Photos: Gene Young
That was actress Kate Beckinsale at the D.C. premiere of her new film, “Nothing but the Truth,” hosted by Capitol File on Thursday. The film is based loosely on the story of Judy Miller, who went to prison rather than reveal her source in the Valerie Plame leak case.
Beckinsale told us she spoke to Miller about her experience, as well as “several female reporters at the L.A. Times.” She also relied on her director, Rod Lurie, who was once a reporter himself.
So how similar were the situations of Miller and Beckinsale’s fictionalized character? “I think [Miller] was in a bit more of an upmarket prison than I was in the movie,” said Beckinsale.
She didn’t claim to be an expert on the whole Plame affair, but said she had “followed it as closely as I do when reading anything in the newspaper.”
So how would she have reacted if she was placed in her character’s situation? “I would have caved immediately,” she said with a smile. “I’m an actress.”
Speaking of being in that situation, we asked Matt Cooper for his opinion on the film. Then a reporter for Time, Cooper also declined to reveal his source on the case, but didn’t see the inside of a jail cell.
“I really disliked Rod Lurie’s other Washington film, ‘The Contender,'” said Cooper, “but I thought this was pretty good at capturing the moral ambiguity of the whole affair.”
