By Kim Velsey 11/26/12 1:19pm

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

The billionaire's building.

Money and Manipulation: Documentary Takes On the Super-rich Residents of 740 Park

The opening shots of Park Avenue: Money, Power and The American Dream show the famed avenue in all its moneyed glory: idling Mercedes, impeccably coiffed society women and stern limestone facades with white-gloved doormen stationed outside like sentries. It is a vision so lofty that it is almost otherworldly—can the vast majority of Americans even conjure this up as the apex of the American dream, let alone attain it?

It’s a question that director Alex Gibney revisits repeatedly in his documentary about the growing gulf between the rich and poor and how that gulf has been widened by the political manipulations of the country’s wealthiest citizens. Read More

By Max Abelson 11/23/10 4:41am

Requiem for a Banker

There was a peculiar buzzing sound coming from somewhere inside the Credit Suisse meeting, a mildly annoying vibrating bleep. Paul Calello, the bank’s commodities and derivatives chief, checked his briefcase. The buzzes got louder.

His daughter had decided to send her Tamagotchi toy pet to work with him, and it was hungry. Mr. Calello stopped Read More

By Reid Pillifant 5/03/10 8:19pm

When Alex Met Donald

Filmmaker Alex Gibney has a post on his Atlantic page about what should have been a very awkward encounter with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld–who he accused of sanctioning torture in his documentary Taxi to the Dark Side–at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

But Mr. Rumsfeld was in a good mood, so he smiled Read More

By Azi Paybarah 4/26/10 8:12pm

Disgraced Public Figures

Defending Mr. Spitzer, Sort Of

Everybody knows how it ends. But nobody really knows why he did it.

The new documentary (still unnamed) about Eliot Spitzer opens with a commercial from his 2006 campaign for governor, in which the booming voice of Mr. Spitzer says that he walked, as attorney general, into the “buzz saw” of Wall Street’s corruption guided Read More

By Christopher Rosen 4/26/10 3:41pm

Dispatches from Tribeca: Alex Gibney’s Other (Other) Documentary

After Alex Gibney’s untitled and unfinished Eliot Spitzer documentary—inevitably using the working title of Client 9—premiered to raves on Saturday night, My Trip to Al-Qaeda might feel like an afterthought. For one thing, Al-Qaeda is already ticketed for cable—HBO picked it up and plans to premiere it in the fall—and for another, it isn’t nearly Read More

By Jimmy Vielkind 4/24/09 6:12pm

In Search of Eliot Spitzer, Via Fred Dicker

ALBANY—Alex Gibney, the noted documentary filmmaker behind Gonzo and The Smartest Guys in the Room, was on the third floor of the Capitol today with a film crew, focusing on New York Post State Editor Fred Dicker.
“I’m doing a project on the rise and fall, and possible redemption of Eliot Spitzer,” Gibney said. Read More