Deep Impact

Synopsis: Journalist Jenny Lerner is assigned to look into the background of Secretary Alan Rittenhouse who abruptly resigned from government citing his wife's ill health. She learns from his secretary that Rittenhouse was having an affair with someone named Ellie but when she confronts him, his strange reaction leads her to reconsider her story. In fact, a comet, discovered the previous year by high school student Leo Biederman and astronomer Dr. Marcus Wolf, is on a collision course with the Earth, an Extinction Level Event. A joint US-Russian team is sent to destroy the comet but should it fail, special measures are to be put in place to secure the future of mankind. As the space mission progresses, many individuals deal with their fears and ponder their future.
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance
Director(s): Mimi Leder
Production: Paramount Pictures
  5 wins & 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.1
Metacritic:
40
Rotten Tomatoes:
45%
PG-13
Year:
1998
120 min
2,039 Views


Altair, Alpha Centauri, Sirius.

Matt Shepherd?

It's just a party, and he asked me.

He's really nice.

Yeah, to you, maybe.

You guys getting some

good work done over here?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Yeah, sounds like it.

What's the bright one?

Mizar. It's a double star.

Good. The one next to it?

Uh...

Alcor.

Good, Biederman,

and the one next to that?

Uh...

I don't know.

It's Megrez.

I don't think so.

Well, you just said you didn't know.

Well, it's not Megrez.

It's something else.

Look.

It's south about 10 degrees.

It's probably a satellite.

Let's uh, take another picture.

We'll send it to Dr Wolf.

Yes, sir.

- It's Megrez.

- Not Megrez.

It is.

It's not.

It is.

Mario Sereni And Nicolai Gedda

Well, hello there, little fella.

Do I know you?

Where are you going

in such a hurry?

And there.

Come on.

Damn it!

Biederman.

Come on, you miserable piece of crap.

Come on, come on.

You have reached

If you know the extension

of the person you're calling...

Ow, Jesus!

press that number now.

Damn it!

This is relating

to the recall

of American troops

from abroad.

Tragedy struck today as a charter aircraft

carrying an army unit

returning from duty in Japan

crashed this morning...

says Secretary of the Treasury Rittenhouse

is resigning because his wife is sick.

So who passed Rittenhouse the hemlock?

AFL/CIO wanted him off the

Council of Economic Advisors

for not supporting the pension bill,

and the president's going

to need labor next fall.

And State's still fuming

Pentagon is unhappy with his

readiness reduction proposals.

Greenspan dislikes him.

Christ, who didn't this guy piss off?

No wonder the wife's sick.

She's not sick, she's a drunk.

How do you know that?

Mike Woodward over at Treasury.

Mrs Rittenhouse started

drinking a couple of years ago

when her husband had a series of affairs.

Stepped it up last summer after

their son died of leukemia.

You want to do something on

the price that wives pay?

Mike Woodward? Wife, 3 kids?

He's been after me for months.

So I threw him a breakfast

and hit him up about Rittenhouse.

Bob Campbell's leaving,

so midnight Saturday

anchor shift is opening up.

Why would I want

to give up the White House

for a graveyard weekend--

No, no, no,

not for you, for me.

No.

Beth.

We'll talk about this later.

Very calm. The president will be

back from Camp David tomorrow.

Business news, Ira.

Just keep working on Rittenhouse.

Maybe Mike's available for dinner.

Do the usual research,

background information.

OK, that's it.

Beth, wait.

Listen, Beth, what if

it wasn't permanent?

Oh, God, Jenny, please.

Honey, this is how it works.

You've done 2 years of research.

Now do 3 as a segment producer.

another 2 in some

cholera-ridden hellhole.

And then I'll quit

if they don't give you

a weekend anchor shot.

Hello, Caitlin. There you are.

Are you protecting me

or just holding me back?

- Yes.

- OK.

Rittenhouse tape and text

on my desk by 4:
00 tomorrow,

and we'll drop in the reverses for the 5.

