SUBMITTED BY Timbo

October 30, 2003 — The director of "Shattered Glass", Billy Ray, talks to the New York Times about the film he has made -- the only thing is, he isn't sure what genre it is: suspense, or something else?

In the film, which opens in New York tomorrow, Mr. Glass is played by Hayden Christensen, an actor best known for his portrayal of the young Anakin Skywalker, who grows up to be Darth Vader, in the second "Star Wars" cycle. "When an audience is wrapped up in this movie," Mr. Ray said, "you hear this nervous laughter in the crowd. The more Stephen Glass talks, the more they release the tension through laughter over what he's saying, because they can't believe he keeps on doing it. He's like an Energizer Bunny: he just won't stop lying."

Mr. Glass's nemesis in the film is the workaholic editor Chuck Lane (played by Peter Sarsgaard), who discovers Mr. Glass's fabrications and then risks his standing with his staff by bringing the popular Mr. Glass to justice. "I think people identify with both characters," Mr. Ray said. "Everybody understands the notion of being the least popular kid in high school and having to take down the most popular kid, which is essentially what Lane has to do. He steps into an atmosphere that, essentially through his own doing, is poisonous, and with absolutely no support at all goes after this guy."

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