporting the Academy's questionable research to the public and defending Big Tobacco on television programs by questioning opposing health claims and advocating personal choice. Naylor and his friends, firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss (David Koechner) and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey (Maria Bello), meet every week and jokingly call themselves the "Merchants of Death" or "The MOD Squad".

As anti-tobacco campaigns mount and numbers of young smokers decline, Naylor suggests that product placement of cigarettes could once again boost cigarette sales. Naylor's boss, BR (J.K. Simmons), sends Naylor to Los Angeles to bargain for cigarette placement in upcoming movies. Naylor takes along his young son Joey (Cameron Bright) in hopes of bonding with him. Throughout their trip, Naylor teaches Joey about the beauty of argument. Naylor is also sent to bribe Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliot), the cancer stricken man who once played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads and is now campaigning against cigarettes. Naylor offers Lutch a suitcase of money for his silence and, though disgruntled, Lutch agrees.

Vermont Senator Finisterre (William H. Macy), one of Naylor's most vehement critics, is the promoter of a bill to add a skull and crossbones warning to cigarette packaging. During a televised debate with Finisterre, Naylor receives a death threat from a caller. Despite the threat, Naylor still plans to appear before the U.S. Senate to fight Finisteere's bill. Naylor is then kidnapped and covered in nicotine patches, causing him to nearly die of nicotine poisoning. Naylor awakes in a hospital where he is told that his smoking habits have resulted in a high nicotine tolerance level and have saved him, but that he is now hypersensitive to nicotine and can never smoke again.

Meanwhile, Naylor has begun a steamy fling with a young reporter named Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes). Believing he can trust her, Naylor tells Holloway all about his life and career as they make love. However, after Naylor’s kidnapping, Holloway publishes an article that relentlessly bashes Naylor and his work at the Academy. It exposes Lutch’s bribe, the secret plans for product placement, and the MOD squad as well and accuses Naylor of training Joey to follow his amoral example. Following the article, all public sympathy for Naylor’s kidnapping evaporates, and BR fires Naylor in an attempt to distance the Academy from negative press.

Unemployed and publicly hated, Naylor falls into depression until his son Joey helps him recall the integrity in his job of defending corporations that almost no one feels deserve a defense. Rejuvenated, Naylor tells the press about his affair with Holloway and promises to clear the names of everyone mentioned in her article. He also declares that he will still appear before the U.S. Senate on the packaging bill, even without the backing from the Academy. At the Senate hearing, Naylor admits to the dangers of smoking but argues that public awareness is already high enough without extra warnings. He emphasizes consumer choice and responsibility and, to the dismay of Senator Finisterre, claims that if tobacco companies are guilty of all tobacco related deaths then perhaps the state of Vermont is also guilty in their high production of cheese caused cholesterol related deaths.

Impressed by Naylor’s speech, BR offers Naylor his job back, but Naylor publicly refuses to work for his backstabbing boss. Heather Holloway, ruined by the public humiliation of Naylor’s confession of their affair, is reduced to working as a local weather girl. The Academy is dismantled soon after the trial, and Senator Finisterre begins working to digitally remove cigarettes from classic films. The MOD Squad still meets weekly, now with the addition of lobbyists for fast food, hazardous waste and oil drilling. In the footsteps of his father, Joey wins a school debate using lessons his father taught him. Naylor opens a firm to train lobbyists to improve the public image of other scrutinized institutions. Naylor opens a private lobbying firm, in which we see him continuing on the same path, telling a trio from the telecom industry: "Gentlemen, practice these words in front of the mirror: Although we are constantly exploring the subject, currently there is no direct evidence that links cellphone usage to brain cancer. "

