Le mystificateur (2003)

Chloë Sevigny: Caitlin Avey

Photos 

Quotes 

• Caitlin Avey : [in the lobby of their office building]  What the hell did you do to Steve? He called me from his car, hysterical. I asked him what was wrong, he said, "ask Chuck?"

  Chuck Lane : [shouting]  I fired him, okay? Not suspended, fired. Because this wasn't an isolated incident Caitlin. He cooked a dozen of them, maybe more. And we're going to have to go through them, you and I. We're going to have to go through all of them, now.

  Caitlin Avey : No, the only one was Hack Heaven. He told me that himself.

  Chuck Lane : If he were a stranger to you, if he was a guy you were doing a piece about, pretend that guy told you he'd only did it once. Would you take his word for it? Of course not! You'd dig and you'd bury him! And you'd feel offended if anyone told you not to.

  Caitlin Avey : Every one of those pieces was fact-checked, they were all...

  Chuck Lane : So was Hack Heaven!

  Caitlin Avey : [pause] 

  Chuck Lane : You're a good reporter. You've always been such a smart and thorough reporter, why can't you be one now?

  Caitlin Avey : Cause what you're telling me just is impossible, Chuck.

  Chuck Lane : Go upstairs. Read 'em again.

  Caitlin Avey : This is bullshit!

  Chuck Lane : And make sure you go all the way back, because half of them ran when Mike was still here.

  Caitlin Avey : That's what this is. Of course. I mean, what are you going to do, Chuck, pick us off, one by one? Everybody that was loyal to Mike, till you have a staff that belongs to you? Is that the kind of magazine you want to run?

  Chuck Lane : Caitlin, when this thing blows, there isn't going to be a magazine anymore. If you want to make this about Mike, make it about Mike. I don't give a shit. You can resent me, you can hate me, but come Monday morning, we're all going to have to answer for what we let happen here. We're all going to have an apology to make! Jesus Christ! Don't you have any idea how much shit we're about to eat? Every competitor we ever took a shot at, they're going to pounce. And they should. Because we blew it, Caitlin. He handed us fiction after fiction and we printed them all as fact. Just because... we found him "entertaining." It's indefensible. Don't you know that?

  Chuck Lane : [Chuck leaves] 

• Stephen Glass : [sarcastically]  If I were to throw a party where all we did was play "Monopoly," would you guys come?

  Caitlin Avey : [jokingly]  Could I be the little shoe?

  Stephen Glass : Of course.

• Amy Brand : [talking privately]  Have you noticed the way Steve's phone has been ringing lately? Did you see all those editors at the correspondence dinner? The way they were circling him?

  Caitlin Avey : Is that what you want, Amy? To get a bunch of smoke blown up your ass by a pack of editors?

  Amy Brand : [seriously]  Yes. Yes it is.

• Stephen Glass : [Pitching his next article]  Every station on the radio is talking about it. Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield. And these are supposed to be news stations. So on Tuesday, I started calling a few of them, and I finally got through to one, a Bible-talk station in Kentucky. And I managed to convince the screener that I was a behavioral psychologist who specializes in human-on-human biting. I told the guy that I'd done all this extensive research on people who chomp flesh under extreme stress.

  Caitlin Avey : What did they say?

  Stephen Glass : They put me on the air. I took calls for 45 minutes.

• Stephen Glass : [Pitching his next article to his editor with his colleagues listening]  Is anyone interested in hackers? Uh, because I met this kid named Ian Restil. Biggest computer geek of all time. He hacked his way into the database of a company called Jukt Micronics and posted naked pictures of women and the salary of every Jukt employee on Jukt's website with a note saying, "the Big, Bad, Bionic Boy has been here, baby!" The guys at Jukt decided that it would be cheaper to hire him as a security consultant than it would be to try to stop him. So they met with him last week at the hotel where the National Hackers' Conference was taking place. It was the chairman from Jukt, Restil, Restil's mother, and Restil's agent.

  Caitlin Avey : No.

  Stephen Glass : Yes. Hackers have agents, too. All right... I was at the table with these guys. Restil's just laying out all of his demands,

  Ian Restil : [In "flashback"]  I want a Miata.

  Stephen Glass : "I want a trip to Disney World."

  Ian Restil : I want X-Men comic book number one.

  Stephen Glass : "I want a lifetime subscription to Playboy."

  Ian Restil : And throw in Penthouse.

  Stephen Glass : And they're complying with every single word.

  Jukt Executive : Excuse me, sir, pardon me for interrupting. We can arrange more money for you, and you can buy the comic book yourself. And when you're of a more appropriate age, you can buy the car and, uh, pornographic magazines on your own.

  Ian Restil : [nods at his agent]  Cool.

  Stephen Glass : After that, after they have the meeting, he goes back into the conference, where all these hackers have gathered. And they're treating him like he's a rock star. Then, Restil jumps up on a table, and he's like...

  Ian Restil : I want a Miata!

  Stephen Glass : [demonstrating]  He starts gyrating his hips like this. "I want a Miata! I want my Playboys. I want a trip to Disney World."

  Ian Restil : [simultaneously with Glass]  Show me the money!

  Stephen Glass : [simultaneously with Restil]  "Show me the money! Show me the money!"

  [sits down] 

  Stephen Glass : Turns out there are now twenty-one states considering versions of a law called the "Uniform Computer Security Act," which would criminalize immunity deals between hackers and the companies they've torched. Meanwhile, Restil's agent claims a client list of over three hundred... one of whom was once paid a million dollars and a monster truck.