"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" is one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking documentaries I've ever seen. Based on the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron" by "Fortune" reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the documentary paints a vivid picture of the moral vacuum at the company's highest levels, focusing particularly on Chairman Ken Lay, CEO Jeff Skilling and CFO Andy Fastow.
The DVD version of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" is being released on January 17, 2006, in anticipation of the upcoming fraud and conspiracy trial of Lay and Skilling, which is scheduled to begin January 30. Fastow has already pleaded guilty to criminal charges and is expected to be a key witness at the trial.
On January 13, 2006, I spoke with Alex Gibney about the "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" DVD.
IR: How did it come about that you became the writer, director and co-producer of a documentary about Enron?
AG: As it happens, my sister-in-law, who works at "Fortune," gave me the book by Peter and Bethany. And that's what made me want to do the film because, you know, instead of just being a story about numbers and arcane financial transactions, it was a story about larger-than-life people. It was kind of an American mythic story. It was very funny. It was very dramatic. And it had a kind of black humor, which I define as kind of comedy with an undercurrent of moral outrage. So all those things seemed pretty good to me. [Chuckles.] So I went out and pitched it to the HDNet Films folks and they gave me the quickest green light I've ever gotten.
IR: Was this documentary always planned for a theatrical release as opposed to airing it on television?
AG: Yes. I think it was. I mean, nobody really wants to commit to that until they see it, but the thinking was that it would be.
IR: To what extent do you expect the upcoming criminal trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling to increase interest in the documentary?
AG: Well, I would hope it would increase it a lot. I mean, the trial is going to be long. It's going to be very complicated. And I would think that the film would be very helpful to people in terms of trying to understand what the hell is going on.
IR: What were the challenges in adapting the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room" for the screen?
AG: Two. I mean, one was that it had to work as a film. And that meant that there were some stories that I would have to leave out or it would have been too complicated and too overwhelming for people to absorb. And also, I think that the details of some individual transactions certainly had to be left out. You almost have to read three or four times to really understand, it was so complicated. The last thing was the film needs to do what it can do best ... what fits the medium best. So for example, the section on California is much longer in the film than it is in the book, relatively speaking. Part of that has to do with the fact that I was able to find those extraordinary audiotapes of the trader conversations. Which Peter and Bethany had seen some of in transcript form, but the audio tapes themselves—hearing the tone of voice—the kind of frat house traders—was really the staggering and shocking thing. And it really works well on film.
Interview Continued on the Next Page