OK.

At this moment right now--

Thank you--

The pretty little girls

are walking down the aisle.

They're spreading flowers.

The twins. What are their names?

Emma and Susanna.

They're walking down the aisles,

and they're dropping rose petals,

and everyone's smiling at them,

and now she's walking down the aisle.

Yes, and she stands beside him.

And the priest says, "Dearly beloved--"

Judge.

The judge says, "Blah, blah, blah.

"Sickness and health, blah, blah, blah.

Do you, Jason Lerner, take

Chlorine Whatchamacallit?"

Mom, Chloe.

What did I say?

You said... you said "Chlorine."

Her name's Chloe...

Oh.

Well, it's still a terrible name.

Jason says, "Lie, lie, lie,

till death do us part,

blah, blah, blah,"

and she says yes,

and he says yes,

and it's kissy, kissy, kissy,

and congratulations.

Jenny, you now have a new stepmother

who is 2 years older than you.

The check.

Well, anyway,

as much as I'd like to stay here

and get silly with you, Mom,

I can't. I gotta go.

I know, I know, I know.

I'm sorry about this.

We'll get over it.

I love you.

I love you, too.

Be good.

I was with the secretary

since he's been governor of Connecticut.

I came to Washington with him.

I moved here because I was

dedicated to his career.

I trusted the man...

and then he f***ed me.

He what?

No, I didn't have sex with him.

I should say I didn't

have sex with him,

but somebody sure did.

It was about to come out, so he resigned.

But because I was hired from

outside the government pool,

I don't get conveyed

to the next secretary,

so now I'm out a job...

Because he couldn't

keep his hands off women.

Do you have proof?

He thinks he was being so clever.

Get a private phone line

Nobody else could answer it.

I picked it up once.

Said hello, and it's nobody home.

It rings, he shuts the door.

Why not hang a sign?

Do you have a name?

This is what I get for talking to the press.

I'm selling my soul right now.

I can feel it.

I can feel it.

I name a name and get

someone into trouble.

So you do have a name.

Just a first name.

Oh, my God. I'm going to say it.

Ellie.

Ellie. Nothing else?

I think the president knows about it, too.

Overheard the secretary

talking to him about her.

Isn't Washington sick?

Hi.

How you doing?

Can I help you?

Well, actually,

we're looking for your mom.

Is she around?

My mom's sick.

She's not here.

Gosh, I love boats.

Are you going on a trip?

Yeah.

That's exciting. Looks like a long trip, huh?

So, listen, do you know where you're going?

She's going back to the house.

Hey, you want to stop that?

Lily, please.

Lily, that's a pretty name.

Lily.

Do as I say. Go on.

If we could just get a minute of your time.

What do you want from me?

We'd like to talk about your resignation.

My wife is sick.

She's in the hospital.

That's why I resigned.

Everybody knows this.

We could talk about your wife,

or we could just talk about Ellie.

Turn the camera off.

If you want to talk to me, turn it off.

We know everything.

Nobody knows everything.

Well, we know about

the secret phone lines

and the whispered calls to the president

and about a secretary of the Treasury

who's kept his entire

department in the dark

about what he's really doing--

about a cover story about his resignation

that just fell through.

I mean, sir, You want me to go on?

And you're just gonna break it?

Well, that's what we do for a living.

Well, congratulations.

You now have

the biggest story in history.

Good luck to you.

Personally...

I think it's a mistake to run the story,

but hey, what the hell?

Why not?

What difference does anything make any more?

Look.

I know you're just a reporter,

but you used to be a person, right?

I wanted to be with my family.

Can you understand that?

OK, Secretary of the Treasury

Alan Rittenhouse

resigns because of a mistress named "Ellie".

"The biggest story in history"?

What an ego.

Now, if it was the president--

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Bruce Joel Rubin

Bruce Joel Rubin is an American screenwriter best known for the supernatural romance Ghost, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1990 psychological thriller Jacob's Ladder. more…

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