Cast

• Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, a smooth talking spokesmen for the Academy of Tobacco studies. Naylor uses spin to win over the accusers of Big Tobacco and tries to convince the world that smoking is not conclusively unhealthy.
• Cameron Bright as Joey Naylor, Nick's son who is in many ways just as clever as Nick.
• Maria Bello as Polly Bailey, a member of the MOD Squad and a spokesmen for the alcohol industry.
• David Koechner as Bobby Jay Bliss, a member of the MOD Squad, and a spokesman for S.A.F.E.T.Y (Society for the Advancement of Firearms in Effective Training for Youth).
• Katie Holmes as Heather Holloway, an attractive reporter for the Washington Probe with whom Nick has a brief sexual relationship, which comes back to haunt him.
• William H. Macy as Senator Ortolan Finisterre, a liberal Democratic senator from Vermont who is trying to get the skull and bones picture put on cigarette packs.
• Robert Duvall as the Captain, the founder of The Academy for Tobacco Studies. He came up with idea of putting filters on cigarettes, which saved the tobacco industry.
• J.K. Simmons as "BR", Nick's boss at the Academy. BR is a Vietnam veteran and his actual name is never revealed because, according to Nick, the only people who know what "BR" stands for were killed in Vietnam.
• Marianne Muellerleile as Joey's school teacher.
• Kim Dickens as Jill Naylor, Nick's ex wife.
• Rob Lowe as Jeff Megall, a Hollywood superagent.
• Adam Brody as Jack, Jeff Megell's enthusiastic assistant.
• Sam Elliott as Lorne Lutch, the original Marlboro Man who is dying of cancer.

Director Jason Reitman asked many of his prospective actors and actresses to be in the film by writing each of them a personal letter. Every one of his first choices accepted their part and most thanked Reitman for his letter. Reitman was also to persuade Eckhardt, Holmes, Macy, and Lowe to sign on to the film with minimum pay.

Production

Mel Gibson's Icon Productions bought the rights to Buckley's novel prior to its release. Initially, Gibson saw himself as starring as Nick Naylor in the adaptation. However, due to the satiric nature of the book, the studio lacked a way to film it and the project lacked a usable script. Reitman became interested in heading an adaptation after reading the book, and independently wrote a draft for Icon executives after he discovered they owned the rights to the film. Reitman saw himself as a comic writer with a voice similar to Buckley's, and consciously attempted to maintain the satiric flavor of the book for his draft. The script was received favorably by Icon, and Gibson called Reitman to tell him how much he loved it. But over the next three years, the project languished due to a lack of financing and big studio interest, as most studios wanted Reitman to rewrite his script to include a more anti-smoking and uplifting ending. According to Reitman, studios wanted Naylor to have a change of heart by the film's end and repent for his past.

It was only after meeting David O. Sacks, who had made his fortune as founder and former COO of the Internet payment company PayPal, that Reitman found a financier for his script. A first time producer, Sacks spent over a year trying to acquire the rights to the film from Icon. He financed most of the film’s $8.5 million budget and let Reitman keep most of his original draft. The project marked Reitman's first feature length film as a director, though he previously directed short-features and commercials and had worked on the set of his father, Ivan Reitman, also a director.

During the filming, Reitman made the conscious decision to omit any smoking of cigarettes. The only scenes that include smoking are older films the characters watch, such as when John Wayne lights up in Sands of Iwo Jima.

Before the film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, internet rumors claimed that an extended nudity scene between Eckhart and Holmes had been cut down due to pressure from Holmes' husband, Tom Cruise. Reitman and executives denied that such a scene had ever existed but welcomed the publicity it garnered for the film. Reitman later said that "Half the questions that I've been getting are thoughtful questions about the moral of lobbying and how does satire work. And the rest is just, 'Is there actually any nude footage out there?'"

Controversy also erupted after the film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. Thank you for Smoking was met with tremendous popular reception and afterward disputed claims emerged as to who had signed a distribution deal with Sacks. Fox Searchlight and Paramount Classics both issued competing press releases claiming that they had secured rights for the film's distribution. Sacks later claimed that he never reached a firm deal with Paramount, and noted that Fox Searchlight had offered $7 million for distribution, while Paramount Classics offered $6.5 million. Allegedly, Sacks called Paramount at 1:15 a.m. saying he was uncomfortable with their initial deal. Ruth Vitale, co-president of Paramount Classics said "He can't resell the film" and noted "I can only think that because of his naiveté and inexperience he would do this."

