{"id":4437,"date":"2011-03-28T10:58:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T09:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=4437"},"modified":"2011-03-28T10:58:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T09:58:57","slug":"the-china-syndrome-day-nineteen-40movies40days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/the-china-syndrome-day-nineteen-40movies40days\/","title":{"rendered":"The China Syndrome – Day Nineteen – #40movies40days"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jane Fonda (Klute, Julia) plays a television news reporter who is not taken very seriously until a routine story at the local nuclear power plant leads her to what may be a cover-up of epic proportions. She and her cameraman, played by Michael Douglas (Wall Street, American President), hook up with a whistleblower at the plant, played by Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger, Missing). Together they try to uncover the dangers lurking beneath the nuclear reactor and avoid being silenced by the business interests behind the plant. Though topical, the film (produced by Douglas) works on its own as a socially conscious thriller that entertains even as it spurs its audience to think.<\/div>\n
In the film, Jane Fonda\u00a0plays an attractive Power of Ambition<\/a> television reporter who has been hired mostly for her looks and pleasant manner on camera. \u00a0She reports on funny human interest stories, cute animal stories and other charming “local color” stories for a local television station.<\/div>\n
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Fonda wants to advance her career, be taken seriously as a reporter and cover more substantive news but she believes the way to get along is to go along. \u00a0 She’s not one to stand up to or antagonize her bosses. \u00a0Over the course of the story her backbone stiffens and she pursues an important story at the potential cost of her career.<\/div>\n
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Michael Douglas is a Power of Truth<\/a> freelance camera man. \u00a0He is a 60’s radical hardened into a 70’s skeptic. \u00a0He has no problem with being outspoken, even belligerent, and he is quick to dig deeper and take matters into his own hands against his bosses’ instruction. \u00a0He sees conspiracies and threats around every corner. \u00a0(Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.)<\/div>\n
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When filming a puff piece on “energy in California” the two visit a nuclear power plant and are witnesses to some kind of accident. \u00a0It’s unclear exactly what happened and the company line is that it was a “potentially costly event that was swiftly contained.” \u00a0Reviewing the footage and the strength of the company’s reaction (and their strong-arming tactics with the television station) prompt Fonda and Douglas to believe a cover-up of epic proportions is underway.<\/div>\n
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