VIDEO: Contender Q&A with 'Nothing But the Truth' stars Kate Beckinsale and Alan Alda

                        

Last month, the East Coast edition of The Envelope's hallmark Screening Series hosted its biggest stars yet when Kate Beckinsale and Alan Alda joined me at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., to discuss their new film "Nothing but the Truth" (Yari Film Group, trailer). The political thriller, written and directed by Rod Lurie, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and opened in select theaters Friday.

Both actors went out of their way to be there -- Alda rode the train up from New York City, while Beckinsale flew across the country from Los Angeles -- for which the audience (300 Brandeis students, Boston-area film buffs and locally based SAG and AMPAS members) and I were most grateful.

As you can see for yourself in the video -- and, incidentally, please pardon the minor problems with my mic, and beware of a few spoilers! -- members of the audience responded very positively to the thought-provoking film and were quite taken with Beckinsale's stunning beauty and Alda's witty humor during the Q&A, to say nothing of their insightful comments about the big questions raised by their characters. (Beckinsale particularly endeared herself by remaining for 45 minutes after the Q&A ended to sign autographs for and pose for photos with every student who wanted one.)

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Beckinsale, 35, was born in England and studied at Oxford before leaving school to become a professional actress. She first came to Americans' attention around the turn of the century as the love interest of Ben Affleck in the summer blockbuster "Pearl Harbor" and of John Cusack in the smaller rom-com "Serendipity" (both 2001). Then, director Len Wiseman, her future husband, cast her as a vampire in leather tights in the action thriller "Underworld" (2003), which cost $22 million but grossed $95 million and turned her into an A-list star. Subsequent roles in big commercial films like "Van Helsing" (2004), "The Aviator" (2004), "Click" (2006) and "Underworld: Evolution" tended to showcase her beauty more than her talent, but she eradicated any doubt about her abilities when she gave an awards-worthy performance just a few months ago in "Snow Girls" (2007). As for "Nothing but the Truth," she has already received a Broadcast Film Critics Awards nomination for best actress.

Alda, 72, has been acting on television and in film for more than 50 years. He gave some of his finest big-screen performances in "Paper Lion" (1968), "The Extraordinary Seaman" (1969), "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971), "Same Time, Next Year" (1978), "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993), "Canadian Bacon" (1995), "Flirting With Disaster" (1996) and "The Aviator" (2004), for which he received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination, and in which his co-stars included Beckinsale. He also previously collaborated with Lurie on the film "Resurrecting the Champ" (2007). Alda is best known, though, for his work on the small screen, and especially as Capt. "Hawkeye" Pierce on "MASH," for which he received 21 Emmy nominations and won five. (He also wrote 13 episodes and directed 32.) More recently, Alda played a key role in the final season of the hit show "The West Wing" and received another Emmy.

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In "Nothing but the Truth," the attempted assassination of the president of the United States in a foreign country raises questions about holes in America's national security. While investigating the story, Rachel Armstrong (Beckinsale), a hard-nosed Washington, D.C. reporter, receives an anonymous tip and writes a front-page newspaper article in which she exposes the identity of a previously covert CIA agent. When the U.S. government tries to compel her to reveal the identity of her source, she refuses and retains the counsel of a fast-talking, slick-dressing 1st Amendment lawyer (Alda) who tries to keep her out of prison but cannot. With her fate in her own hands, Armstrong faces a grueling choice: She can compromise her source -- or her family.

NOTE: Though some aspects of the plot seem similar to the controversy involving Judith Miller -- the New York Times reporter who was a central figure in the case of the public exposure of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame but would not divulge her source(s) to government officials, and consequently spent 85 days in jail -- the vast majority of it is not.

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Photo: Kate Beckinsale and Alan Alda in "Nothing but the Truth." Credit: Yari Film Group

Special thanks: Jennifer Morgerman, LaDawn Scott, and Christine Richardson (Yari Film Group), Gary Mantoosh (BWR-PR)

Comments

[Joan]

Hahahaha I love how about 16 minutes in Beckinsale says the head of WB (who said after The Brave One tanked that he would no longer build movies around women after) should be "forced to eat a tampon"!

[Matt Mazur]

If anyone deserves a nomination from this cast, it is the venerable Alan Alda -- he plays a stock role with panache.