The film’s accuracy includes Wallace’s reticence about standing up to CBS’ decisions, at least according to Bergman:

“From the beginning Mike was unwilling to commit himself to going to the line with this and with risking his job. In meetings with CBS’ counsel, he didn’t raise his voice, nor did [’60 Minutes’ creator] Don Hewitt [played in “The Insider” by Philip Baker Hall]. Both were well known for browbeating people in private and public. They didn’t say a word really in the meeting.”

Bergman left “60 Minutes” in 1998 (the final shot of “The Insider” is Pacino-as-Bergman walking out of CBS). He worked as a consultant on “The Insider,” and he said that his professional relationships with Hewitt and Wallace never recovered from that. (Hewitt said in 2000 that Bergman “should not be allowed ‘within a hundred miles of a newsroom.”’)

In 2001, when the story hadn’t totally chilled, Bergman recalled:

“I tried once to talk and meet with Mike after he had gone public denouncing me because of his reading of the script [of The Insider]. I thought that we were beginning a civil conversation. The next thing I learned was that his version of the meeting was that I came on my hands and knees to his apartment in New York asking for my job back.”

Speaking about Wallace’s overall legacy to The Wrap, Bergman called him both “a pioneer” and “extremely difficult to deal with,” yet praised him for his journalistic courage: “When it came down to it, if it was a tough piece, it was more likely than not that Mike would do it. He had balls.”

Of course, Wallace should’ve known that an occupational hazard of journalism is that sometimes, your subject won’t appreciate what you write.