Shattered Glass is a 2003 American drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Billy Ray. The screenplay is based on a September 1998 Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair (magazine)

Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...

article by H. G. Bissinger

H. G. Bissinger

Harry Gerard Bissinger III, also known as H. G. Bissinger and Buzz Bissinger , is an American journalist and author, best known for his non-fiction book Friday Night Lights.-Early life and education:...

. In it he chronicled the rapid rise of Stephen Glass's journalistic career at The New Republic

The New Republic

The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

during the mid-1990s and his steep fall when his widespread journalistic fraud was exposed. The film is based on real events and also captures the high-pressure world of national political journalism as well as being a character study of sociopaths.

The film stars Hayden Christensen

Hayden Christensen

Hayden Christensen is a Canadian actor. He appeared in Canadian television programs when he was young, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. He moved on to minor acting roles before being praised for his role of Sam in Life as a House, for which he was nominated for a Golden...

, Peter Sarsgaard

Peter Sarsgaard

John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...

, Chloë Sevigny

Chloë Sevigny

Chloë Stevens Sevigny is an American film actress, fashion designer and former model. Sevigny gained reputation for her eclectic fashion sense and developed a broad career in the fashion industry in the mid 1990s, both for modeling and for her work at New York's Sassy magazine, which labeled her...

, Hank Azaria

Hank Azaria

Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...

 and Steve Zahn

Steve Zahn

-Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...

.
A wide-eyed Stephen Glass is seen wandering through a trade fair

Trade fair

A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...

 featuring Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky

Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...

 memorabilia.