Release

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 174 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.3 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Delightfully unscrupulous characters and searing cynicism prick all sides of the anti-smoking issue with hilarity and intelligence." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 73%, based on a sample of 37 reviews. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 71 based on 36 reviews. Rolling Stone rated the film 3.5/4 stars describing it as an "acutely hilarious film". USA Today gave a rave review: "The razor-sharp satire Thank You for Smoking is the wittiest dark comedy of the year thus far. It has appeal to all sides of the political spectrum". The review praised the film for a "quirky and intelligent rarity that elicits wry smiles and hearty laughs alike". The magazine also compared the tone of the film reminiscent of the 1999 film Election. It was also warmly received by the Los Angeles Times, who called it a "very smart and funny movie" and said that it had been "shrewdly" adapted to film from novel.

Box office performance

Thank You for Smoking initially opened at the box office in the U.S. as a limited release in just five theaters, and grossed $262,923 in its debut weekend for an average of $52,584 per theater, making it the one of the top 100 average gross per theater films of all time. The film was later released in 1,015 theaters across the U.S. on April 14, 2006, and has gone on to gross $24,793,509 domestically in and $14,529,518 outside the country, for a total of $39,323,027 worldwide. The highest it ever rated at the North American box office was #8 on the weekend of its wide release. Although the film's box office performance was excellent for Reitman's directorial debut, it pales in comparison with his next two films, Juno and Up in the Air, both of which went on to make well over $150,000,000 worldwide.

Criticism

The main contention most critics had with the film was its lack of continuity. Karina Longworth of Cinematical notes "Thank You For Smoking has a vague emotional arc, but narratively it plays out like a constellation of sitcom sketches, connected by the most tenuous threads of character evolution", while Empire observes "the problem's not so much with the movie's aim, as with the number of targets it's aiming at." Other reviewers criticized the film's overacting. Manhola Dargis of The New York Times notes "although he steers his cast through its paces with facility, he tends to oversell jokes that were already plenty loud in the book." Other comments come from The Hollywood Reporter: "While often entertaining, the film keeps hitting the same comic notes" and Salon: "The actors here are entertaining enough to watch, even if they sometimes seem to be taking their mission (whatever they think it is) a bit too seriously."

While Thank You for Smoking the book was praised as a sharp criticism of both anti-smoking lobbyists and the tobacco industry, the film has received more mixed reviews on its satirical content. Steve Palopoli of Metro Silicon Valley writes that "no matter" how much the hype machine might hard-sell the idea that the movie 'skewers both sides of the issue', any child old enough to recognize Joe Camel can tell that underneath the sarcastic joking, this is a bitterly anti-smoking film." Palopoli goes on to say "the supposed case against the anti-smoking lobby has been reduced mostly to some limp jokes at the expense of William H. Macy's senator character, who is fervently against the tobacco lobby". Many felt the film’s relatively sappy ending negated the slicker, darker tone of the book. The Washington Post’s Desson Thomson thought that "as written and directed by Jason Reitman, 'Smoking' is filtered too heavily with moral redemption."

Reitman has maintained his purpose was to match the tone and satirical message of the book as closely as possible. "What I wanted people to think about was political correctness. I wanted them to think about ideas of personal responsibility and personal choice. I think cigarettes are a wonderful location for that discussion because cigarettes are something we know all the answers to", he posits. "I wanted to look into this idea of why we feel the need to tell each other how to live and why we can't take personal responsibility for our own actions when we fall ill from things that we know are dangerous." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon agrees with Reisman, "Despite its title, the movie doesn't come packaged with a strong anti-smoking message, because it doesn't need to: Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, including people who continue to do it." The film is generally considered to be politically correct enough to avoid offending any one side of the debate.

