Michael Clayton
Director:
Tony Gilroy
Writer (WGA):
Tony Gilroy (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Michael Clayton on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
12 October 2007 (USA)
Genre:
Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Tagline:
The Truth Can Be Adjusted
Plot:
A law firm brings in its “fixer” to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit
Michael Clayton, a high-priced-law-firm’s fixer, leaves a late-night poker game, gets a call to drive to Westchester, and watches his car blow up as he’s taking an impromptu dawn walk through a field. Flash back four days. He owes a loan shark to cover his brother’s debts (Michael’s own gambling habits have left him virtually broke). His law firm is negotiating a high-stakes merger, and his firm’s six-year defense of a conglomerate’s pesticide use is at risk when one of the firm’s top litigators goes off his meds and puts the case in jeopardy. While Michael is trying to fix things, someone decides to kill him. Who? Meanwhile, his son summarizes the plot of a dark fantasy novel
Middle-aged lawyer Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a “fixer” who clears up complex or dirty cases on behalf of corporate clients. But he has a number of personal and professional problems. His family life is messy (he’s a lone parent and his brother has ran up large debts), he is struggling with a gambling problem, his career appears to be going no-where – and he has tired of fixing other people’s mistakes.
An old friend and colleague, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkonson), has been working on an important case on behalf of a large client for eight years but the case is not going well and his friend’s behaviour is causing concern. Clayton is called in to fix the problem.
As he discovers more about the case, Clayton realises that the plaintiffs’ case is correct and when his friend (Edens) dies, Clayton himself becomes a target for the dark forces that defend corporate interests.
Clayton narrowly survives an assassination attempt (when his car is blow-up) and confronts one of the company directors, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), with evidence of corporate malpractice. She offers to buy his silence but he is recording the conversation and she is arrested.
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