There is no point during the film at which any of the characters smoke. Dargis of The New York Times unwittingly states, ""Thank You for Smoking" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes mild violence, discreet sex and, of course, countless cigarettes". In the film, even Robert Duvall's filtered cigarette maverick "The Captain" is shown repeatedly drinking mint juleps rather than smoking cigarettes. Some critics argue that Reitman's reluctance to show the characters smoking is further confirmation of the film's anti-smoking stance. Reitman has issued statements disagreeing with this view. He said in an interview that "While it's not anti-smoking, it's very important people don't think that this is a pro-smoking movie. It's about freedom of choice." Buckley said about the decision to omit smoking that "[I]t was very deliberate, and I think rather cool."

Industry reaction

The tobacco industry itself has been reluctant to take any sides or comment on the film. When New York Times reporter Michael Jankowsky contacted an Altria publicist about the tobacco giant's reaction, she "hesitated to respond, insisting that the film looks dated and poorly reflects the industry with depictions of tobacco executives as highly paid sleazeballs." Though Thank You for Smoking pokes fun at the industry, the novel it was adapted from is a much harsher critic of tobacco lobbyists, and the major tobacco companies have mostly kept quiet on the issue.

Awards

Thank You For Smoking did not receive a wide variety of nominations from the major award circuits, however, it did garner two Golden Globe nominations in its year, for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor in the same film genre for Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Nick Naylor. The Broadcast Film Association recognized Cameron Bright for his performance as Joey with a nomination for Best Young Actor, and also gave the film itself a nomination in the Comedy category. Jason Reitman received the Best Directorial Debut award from the National Board of Review.

Soundtrack

The Thank You For Smoking soundtrack was released April 14, 2006 and the CD came out on April 18, 2006. The first nine tracks are popular songs about smoking taken from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The famous track "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" opens the movie. The final four tracks are instrumentals from the original score of Rolfe Kent, who had been nominated for best original score for his work on Sideways. All Music wrote that "The thread is obvious, but the selections sound handpicked rather than researched solely on the basis of their subject matter." Other critics have called the soundtrack "demented."

Untitled

Track listing

1. “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)”—Tex Williams—2:54
2. “Smoke Rings”—The Mills Brothers—2:55
3. “Greenback Dollar”—The Kingston Trio—2:52
4. “Little Organ Fugue”—The Swingle Singers—2:23
5. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”—The Platters—2:40
6. “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray”—Patsy Cline—2:16
7. “Cigarettes and Whisky”—Ramblin’ Jack Elliott-2:02
8. “Cigarettes and Coffee”—Otis Redding—3:52
9. “Another Puff”—Jerry Reed—4:06
10. “Intro & Tobacco One”—Rolfe Kent—3:02
11. “Donate It & Sex Back in Cigarettes”—Rolfe Kent—3:01
12. “Joey & Drums of Doom”—Rolfe Kent—2:59
13. “Spanish Epilogue Revisited”—Rolfe Kent—3:00
14. “Wind of Change”—Scorpions—5:11

DVD release

The DVD was released on October 3, 2006 by 20th Century Fox, with both a widescreen and fullscreen edition. Each DVD contains two commentaries, one exclusively with Reitman and another with Reitman, Eckhart, and Koecher. Other extras include thirteen deleted scenes, a Charlie Rose Interview, a making-of featurette, America: Living in Spin featureette, a poster gallery, and art gallery. While the film was previously released on the now defunct HD-DVD format, it has not yet been released on Blu-Ray.

Proposed television series

It was reported on November 24, 2006 that NBC planned to create a television series based on the movie. Sack headed the adaptation as executive producer, with Rick Cleveland attached as head writer. After NBC passed on the project, it was brought to NBC's cable network, USA. James Dodson was set up as head writer as well as co-executive producer alongside Sack. USA's chief programming excutive Jeff Wachtel initially described the character as living between the morally ambiguous character of the movie and Robin Hood. The series planned to adopt a different title and sought to start where the movie left off. The project never materialized and no official series of the movie has since developed. However, ABC's recent show Better off Ted has been described as a "TV-sized version of Thank You For Smoking".

External links

• Official website
• Thank You for Smoking at IMDb
• Thank You for Smoking at AllMovie
• Thank You for Smoking at Rotten Tomatoes
• Thank You for Smoking at Metacritic
• Thank You for Smoking at Box Office Mojo